Best of Rivals! Stars of TV bonkbuster show they are just as naughty off-screen

It’s the sexiest series to hit our television screens in years. And – as these pictures show – it seems the cast of Rivals had just as much fun even when the cameras weren’t rolling.

Instagram snaps reveal the actors joking around between takes while filming the Disney+ adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s 1980s bonkbuster.

In one photo, Emily Atack, 34, who plays the deputy prime minister’s wife Sarah Stratton, poses in a florescent-pink mini dress alongside 44-year-old Alex Hassell – lothario Rupert Campbell-Black in the drama.

Instagram snaps reveal the actors joking around between takes while filming the Disney+ adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s 1980s bonkbuster

In one photo, Emily Atack , 34, who plays the deputy prime minister’s wife Sarah Stratton, poses in a florescent-pink mini dress alongside 44-year-old Alex Hassell

Other photos show Ms Atack, Oliver Chris (James Vereker) and Milo Callaghan (Seb Burrows) in their swimsuits during a pool party scene

In another, Danny Dyer , 47, cast as tech mogul Freddie Jones, makes a V-sign at the camera next to Ms Atack, who is wearing oversized sunglasses 

As these pictures show it seems the cast of Rivals had just as much fun even when the cameras weren’t rolling

Lisa McGrillis who plays Valerie Jones manspreads across the entire settee as she unwinds between takes

Behind the scenes snaps show the silly antics of the cast with Catriona Chandler who plays Caitlin O’Hara posing with boobs on her head

David Tennant who plays Lord Tony Baddingham is seen scooting around on a vehicle

In another, Danny Dyer, 47, cast as tech mogul Freddie Jones, makes a V-sign at the camera next to Ms Atack, who is wearing oversized sunglasses and a less fetching hairnet.

Meanwhile, the fictional O’Hara family – played by Aidan Turner, 41, Bella Maclean, 26, and Catriona Chandler, 22 – pose happily with their on-screen dog Gertrude. 

Other photos show Ms Maclean (Taggie O’Hara) and Gary Lamont, who plays Charles Fairburn, messing around with their costumes, and Ms Atack, Oliver Chris (James Vereker) and Milo Callaghan (Seb Burrows) in their swimsuits during a pool party scene.

Last month, Ms Atack insisted ‘the world needed’ the eight-part Rivals as an escape from reality, saying: ‘I think the world needs this at the moment and it is escapism. It touches on really sensitive subjects and it does it brilliantly.’