These Rivals Sex Scenes Were Filmed Like Stunt Work

There’s no mistaking Rivals for a family-friendly show. From the very first scene in Season 1, which opens with airborne sex aboard the Concorde, it’s clear that this series loves a sexy spectacle. Season 2, which premiered on Hulu on May 15, has proven to be just as NSFW. From titillating intimacy to full-frontal nudity, the Rivals sex scenes have stirred up a lot of conversation — and even the director and cast have joined in on the discourse.

In a May 15 interview with Collider, Rivals director and executive producer Elliot Hegarty opened up about the process behind shooting the show’s raunchiest moments. “Sex scenes are like action scenes. You want to protect people from hurting themselves very simply, and we have intimacy coordinators instead of stunt coordinators,” he said. “There's a long process of, [writer and EP] Laura [Wade] will write a sex scene. Then we'll discuss what are the words that aren't spoken ... because a sex scene is always a dialogue between two people; they're just not talking.”

After the details are ironed out, the actors get involved. “Once you've worked out what the story is, then you can talk about levels of nudity and then you can go to the actors and say, ‘This is what the sex scene is about. We're thinking of putting it in this sort of environment ‘cause we haven't seen that before — standing, sitting, whatever,’” Hegarty continued. “You really involve the actor heavily and see what they're happy to do.”

Hegarty also follows a tried-and-true formula for shooting these sex scenes. “On the day, you keep it light,” he said. “It's a ridiculous thing to have to do. They're getting naked in front of lots of people. So you make it kind of fun, but you just get through it as quickly as possible with the least amount of takes ... and everyone goes home ideally 10 minutes early, feeling like they've filmed some really great television.”

Stars on the show have also discussed its more risqué moments. Back in 2023, Aidan Turner, who plays Declan O’Hara on Rivals, told The Times, “We have so much sex on our show, we have to have two intimacy coaches. Two!”

Another actor on the show, Victoria Smurfit, who plays Maud O'Hara, told Harper’s Bazaar that filming these scenes with Turner (her onscreen husband) was “a real laugh. We’re mates.”

Nafessa Williams, who plays Cameron Cook, further opened up about filming these scenes in her May 19 interview with the outlet. “They are not easy – they’re the most vulnerable place you’ll ever find yourself,” she told the outlet. “But the leader sets the tone, and we owe a lot to David [Tennant] and Alex [Hassell] too, helming the show, always being generous, always being gentlemen.”

Katherine Parkinson, who plays Lizzie Vereker on the show, credits British author Jilly Cooper (who wrote the books the show is based on) with imbuing each sexual encounter with the female gaze. “The great thing that Rivals does is … there are truths being told that I don’t feel that I’ve necessarily seen … there’s a sort of bravery to that. And it sort of feels quite radical,” she told The Guardian. “Because Jilly [Cooper] wrote brilliantly from the female perspective about sex. And oddly, we still haven’t seen a lot of that on television.”