Marathon training leaves Lisa McGrillis ‘sore’ not cinched for Rivals return

Lisa McGrillis hoped marathon training would help her fit into the snatched waist outfits favoured by her Rivals character Valerie Jones but said it has just left her “sore”.

McGrillis is running the TCS London Marathon on April 27 for the British Heart Foundation with her best friend Mary Cann following the death of Mary’s husband Nigel from a heart attack last year.

She will then start filming the second series of the Disney+ drama based on Dame Jilly Cooper’s 1988 novel in which she plays social climbing Valerie, the wife of self-made electronics businessman Freddie Jones (Danny Dyer).

“I start filming Rivals maybe a week or two after I finish the marathon,” she told the PA news agency.

“Before any job, especially with a character like Valerie in Rivals – she’s meant to be like a little mouse and I don’t think I am really like a little mouse –  you always think ‘I need to lose a bit of weight to get into those costumes’. All my costumes are quite snatched at the waist.

“I was thinking ‘I’m going to be so slim for starting Rivals, I’ll be ready to go, ready for those lovely high-waisted 80s snatched-in trousers but actually quite the opposite, I’m eating like a horse.

“It’s not quite having the effect on my body I wanted it to, it’s just making it feel sore.”

McGrillis is looking forward to returning to the role of Cotchester boutique owner Valerie who is mocked by the social elite of Rutshire, a fictional county in the Cotwolds.

“I loved playing Valerie. Everything about her,” she told PA.

“I love really escaping into a role like that which is so far away from me, I say it’s so far away from me, I think there needs to be a bit of Valerie in me for sure.

“She’s such a fun character to play. I love the Joneses, they are the new money, the nouveau riche in Rutshire and she stands out like a sore thumb in the best possible way. She is talked about a lot is Valerie.

“I feel like all I did really was turn up in a ridiculous outfit, pull a face and then leave. Job done. I can’t complain.”

McGrillis said she loves wearing Valerie’s eye-catching outfits.

“Ray Holman who is the designer, he is such a joy to to work with because it’s a real collaboration,” she told PA.

“You’ve got this whole rail of amazing costumes and you put it on ‘does that feel like Valerie?’ ‘no this blouse doesn’t really feel Valerie’. Then the most garish designer suit comes out and you’re like ‘this feels Valerie’.

“Everything that she wears is expensive. It’s like the height of fashion which has gone a bit too far which is so brilliant.”

McGrillis said the “pure escapism” of Rivals contributed to its success.

“We want to escape in the 80s world of Rutshire and watch people having affairs but also laugh at the snobbery and the upper classes. It’s all just quite tongue in cheek.

“I can understand why it was so popular. It had such a banging soundtrack as well and all the costumes, just the 80s in general, they didn’t shy away from it, it was so bold and bright and blissful.”

McGrillis said she is “very excited” to start series two “because it’s just the most fun job ever”.

“There were no egos, no hierarchy, everybody was just treated the same and everybody just had such a lovely time.

“Everyone is just champing at the bit to get back and do it again because it was so much fun.”

McGrillis already knew Oliver Chris (TV host James Vereker), who played her husband in medical drama Maternal, and said she made “some brilliant friends” filming series one.

“When a show is fun like that, it’s quite contagious. There’s so much joy in it and Dominic Treadwell-Collins who created it, he is such an extraordinary man, such an amazing showrunner and person that he makes every single cog in that machine feel well oiled.

“Everybody on that show, cast, crew, is treated with real respect and admiration and he makes everyone feel really special and important.

“It’s a lovely feeling like that when you’re at work ’cause it’s a real shared experience then and everyone feels good about being there and confident.

“It’s such a lovely environment to be part of.”

She added: “I’m so excited to see what happens in series two. I kind of know a little bit about my character’s storylines.

“We’ve got a read through a few days before the marathon. It will be really fun to hear it out loud and see what happens to everyone.

“All these die-hard Jilly Cooper fans, they know exactly what’s coming.”

In series one, Valerie’s husband became close to James Vereker’s wife Lizzie (Katherine Parkinson).

“There’s lots of characters in the show. There’s something like 40 core cast,” said McGrillis.

“There’s a lot of storylines and you’ve got to nurture them all. Obviously there’s the fall-out of the affair, the Freddie and Lizzie affair.

“I’m intrigued to know how that’s going to play out. Whether Valerie will find out or how she finds out or whether the affair continues or if it doesn’t. All of that stuff we don’t know yet but will do at the read through.

“I love a bit of drama.”

– Lisa and Mary are running to raise vital funds for the British Heart Foundation’s lifesaving research to help keep more families together longer. To donate visit: https://2025tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/lisa-and-mary.