Riders

This is so badly made. From the opening shots of the naughty lead putting his jodhpurs on in the opening title and then the frankly inept exposition of the 'spying' episode you know you are in for a shockingly bad ride technically.

That said, it's so funny it's worth watching. Stocked up with characters like 'Humpty Hamilton' and ridiculous exposition it's a treat. They don't really make them like this anymore, with dodgy voice over at the start of each scene, cross fades and some of the worst acting you'll see. It's laugh out loud funny for every minute.

The score is hilarious as well. Every time anyone gets the least bit sexy the sax goes full 80's. :) Good for a rainy Sunday.

This was shown on ITV when I was about 14. Not a lot to see or hear on this one, a lot of humping and the lead character (can't remember who exactly) seemed to just bone around all day with countless upper crust women. Being only 14 at the time it was just a question of waiting for the next bit of raunchiness to come along. See those duff Friday night movies on Five? This is a distant relative with a bit more storyline!

Well, at least it's boring compared to the book. Having read the book it is very hard to watch it in an objective way. The characters aren't very likable and I do like them in the book. The book reads like a very enjoyable Netflix series and the movie just drags on and on... Rupert, except for being blond, doesn't resemble the flamboyante character he is. It's only the spoilt brat he is, but of course that's only one side of him. The only character I liked, was Tory. She felt so real and does resemble the character in the book. The book makes you laugh out loud. Why isn't this adaption able to make me laugh at any point? I hope Disney will try to give Rivals a prequel, because with Rivals they managed to give us the enjoyable encouter the books certainly give. Ode to writer dame Jilly Cooper!!!!

I haven't read the book, but this mini-series stands as a well-made piece of entertainment. The handsome and dashing, but dastardly, Rupert is contrasted with the home-loving, all-round decent, underdog, Jake. The characters are drawn with a broad brush, but there are many colourful characters, and it's tightly plotted, with unexpected twists. The horses and the men are very good-looking, and Michael Praed and Anthony Calf do a great job as the more complex characters in the story. Great fun altogether.

It surprised me to find only two reviews of this film so far. Bearing in mind that the source novel was on the best-sellers list for ages and selling over a million copies, this film version seems to have been massively overlooked. It is not a bad film but for me, it does not live up to the bonkathon tag much hyped by the popular press.

The characters were well presented and one could not fault the cast in their acting but there was the nagging feeling that the equine world of this film was not a world most people would have noticed had it not been for certain royal personages to be involved in equine events. Still, the horse riding scenes were well done with the stunt people and the actors merging seamlessly together.

The biggest problem for me however was the running time of almost 200 minutes - too long for a film. My feeling is, a mini-series would have been better.