Emily Atack strips completely naked in the new Disney+ series of Jilly Cooper’s ‘bonkbuster’ Rivals.
The 34-year-old actress, who plays the wife of Deputy Prime Minister Sarah Stratton, said she found the scenes “so liberating”.
It’s a pivotal moment for Emily, who has admitted she “naively didn’t think what story was being painted for me” when she shot to fame as Charlotte ‘Big Jugs’ Hinchcliffe in The Inbetweeners 16 years ago.
The life-changing role got her instantly recognized and booked for numerous risqué photoshoots in lads’ magazines.
However, Emily was also hit by the dark side of fame, where she fell victim to online sexual harassment and fat-shaming.
Emily Atack strips completely naked in the new Disney+ series of Jilly Cooper’s ‘bonkbuster’ Rivals. The actress, 34, who plays Sarah Stratton, said she found the scenes ‘so liberating’
It’s a pivotal moment for Emily, who has admitted she ‘naively didn’t think what story was being painted for me’ when she shot to fame as Charlotte ‘Big Jugs’ in The Inbetweeners.
In Rivals, the actress strips off to play tennis with Alex Hassell’s character Rupert Campbell Black, who also stars
In Rivals, the actress strips off to play tennis with Alex Hassell’s character Rupert Campbell Black, who also plays a brilliant role.
Speaking about the racy scenes, Emily told Sky News: ‘It’s so liberating and of course there will be people who take what you do and try to spin this negative narrative on it. I’m a woman, of course people are going to do that.
“But what I have to continue to do is emphasize to people that I am exactly where I need to be, I am at work. I’m playing a role and I feel very comfortable.’
Emily added that there was an intimacy coordinator on set.
‘As soon as I read it I felt the same way I did when I first auditioned for Charlotte from The Inbetweeners; the same little sensation in my stomach of, “Oh my god, this is perfect for me,” she shared The Radio Times.
While promoting the series, the TV favorite spoke openly about her rise to The Inbetweeners and how it shaped her career.
She told me The Guardian: ‘I was a very vulnerable teenager, but there was a kind of naive confidence in me. I thought, “I need this job, I need to pay my rent.” And from that moment on, my life changed forever.”
As The Inbetweeners achieved huge success, Emily was soon booked for magazine shoots.
Based on Jilly’s 1988 novel, Rivals follows the cutthroat world of independent television in 1986
As The Inbetweeners achieved huge success, Emily was soon booked for photo shoots in lads’ magazines, but ‘naively didn’t think what story was being painted for me’
Rivals focuses on the tense rivalry between Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) and Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant)
The highly anticipated new Disney+ series, which is being hailed as a ‘bonkbuster’, is already averaging a 93% rating on the Tomatometer
She said, “This is where I get confused. And then I was confused,” Emily admitted. ‘I was told, “You have a photo shoot today” and it would be for Loaded magazine, or for FHM… So I just said, “Yeah, clothes off, bikini on. Whatever.” To be honest, I had no problem with that; I enjoyed those shoots.
‘I was celebrating my youth and my sexuality in beautiful locations, wearing beautiful underwear… and I fucking loved it. It was great. I naively didn’t think what story was being painted for me.’
Unfortunately, she soon became the target of a flood of online abuse, including fat-shaming and cyberflashing.
But to those who have suggested the actress should have seen that coming, Emily insisted she wasn’t showing herself in an “overtly sexual way” and was instead just promoting her work.
The Inbetweeners was followed by 13 films (including Get Lucky and Outside Bet), in which Emily played similar ‘totty’ roles.
Despite the mainly British films often promising that this would set the actress’ course to Hollywood, Emily recalled how a brutal encounter in LA ended with her being told she had to become a British size six to qualify for a future role.
She said: ‘Suddenly my weight was something. And since then my weight has always been an issue.’
But in 2018, her career improved significantly again after appearing on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! and won second place behind Harry Redknapp – a TV comedy series called The Emily Atack Show, and a one-woman stand-up show followed.
Emily welcomed her first child, son Barney, with her boyfriend Alistair Garner in June
However, the actress revealed how she still had to deal with trolls and critics who claimed women couldn’t be funny.
Following her experiences, Emily, who welcomed her first child, son Barney, with boyfriend Alistair Garner in June, is now “really adamant in saying that there is a big problem here: misogyny goes nowhere.”
However, that won’t stop the mother-of-one from ‘getting her kit off’ soon – with the actress recently insisting that playing a promiscuous role does not undermine her campaign to end violence against women.
The actress told The Radio Times: ‘Whatever you do, you can’t win. If you keep your clothes on you’re a stone cold nun, if you take your clothes off you’re a loser.
“But I love my job and if a role I’m playing requires nudity and it’s an integral part of the story and I’m safe, then that’s exactly where I need to be. The entire cast was warned early on that there would be nudity and sex scenes, so you knew what you were getting into.
‘These kinds of roles are fun. I’m still young and it’s okay to feel liberated. I enjoy what I do. And it’s Jilly Cooper, it’s an honor to do it.’
Based on Jilly’s 1988 novel, Rivals follows the cutthroat world of independent television in 1986.
It focuses on the tense rivalry between Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) and Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant) and stars Emily as Sarah Stratton, who is described as ambitious and not afraid to use her looks to get to the top. reaches.
According to Disney+, Rivals is a “brightly naughty rollercoaster ride, steamy in its love stories and packed with larger-than-life characters.”
The streaming service goes on to say that it brings a “2020 lens to the 1980s” and offers a “raw exploration of a complicated moment in British history when class, race, sex, wealth and sexual liberation meant there was nothing for the very privileged few there were no limits to what they could achieve’.
Rivals fans have said they are “already obsessed” with the show when it debuted on Disney+ on Friday.
The highly anticipated new Disney+ series, which is being hailed as a ‘bonkbuster’, is already averaging a 93% rating on the Tomatometer, based on rave reviews from fourteen critics.
