Rivals star Katherine Parkinson didn’t want Danny Dyer sex scene to feel ‘shameful and apologetic’-Asyia Iftikhar-Entertainment – Metro

Katherine Parkinson shared her poignant approach to filming her sex scene with co-star Danny Dyer in the hit Disney Plus series, Rivals.

The raunchy drama, based on Dame Jilly Cooper’s 80s bonkbuster, centres around the rivalry turned allyship between politician Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) and fiery media personality Declan O’Hara (Aidan Turner) – and the chaotic community they inhabit.

Although Rupert and Declan’s daughter Taggie (Bella Maclean) is the main romance there are plenty of other love triangles, scandalous affairs and forbidden cases of yearning for viewers to get their teeth into.

Katherine plays Lizzie Vereker, the devoted wife of obnoxious TV host James Vereker (Oliver Chris) who lives out her wildest fantasies through writing erotica while her husband shacks up with co-host Sarah (Emily Atack).

When married entrepreneur Freddie Jones moves locally, the pair cross paths more than once and soon find their desire for one another is simply irresistible.

By the end of season one, Lizzie swaps out her page-bound desires for the real deal as she takes the plunge and has sex with Danny in the wilderness.

Katherine Parkinson found her sensual love story with co-star Danny Dyer empowering (Picture: Disney+/Hulu)

She plays an erotica novelist and he plays a business mogul (Picture: Disney+/Hulu)

The pair have a sizzling chemistry that comes to a head in the finale (Picture: Disney+/Hulu)

The scene is beautifully done, centring Lizzie’s pleasure and the couple’s endearing, and witty, chemistry – an outcome Katherine, 47, was hoping for.

Katherine reflected to the Guardian: ‘I feel that in Jilly’s books. you absolutely get the sense that women are enjoying the consensual sex they’re having. 

‘The emphasis was so much on consent when I was growing up; I didn’t feel as much as I should have done that sex was something I might like doing.’

The mum-of-two (who married actor Harry Peacock in 2009) explained that growing up she felt that ‘enjoying’ sex meant ‘you were a slag’.

So Rivals, and her climactic sex scene, have served as a redemption and catharsis.

‘For me, doing this job has been a glorious, fairly belated celebration. I didn’t want it to feel shameful, that last scene I have with Danny. I didn’t want to feel apologetic.’

In particular, the IT Crowd star was thrilled that ‘a normal 47-year-old woman who has breastfed two girls’ can bring a heated romance to the small screen.

She added: ‘I feel like the porn generation has gone so far the other way that we’ve forgotten what good sex is about, which is connection, wanting, desire. It’s so simple, isn’t it?’

Katherine shared that growing up it wasn’t seen as right for a woman to enjoy sex – Rivals throws that out the window (Picture: Disney+ / Robert Viglasky)

The str-studded series has been hugely popular and already secured a second season renewal meaning there’s plenty more drama coming our way.

In particular, we’ll see how the age-gap romance between Declan and Taggie will play out.

Bella, 26, shared with Metro what it was like to film the blossoming love story with Alex, 46.

‘Alex is the most wonderful man ever and we became incredibly good friends really early on,’ rising star Bella said.

‘We were so comfortable with each other and there’s obviously intimacy coordinators and a lovely, wonderful team of people. It was really smooth sailing the whole time. We’re really good friends, so it made it easy.’

Rivals is available to stream on Disney Plus.

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