they would look at me like Id farted, he said.

Theres a snobbery about her.

Throughout my career I had kept mentioning Jilly and everyone sort of laughed at and ridiculed me.

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Shes like Dickens, he added.

Treadwell-Collins said he has tried to pitchRivalsseveral times over the past two decades and was knocked back.

That was how it used to work.

Having settled on adapting the first half of the novel, Treadwell-Collins changed tack and started pitching to streamers.

I was clear that we needed a bigger budget, he explained.

Jilly Cooper has been made in the past fairly cheaply and that kind of adds to the ridicule.

It launches tomorrow on Disney+ worldwide and on Hulu in the U.S.

Beyond splashing the cash, he was impressed by what the Mouse House was bringing to the table.

In this regard, few could argue he failed.

In the end, Treadwell-Collins was delighted with his band of thespians.

They bounced off each other but also wanted to impress each other.

He paid the same attention to the writing process.

We thought this would be a way of telling an outsiders story withinRivals, he added.

Ive been thinking about Jilly Cooper for so long and know there is a Cooperverse, said Treadwell-Collins.

Her books are weighty.

We only told half ofRivalsbecause we wanted to delve into the characters in more detail.

These enduring characters have lived inside Treadwell-Collins head for a fair portion of his life.

The proof will now be in whether they can enter the minds of millions of others.