Bella Maclean Adds No-Nudity Clause to Rivals Deal
The 28-year-old actress says the clause protects her character Taggie O'Hara from sexual exploitation as Rivals returns to Disney+.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Sex Life
Bella Maclean said she included a no-nudity clause in her contract for the Disney+ drama Rivals, which she plays in. The new season returns to the streaming platform on November 11.
Why it matters
Maclean said the clause reflects the purity of her character and her unwillingness to sexually exploit either the role or herself. The comments add to ongoing industry conversations about intimacy clauses in television contracts.
The clause was described by Maclean in an interview with Harper's Bazaar rather than through a studio statement. Rivals is an adaptation of Jilly Cooper's Rutshire Chronicles, and the extraction does not indicate whether the clause was negotiated with Disney+ or applies to other performers.
The players
Bella Maclean
A 28-year-old British actress who plays Taggie O'Hara in Rivals and has also appeared in Netflix's Sex Education and the BBC crime drama Silent Witness.
Jilly Cooper
The late English author whose Rutshire Chronicles novel series inspired the Rivals adaptation and who died in October 2025 at age 88.
Disney+
The streaming service that carries Rivals, the Disney-owned platform on which the new season premieres.
The details
Maclean said she added the no-nudity clause to her contract for Rivals, a Disney+ adaptation of Jilly Cooper's Rutshire Chronicles novels. She explained the decision in an interview with Harper's Bazaar, saying it was important because of the purity of her character Taggie O'Hara.
Timeline
October 2025: Jilly Cooper, author of the Rutshire Chronicles, died at age 88.
1986: The year in which Rivals is set, in the world of independent television.
November 11: The new season of Rivals returns to Disney+.
Industry Context
Maclean's clause reflects the growing use of intimacy clauses, which let performers negotiate limits on nudity and simulated sex in their contracts. Her decision places a personal contract term at the center of a streaming adaptation of a long-running novel series.
Viewers can stream the new season of Rivals on Disney+ beginning November 11. The no-nudity clause affects how the character is portrayed on screen rather than changing the subscription or release terms for audiences.
The takeaway
Performers increasingly use contract terms to define how their characters are portrayed, and Maclean's clause shows how a single negotiated provision can shape an entire role. Readers interested in the subject can track how similar terms appear in future productions.
What happens next
The new season of Rivals returns to Disney+ on November 11, 2026, when the storylines shaped by these contract terms will become visible to viewers.
Further reading
For more on how performers handle intimacy on screen, see Sex Life.
