Disney back on the Costa del Sol to shoot Jilly Cooper's Rivals

Disney is finalising preparations for the filming of a new eight-part series on the Costa del Sol and in Malaga city for its streaming platform. Rivals, set in the ruthless world of 1980s television, will include touches of comedy and stars Alex Hassell (the superhero Translucent in The Boys) and David Tennant (Doctor Who and Good Omens).

Malaga-based production company Fresco Film is behind this series to be made by ITV Studios' new drama label Happy Prince for Disney+. Scenes will be filmed in locations such as Estepona, Malaga city centre, and Motril (Granada province), where the sets will focus on an 80s look for the adaptation of Jilly Cooper's best-selling novel, Rivals, one of her Rutshire Chronicles books.

Hassell and Tennant play two neighbours in an elitist residential area. The former plays the charismatic Rupert Campbell-Black, an ex-Olympic champion and Conservative party politician who disputes the ambitious and egotistical Lord Tony Baddingham's control of the television channel Corinium.

The wide-ranging cast includes more popular faces from British productions such as Victoria Smurfit (Bloodlands), Bella Maclean (Sex Education), Nafessa Williams (Black Lighting), Katherine Parkinson (Humans), Oliver Chris (The Crown), Danny Dyer (EastEnders) and Claire Rushbrook (Sherwood), among others.