Alex Hassell Shares Jilly Coopers Racy Humor

Alex Hassell has reflected on his fondest memories of the late Jilly Cooper, opening up on the author's 'very risqué' sense of humour and revealing her final heartfelt words to him, that still make him emotional.

The actor, 45, plays the lead role of Rupert Campbell-Black in raunchy Disney+ series, Rivals, based on Jilly's series of 'bonkbuster' novels - which is returning for a second outing on Friday.

In October, while production was underway on series two, Jilly passed away at the age of 88, following a fall at her home in Bisley, Gloucestershire, leaving the cast devastated.

In a new interview with Style magazine, Alex reminisced over his relationship with the famous writer, revealing the very rude joke she once came out with that left him in stitches.

He recalled a photoshoot he'd done with co-stars (Freddie Jones), Luke Pasqualino (Bas Baddingham) and Brendan Patricks (Henry Hampshire) last year, with all four of them kitted out in their polo gear.

'Jilly was there and, obviously, she loved all the men and would say very openly how much she thought we were all really sexy in our polo outfits,' he explained. 

'So we were like, "Come in this photo," and Danny made a very rude joke about the idea that Jilly would potentially, you know, like all of us. And Jilly said it would be "a gran bang". She just came out with it like that and we all howled with laughter.'

After at first being unsure about how daring they could be around her, Alex said the cast soon realised the answer was 'very, very risqué'.

The Wasteman star said the news of Jilly's tragic passing hit him hard and admitted he still becomes tearful when he thinks of their final conversation.

'I was really knocked by it,' he recalled. 'I was at home, some people were on set, and the decision was made to carry on because it meant so much to her that it was being made. 

'The last thing she said to me was that she was so glad I’m her Rupert and so proud of me. Then she got into her car and drove away, and it makes me want to well up talking about it.'

Alex previously revealed Jilly visited the set of Rivals just two days before her 'sudden' death and shared his and the cast's hopes that series two would be a fitting tribute to her.

'We're all devastated,' he told Metro in October. 'She was on set just the week before and, obviously, her voice and her character and her sense of creativity were such a huge driving force of the show in terms of the source material.

'She would okay everything, or we would hear that things have changed because she didn't think that certain things characters do are quite right or representative of her view of the characters.'

Alex added that Jilly was still able to see 'every single' script for Rivals before it was filmed, and had already shared her thoughts on season two's first three episodes.

He went on: 'We also really want to honour her, as you say, and try and do our best to keep making the show as good as possible.

'And really, season two is so much [more] interesting because it's bigger, it's funnier, it's darker, it's more serious, it's more challenging. It's brighter as well, it's wilder. It's everything pulled into it, every dimension.'