Rivals cast used fake cigarettes due to Wales smoking ban

The cast of the Disney+ hit show Rivals were confused when given fake cigarettes while filming in Wales due to a smoking ban in the work place, one of its stars has said.

Oliver Chris, who plays self-centred TV presenter James Vereker in the show, said it was a pleasure to play someone who was "unremittingly horrible all the time".

The series, based on the second novel of Dame Jilly Cooper's Rutshire Chronicles, features an all-star cast including Danny Dyer, David Tennant and Emily Atack.

"I remember everyone being very confused when they were handing us these odd plastic numbers," Chris said.

While the series is based on the fictional Cotswolds countryside town of Rutshire, the cast filmed scenes in Wales for both series.

Llanhennock House, a seven-bedroom country house in Monmouthshire, was used as a set in the first season while Foxfield, a £8m mansion equipped with pond and tennis court, was home to Danny Dyer's character Freddie in the second series.

Speaking to Behnaz Akhgar on Radio Wales, Chris recalled filming in Freddie's house in Wales.

"In Wales it's illegal to smoke in the work place, and that includes TV sets.

"So in Rivals where everyone is smoking all the time, we all had to have e-cigarettes when we filmed in the house.

"If you go back to those episodes, everyone is smoking fake cigarettes and I don't know if they digitally changed them afterwards.

"But I remember everyone being very confused when they were handing us these odd plastic numbers," he said.

Chris plays Vereker, who regularly cheats on his wife Lizzie, played by Katherine Parkinson.

He said working on Rivals was "total and unbridled" joy and a pleasure to play someone who was "unremittingly horrible all the time".

"To exercise all your worst characteristics in a safe space is so nice. I can get it out all on the set and then come home," he added.

In May, show writer and executive producer Laura Wade said Dame Jilly Cooper scolded the team and told them to stop making her "macho men" cry on screen.

She said Dame Jilly was like a ray of "human sunshine", but had one memorable piece of criticism of the show.

"We were so lucky to have Jilly… You would expect someone to be quite strict about what you do with their key characters, and she really wasn't.

"She would tell us, if I was making Rupert [Campbell-Black] cry too often, that was one of her favourites – 'stop making my macho men cry all the time'."