Archive November 11, 2025

Dame Jilly Cooper cause of death has been revealed following an inquest today.

The writer known for her “bonkbusters” including Riders, Rivals and Polo – suffered a fatal head injury during a fall at her Gloucestershire home. Dame Jilly was found by family at her home in Bisley at about 5pm on October 4.

Gloucestershire Coroners’ Court heard Dame Jilly was initially alert and transferred by paramedics to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, but her condition deteriorated. She died in hospital, with her family present, at 8.30am on October 5.

Just two days before, Jilly had visited the set of Rivals – the Disney+ adaptation of her hit novel Novel.

Katy Skerrett, senior coroner for Gloucestershire, reached a conclusion of accidental death and said Dame Jilly died as a result of a traumatic subdural haematoma.

Speaking of the last time he saw Dame Jilly on sit prior to the tragedy, actor Alex Hassell, who played Rupert Campbell-Black, on Rivals said: “We’re all devastated. 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. But we also really want to honour her and try and do our best to keep making the show as good as possible.”

Last month it was revealed that Jilly had died unexpectedly at the age of 88 after a fall at home. Her children Felix and Emily said it had come as a “complete shock”.

Tributes were paid by avid readers including the Queen, who described Dame Jilly as a “legend” and a “wonderfully witty and compassionate friend to me and so many”.

Dame Jilly was a long-standing friend of Camilla, and the author based her fictional seducer and showjumping lothario Rupert Campbell-Black partly on the Queen’s ex-husband Andrew Parker Bowles.

Camilla said in a message released by Buckingham Palace: “Very few writers get to be a legend in their own lifetime but Jilly was one, creating a whole new genre of literature and making it her own through a career that spanned over five decades.

“In person she was a wonderfully witty and compassionate friend to me and so many – and it was a particular pleasure to see her just a few weeks ago at my Queen’s Reading Room Festival where she was, as ever, a star of the show.

“I join my husband the King in sending our thoughts and sympathies to all her family. And may her hereafter be filled with impossibly handsome men and devoted dogs.” The message was signed “Camilla R”.

Dame Jilly was known for her steamy fiction focusing on scandal and adultery in upper class society.

Her hit titles included Riders, Rivals, Polo, Mount! and The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, along with her most recent work Tackle!

Her children Felix and Emily said in a statement: “Mum was the shining light in all of our lives. Her love for all of her family and friends knew no bounds.

“Her unexpected death has come as a complete shock. We are so proud of everything she achieved in her life and can’t begin to imagine life without her infectious smile and laughter all around us.”

Adam Peaty’s heartbroken mum has broken her silence after being banned from Holly Ramsay’s hen-do. A family feud has erupted weeks before the couple’s big day after Caroline Peaty was missed off the guestlist.

In a post to Instagram, Caroline fumed “The ones I love are the people that hurt me the most” after she wasn’t invited to Holly’s star-studded bachelorette party.

Holly invited her own mum Tana, family friend Victoria Beckham and Adam’s sister to celebrate with her and her friends at Soho Farmhouse over the weekend. However, Caroline was devastated not to have been included.

The mum took to Instagram to fume: “When you love someone, you protect them from that pain. You don’t become the cause of it.”

She captioned her message: “The ones I love are the people that hurt me the most.”

Caroline also liked a comment from one of her followers that read: “How awful for you! Hopefully one day he will realise that loving mums should be held in high regard. No woman should try to stop that.”

Olympian Adam has been very close to his mum who has championed his career. A source close to the family say he has distanced himself from Caroline after being ‘seduced’ by the fame of the Ramsays.
Adam chose to invite future father-in-law Gordon Ramsay to his own stag night while his mother was not asked to attend his bride’s celebrations in the Cotswolds.

His aunt Louise Williams exposed the heartbreak by hitting out at Holly in a public Instagram post which accused her of being ‘divisive and hurtful’.

Louise furiously called out Holly over the snub saying Caroline has ‘opened her home and heart to you.’

Her post stated: ‘@hollyramsayy I’m so glad that you had a great hen do. As a bride, you deserve that. However, as a person you were divisive and hurtful towards a woman, who I have loved and continue to love deeply.

‘A woman who opened her home and heart to you. You decided, for whatever reason, not to invite her, your prospective mother-in-law to your hen night yet Adam invited his father-in-law, your dad, to his stag night.

‘You invited your mum (quite rightly) and even your mum’s assistant, your sisters, your friends, my niece, but not my sister, your future mother-in-law.

“I have also seen messages passing between her and Adam about this and other matters and, quite frankly, I expected better of you and definitely of Adam. You have inflicted a hurt on my sister that will take a very long time to heal if ever.”

Adam and Holly have been dating for two years and are due to get married before Christmas.

Joel Dommett candidly opens up about his two-year-old son Wilde and his relationship with wife Hannah Cooper as the family head to Australia for new jungle spin-off show

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He faced his own gruesome Bushtucker Trials back in 2016 and hosted I’m A Celebrity spin-off show Extra Camp for three years from 2017 to 2019. Now comedian and presenter Joel Dommett is heading back down under to present new jungle spin-off I’m A Celebrity… Unpacked and he tells us it’s a relief not to have to eat any weird bugs this time round.

Joel, 40, is bringing his wife, model Hannah Cooper, 36, and their two-year-old son Wilde along for the adventure. But despite the name, Joel admits their little man is as laid-back as they come. “He’s very chill, and I do realise we’re very lucky with that,” he says. “I suspect if we were to have another, they would be an absolute nightmare.”

READ MORE: Cat Deeley’s exact This Morning jumper dress from River Island is still available

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The presenter has taken to fatherhood like a duck to water. “Wilde is so fun. I just love hanging out with him,” he says. “It’s such a mad thing where I just feel like my wife’s given birth to a little best friend. It’s just the dream.”

While Joel, who also hosts The Masked Singer , admits he’s a tad “bored of singing the Postman Pat theme tune”, his son makes up for it by constantly making him laugh. “He’s obsessed with trucks but can’t say the word truck and instead says the word c**k, so that’s funny,” he reveals. “He just points at big trucks and says ‘big c**k’ really loud in the high street. It’s hilarious, while also being embarrassing for me and his mother.”

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Joel and Hannah’s love story began back in 2016, when Hannah cheekily slid into his DMs after he finished as runner-up on I’m A Celebrity . They instantly hit it off and Joel popped the question a year later. They tied the knot in 2019 at a stunning beachfront ceremony in Mykonos. Welcoming baby Wilde a few years later was the perfect next chapter, Joel says.

Although he doesn’t have any big secrets when it comes to a happy marriage, he does believe that “honesty is key”. “I also think it’s taking time to speak to each other and properly communicating at the end of the day, which is difficult when you’re a parent,” he says.

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Asked if the challenges of parenthood ever cause friction between them, he confesses, “Luckily, Hannah and I are pretty much on the same wavelength, but parenting is so all-consuming. The whole thing is hard, it’s just exhausting to be honest. We haven’t got the energy to fight, even if we wanted to!”

Almost a decade after his own jungle stint, when he shared the campsite with the likes of Larry Lamb, Carol Vorderman and eventual winner Scarlett Moffatt, Joel is feeling the full-circle moment as he returns to host the sister show.

“I’m really excited to be back. I can’t quite believe it’s coming up to 10 years since I did the jungle myself,” he says. “It’s really, really nice to round off those 10 years and to still be going back there after so long, it’s amazing. And seeing fresh people going in and seeing their enjoyment (and non-enjoyment as well)… it’s just so lovely to see it through their eyes.”

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He sweetly describes his Unpacked co-host Kemi Rodgers as “so easy to work with”, and admits their show is much harder to create than it might appear on the telly.

“In reality, you’re travelling there in the mad weather, for a start. Last year we had crazy floods and you’re writing the show about a show that’s not finished yet. Also, there’s the time zone difference. I’m getting up at midnight and then working through the night until 10 o’clock in the morning.”

But he adds, “It’s genuinely an incredible team and it’s like a proper army operation to get that TV show into your living room. It’s really, really amazing.”

Joel believes I’m A Celeb is one of the absolute highlights of TV viewing throughout the year as it’s unlike any other show.

“What is amazing about it are the different people’s reactions to the trials and the hunger. They’re what make the show so special. You have certain people who take it in their stride and others who immediately say, ‘I’m a celebrity… get me out of here!’

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“You have people who scream and others who just close their eyes and zone out. It just brings these celebrities out of their comfort zones and you see a side of them that you would never see on any other show. It’s so captivating and ridiculous and fun.”

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Joking that his favourite contestant during his own stint was himself, he then admits with a giggle that his favourite campmate was one of his best friends, actor Adam Thomas. “He was the perfect campmate. He was so joyful and his laugh was so infectious, and he sort of kept the camp really buoyant and fun, but also had that side of vulnerability about him. That’s what I think is a perfect campmate, someone who shows that vulnerable side, but brings true joy at the same time.”

Would Joel be willing to step back in as a contestant in an All Stars series, if he were asked? “Never say never,” he says with a smile. “It would get me off my mobile phone for a while.”