Dame Jilly Cooper has expressed her bemusement at intimacy coordinators being present on the set of the TV adaptation of her novel Rivals.
The hit Disney+ series, which stars David Tennant, Danny Dyer and Katherine Parkinson, is based on her 1988 novel of the same name and centres on the cutthroat television world of Corinium TV in the fictional county of Rutshire.
Much like Cooper’s novel, the show features numerous sex scenes and reportedly hired two intimacy coordinators, Yarit Dor and Enric Ortuno, to help ensure that the actors felt safe and comfortable while simulating sex.
Cooper, though, has shared her scepticism about the profession, telling The Times: ““In my day when people were acting they just used to jump on each other and roll around without having anyone telling them what to do.” The 88-year-old added: “I suppose the world’s changed, hasn’t it?”
The author also said that she would have felt uncomfortable in the presence of the coordinator if she had been acting in the scenes.
“I’d be very embarrassed,” she said. “I wouldn’t like it myself – but then no one has any fun any more, do they?”
It comes after Dyer, who plays successful businessman Freddie Jones on the show, hinted that even more intimacy coordinators have been hired to oversee the sex scenes in season two.
He told the Daily Mail: “It is brilliant but it is a mad thing to do a sex scene. On Rivals, there are a lot of intimacy coaches. I think we used every intimacy coach in the land.”
Meanwhile, Aidan James, who plays journalist Declan O’Hara in the drama, told The Independent in 2023 that the introduction of intimacy coordinators had been a welcome change. “I’ve done my fair share of sex scenes over the years, without an intimacy coordinator,” he said. “Just me and another person, and a director who’s six feet away, sweating nervously. It all used to be very awkward and weird.”
The role of the intimacy coordinator has become the source of debate in recent years. In December 2024 director Halina Reijn shared how important the role was while making her film Babygirl, which revolves around the explicit affair between a powerful CEO (Nicole Kidman) and a young intern (Harris Dickinson).
“I’m also against people who are saying, ‘No, my actors didn’t want an intimacy coordinator,’” said Reijn told IndieWire. “That makes no sense. It is also for your safety as a director and for everyone. What if there is a misunderstanding? It’s just amazing to have a person like that on set.”
In contrast, established Hollywood stars like Gwyneth Paltrow and Michael Douglas have previously shared how they dislike intimacy coordinators, with the latter telling the Telegraph: “You take responsibility as the man to make sure the woman is comfortable.”
