''The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous'' (1993) is a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

written by

Jilly Cooper Jilly Cooper, CBE (born 21 February 1937), is an English author. She began her career as a journalist and wrote numerous works of non-fiction before writing several romance novels, the first of which appeared in 1975. She is most famous for wr ...

as part of the

Rutshire Chronicles The Rutshire Chronicles is a series of romantic novels by Jilly Cooper. The stories tell tales of mainly British upper-class families, as well as the show-jumping and polo crowd, in numerous different sexually charged scenarios, often laced with a ...

, about a womanizer who gets embroiled in a scheme to punish wayward husbands. The book was first published in hardback in 1993 and then in paperback in April 1994, and was later adapted into a

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

Plot summary

Lysander Hawkley has a knack for trying to help the helpless, even if the helpless is a bored housewife. After his father refuses to lend him any money, his friend, Ferdie, comes up with a scheme to make money out of his womanizing: to help wives make their wandering husbands jealous. The plan, in theory, is simple: to make bored husbands realise why they had fallen in love with their wives in the first place.

Film adaptation

In 1997, a TV miniseries version was produced for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

Anglia Television ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...

, starring

Stephen Billington Stephen Billington (born 10 December 1964) is an English actor, best known for playing Greg Kelly in ''Coronation Street'' (for which he won the 1999 British Soap Award for Villain of the Year). Career Born in Farnworth, Lancashire, Billingto ...

as ''Lysander Hawkley'',

Hugh Bonneville Hugh Richard Bonneville Williams (born 10 November 1963) is an English actor. He is best known for portraying Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, in the ITV historical drama series ''Downton Abbey''. His performance on the show earned him a nom ...

as ''Ferdinand Fitzgerald '', and

Rhona Mitra Rhona is the name of: * Rhona Adair (1878–1961), British golf champion * Rhona Bennett (born 1976), American singer, actress and model * Rhona Brankin (born 1950), Labour Co-operative politician and Member of the Scottish Parliament * Rhona Bro ...

as ''Flora Seymour''. Other cast members included

Gilly Coman Gilly Coman (13 September 1955 – 13 July 2010) was an English people, English actress, who played Aveline in the first four series of Carla Lane's sitcom ''Bread (TV series), Bread''. She also appeared in ''Scully (TV series), Scully'', ' ...

as the Marigold,

Kim Criswell Kim Criswell (born July 19, 1957) is an American musical entertainer and actress. Life and career Criswell was born in Hampton, Virginia, United States, and grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. After she graduated from Hixson High School in subur ...

as Georgie, and Kate Byers as Kitty Rannaldini. It was directed by Robert Knights and executive produced by Sarah Lawson, under her company

Lawson Productions Sarah Lawson (7 October 1955 – 8 November 2008) was an English film producer, radio producer and screenwriter. Career From 1982 to 1985, she was vice president of planning and development for DL Taffner Ltd, Los Angeles, and from 1995 to 1996 ...

, and Neil Zeiger for Blue Heaven Productions. The producer was Irving Teitelbaum.">"The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous" (1997) (mini)
/ref> It was adapted by Harvey Bamberg and Andrew MacLear.

References

External links

Rotten Tomatoes Page
1993 British novels Novels by Jilly Cooper English novels Bantam Books books {{1990s-novel-stub