Rivals star Bella Maclean insisted on no-nudity clause to protect her character

Bella Maclean insisted on a no-nudity clause in her contract for the Disney+ drama Rivals to protect both herself and her character from being "sexually exploited".

The actress, who plays the wide-eyed innocent Taggie O'Hara in the adaptation of Dame Jilly Cooper’s bonkbuster, told Harper's Bazaar UK that preserving the purity of her role was paramount. "I didn’t want to sexually exploit her, and I didn’t want to do that to myself either," she said, according to the Daily Mail ^[1].

Maclean, aged 24, explained that while the series is packed with adultery and debauchery, she wanted to keep certain aspects of her performance private. "There are some things I just want to keep to myself," she added, as reported by The Independent ^[3].

Despite her personal boundary, Maclean expressed no judgment toward cast members who took their clothes off for the show's steamy scenes. She joked that if she had Victoria Smurfit’s body, she would likely be walking around naked. The show features full-frontal nudity from stars including Alex Hassell and Aidan Turner, who play rival TV moguls and journalists in the 1980s-set series.

Maclean credited the production's intimacy coordinators for creating a safe environment where actors feel comfortable saying no. "We’re all good friends who can just say 'No' to the directors and they’ll listen," she noted. She acknowledged that not every production has such support, calling the cast lucky.

The actress also addressed the age gap between her character, aged up to 20 for the screen, and her love interest Rupert Campbell-Black, played by Hassell. She described their connection as a "soul connection" rather than focusing on the disparity, a change she said Dame Jilly Cooper supported.

The second half of the second series returns to Disney+ on November 11, with Maclean stating that the author’s spirit remains central to the show. "Jilly is the heart of everything we do, and I feel her naughtiness a lot in the second half of the new season," she said. "This series is so juicy, it gets so intense. That’s all Jillyness."