Real-Life Loves
Breaking the News on the ‘Rivals’ Cast’s Real-Life Loves
All’s fair in love and broadcast television.
At least that’s the premise for Hulu and Disney+’s outrageously sexy and smart dramedy Rivals, which charts the battle for broadcast supremacy in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Leading the charge is David Tennant‘s Tony, Lord Baddingham, the ruthless head of Corinium Television, who recruits dogged BBC anchor Declan O’Hara (Aidan Turner) to launch a chat show with brains.
As they navigate their delicate partnership to rule the airwaves, they face all kinds of hurdles from womanizing former Olympians like Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell), to wisecracking rising stars like producer Cameron Cook (Nafessa Williams). Along the way, they all fall in and out of each other’s beds, complicating more than just the news of the day.
But what are the stories behind the real-life loves of the cast of Rivals, and do their love stories rival (no pun intended) the bad behavior of their on-screen characters?
Alex Hassell and Emma King
As the dashingly dangerous Rupert Campbell-Black, Hassell plays the field like it’s his job. But in real life, his better half is actress Emma King, whom he met while they were both in acting training at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. They married in 2011. While the couple is rather private, King did take to Instagram to celebrate their anniversary to pay a sweet tribute to her husband, saying, “I don’t always know what I’m doing but I know I couldn’t do it without you.”
Aidan Turner and Caitlin FitzGerald
As TV host Declan O’Hara, Aidan Turner has the entire United Kingdom swooning in Rivals. But it’s actress Caitlin FitzGerald, best known for her roles in UnReal and Masters of Sex, who has him all to herself at home. The pair married in August 2020 in front of a barebones audience of just six people in Italy, thanks to COVID-19 restrictions. They have since welcomed their first child in 2022.
David Tennant and Georgia Tennant
Best known as the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant kept it all in the Doctor Who family when he married English actress Georgia Tennant in 2011. Not only did they meet while filming “The Doctor’s Daughter” episode in 2008, but she is the daughter of actress Sandra Dickinson and Peter Davison, the Fifth Doctor. The happy couple have five children. Now who says television can’t bring families together?
Katherine Parkinson and Harry Peacock
Romance is her specialty in Rivals as author Lizzie. But Katherine Parkinson own love story is off screen with actor Harry Peacock, best known for his role in Far From the Madding Crowd. They have two daughters.
Danny Dyer and Joanne Mas
Danny Dyer and his wife, Joanne Mas, have not had a traditional path to marital bliss. First getting together in their teens, the couple broke up after the birth of their daughter, Dani Dyer. But after moving onto other relationships, they started having an affair with each other and eventually reconnected officially. She took the big step and proposed to him in 2015, with the couple marrying the following year. They have since had two more children, another daughter and a son. Talk about a story made for Hollywood!
Emily Atack and Alistair Garner
Sarah Stratton may consider love to be more of a career opportunity than a partnership, but her portrayer Emily Atack has a different take on it. After filming wrapped on the first season of Rivals, Atack learned she was pregnant with her first son. He told Hello! magazine, she and her partner, Alistair Garner, had only been together four months, but were thrilled by the surprise. The couple actually knew each other as children, as his father was once married to her aunt. It wasn’t until 2023 that they started dating, and the rest is history.
Lisa McGrillis and Stuart Martin
Acting is the family business for Lisa McGrillis, who plays aspiring fashion maven Valerie Jones in Rivals, and her husband, Stuart Martin, best known for his roles in Jamestown and Miss Scarlet and The Duke. The couple met at a Christmas party for the National Theatre and have two children.
Oliver Chris and Kate Phillips
As attention-hungry host James Vereker, Oliver Chris‘ character misses all the signs of affection he’s getting from his love-starved wife Lizzie. But in real life, Chris doesn’t miss such things with his partner Kate Phillips, an actress has appeared in Wolf Hall, Downton Abbey and currently leads Miss Scarlet and The Duke (opposite her costar Lisa McGrillis’ husband, Stuart Martin). Talk about a small world! Chris and Phillips have a daughter together. He was previously engaged to actress Rachael Stirling.
Nafessa Williams
Nafessa Williams’ Rivals character Cameron Cook, the solo ambitious American in the UK’s broadcast world, has gotten her into some remarkably hot situations with some powerful men — even though we would argue she might be the dominant force in any room she is in. But off screen, not much is known about Williams’ relationships. She has been clear that she is an ally of the LGBTQ community, but doesn’t not identify as a member of it. Some fans had questioned her identity after she played Anissa Pierce, the first black lesbian superhero on television on The CW’s Black Lightning.
Bella Maclean
As Bella Maclean’s star has risen following her appearance in Sex Education and her breakout role as the headstrong, heart-first Taggie in Rivals, she has managed to keep a lid on her romantic life off screen. For now, fans will just have to enjoy the explosive chemistry between Taggie and Rupert, and give Bella her privacy.
Victoria Smurfit
She’s gone from playing Cruella du Vil on Once Upon A Time to the complicated Maud O’Hara in Rivals, but Victoria Smurfit is settling in quite nicely to her latest role: wife to businessman Steve Jacob. The Irish actress announced the pair had tied the knot in 2023 on Instagram, with a picture of her all smiles coming down the aisle. Previously, she was married to Douglas Baxter for 15 years, and has three children with him. They divorced in 2015.
