Rivals Stars Set the Record Straight on Rupert and Taggie’s Age Gap
Rivals stars Alex Hassell, 45, and Bella Maclean didn’t expect Rupert and Taggie’s age-gap romance to ignite such fervor — but the fan reaction has leapt off-screen, creating a real-world ripple effect that’s taken them by surprise.
Rivals may be about a TV power struggle in 1980s Britain, but the thing people won’t shut up about is the age-gap romance. And honestly, the two actors at the center of it didn’t expect the noise to be this loud.
The setup: feuds, TV empires, and one unlikely couple
Rivals adapts Jilly Cooper’s novel about two men wrestling for control of a television station in Thatcher-era Britain. You’ve got David Tennant as Tony, and Alex Hassell as Rupert. While viewers tuned in for the boardroom brawls, Rupert’s connection with Taggie (Bella Maclean) quietly stole the show.
The 16-year gap that launched a thousand comments
On screen, Rupert and Taggie have a 16-year age difference. Off screen, Hassell is 45 and Maclean is 29. Both say they felt the audience’s reaction in a big way.
"I’ve certainly never been part of something before that is having a ripple effect in the real world. It’s fascinating."
Maclean admits they were nervous going in, but the backlash they braced for didn’t really show up. In fact, some of the people they expected to be the most skeptical ended up loving the pairing. Go figure.
Hassell’s take is that their relationship isn’t just about an age gap. He frames it as this: Taggie is open-hearted and a bit naive, leading with her feelings, and the idea that her straightforward love could reform the show’s biggest rogue is a powerful fantasy. Not exactly subtle, but it gets the job done.
Season 2: more obstacles, more longing
Season 2 (dropping Fridays on Hulu ) puts plenty of hurdles in front of them. Maclean says that little ache you feel watching them miss each other is baked in on purpose: it should hurt a bit. Hassell agrees, saying the audience’s whiplash mirrors the characters’ — they want to be together, but life keeps tripping them up.
There are other fires to put out, too. Hassell points to Rupert’s tangle with Cameron, played by Nafessa Williams. Right before a kiss, Rupert basically admits he feels trapped — he promised to look after Cameron — and he’s also in the dark about whatever Tony has just set in motion. Translation: it’s messy, and that’s the point.
About that trope everyone argues about
Hassell has been upfront that age-gap romances on TV are a loaded topic. He’s not pretending it’s great that so many shows pair a 40-something guy with a much younger woman for no story reason. But in Rivals, he argues, it’s actually tied to Rupert’s redemption arc, not slapped on as window dressing.
Where their story actually stands
By the end of episode 8 — and Maclean joked that she said "season 8" before correcting herself — Taggie makes her feelings impossible to miss. She wants to be with Rupert, full stop. Her arc going forward? Fighting for that. Whether the show actually lets them have it is the question.
Hassell, for his part, hopes the road stays bumpy. He doesn’t want Rupert smoothed out too fast. Half the fun is watching this chaos agent do what he does, blind spots and all.
Rivals streams Fridays on Hulu.