Author Dame Jilly Cooper, who sadly died yesterday after a fall aged 88, delighted her loyal fans with a surprise cameo appearance in Disney's adaption of her best-selling novel Rivals.
The 'Queen of the bonkbuster' was famed for her raunchy romance books, selling more than 12million copies throughout her glittering career.
She was best known for her book series The Rutshire Chronicles which follows a group of wealthy and mostly upper-class families embroiled in scandals, often of a sexual nature.
The second and most famous installation Rivals, published in 1988, was adapted for television by Disney+.
Last October, Dame Jilly's fans were over-joyed when they spotted a blink-and-you'll-miss it cameo by the author herself in the programme.
They noticed her in episode five, just as the character of Lizzie Vereker (Katherin Parkinson) is having the most salacious parts of her latest novel read out in a restaurant.
As the racy scene is read out, the camera pans in on a fellow diner - Dame Jilly - who flashes a cheeky giggle as the racy lines are read out.
Keen-eyed viewers took to social media to point out the moment the Rutshire Chronicles writer playfully appeared on screen.
Dame Jilly made a cameo appearance in episode five of the Disney+ adaptation of her novel Rivals
The Rutshire Chronicles (pictured) author sadly passed away aged 88 on Sunday after a fall
'ADORE that Jilly Cooper has a cameo in #Rivals', wrote one, while another added: 'The Jilly Cooper cameo is perfection. The whole thing is a blast - camp as Christmas!'
One fan wrote: 'Yep. Loved it when she popped up. And at just the perfect moment.'
The show features a star-studded cast of David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Emily Atack and Danny Dyer, Katherine Parkinson, Oliver Chris and Claire Rushbrook.
The story is set in 1986 and follows the cut throat world of television, including the tense rivalry between Rupert Campbell-Black (Hassell) and Lord Tony Baddingham (Tennant).
And, during a series of parties and luncheons in Lord Baddingham's country pile, steamy affairs and star-crossed yearnings are explored.
Dame Jilly's children Felix and Emily said her death on Sunday morning has come as a 'complete shock'.
They 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.'
The racy eight-part series is based on Jilly Cooper's raunchy 1988 novel, and follows the cutthroat world of independent television in 1986.
Dame Jilly Cooper's agent Felicity Blunt issued a similarly warm tribute, saying the author was 'sharply observant and utter fun'.
In a signal of how she remained very active in her later years, Dame Jilly held a party for the cast at her home in Gloucestershire in August.
Also among the attendees was friend Andrew-Parker Bowles, the former husband of Queen Camilla.
The 'famously naughty' former Army officer is said to have been the inspiration for Campbell-Black.
The novelist lost her husband, Leo Cooper, to Parkinson's disease in 2013.
The author had known him since she was nine years old and refused to send him into a care home even when his condition worsened.
Dame Jilly confessed that she only continued to write novels in her later life to pay for her husband's medical bills.
Her agent Ms Blunt said in reaction to her death: 'The privilege of my career has been working with a woman who has defined culture, writing and conversation since she was first published over fifty years ago.'
'Jilly will undoubtedly be best remembered for her chart-topping series The Rutshire Chronicles and its havoc-making and handsome show-jumping hero Rupert Campbell-Black.'
'You wouldn't expect books categorised as bonkbusters to have so emphatically stood the test of time but Jilly wrote with acuity and insight about all things - class, sex, marriage, rivalry, grief and fertility.'
'Her plots were both intricate and gutsy, spiked with sharp observations and wicked humour.'
'She regularly mined her own life for inspiration and there was something Austenesque about her dissections of society, its many prejudices and norms.'
'But if you tried to pay her this compliment, or any compliment, she would brush it aside.'
'She wrote, she said, simply 'to add to the sum of human happiness'. In this regard as a writer she was and remains unbeatable.'
She added: 'Emotionally intelligent, fantastically generous, sharply observant and utter fun Jilly Cooper will be deeply missed by all at Curtis Brown and on the set of Rivals.'
'I have lost a friend, an ally, a confidante and a mentor. But I know she will live forever in the words she put on the page and on the screen.'
The executive producers of the Disney+ adaptation of Dame Jilly's novel Rivals have said they are 'broken-hearted' at the news of her death.
Dominic Treadwell-Collins and Alex Lamb said: 'We are broken-hearted. Jilly was and always will be one of the world's greatest storytellers, and it has been the most incredible honour to have been able to work with her to adapt her incredible novels for television.'
'Crawling around on her sitting room floor with storylines on pieces of paper, sitting up late at her kitchen table holding hands with love and our tummies with laughter, receiving scoldings and heaps of wisdom in equal measure, watching her eyes sparkling as she sat behind the monitor on set watching Rutshire brought to life - every moment spent with Jilly Cooper was bloody marvellous.'
'We have been so lucky to be able to call her our friend - and know that her legacy will endure in her writing, her television and the encouragement to have fun that she gave us all.'
The pair act as executive producers on the hit series which is produced by Happy Prince.
Queen Camilla said in a message: 'I was so saddened to learn of Dame Jilly's death last night.
'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'.
Rivals features a star-studded cast of David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Emily Atack and Danny Dyer, Katherine Parkinson, Oliver Chris and Claire Rushbrook
Dame Jilly Cooper and her husband Leo, who died in 2013 aged 79, pictured together in 2013
Dame Jilly pictured with husband Leo Cooper and their son Felix with his wife Edwina in 2001
Born in Hornchurch, Essex in 1937, Dame Jilly grew up in Yorkshire and attended the private Godolphin School in Salisbury.
Her father was a brigadier and her family moved to London in the 1950s where she became a reporter on The Middlesex Independent when she was 20.
She has said she moved to public relations and was sacked from 22 jobs before ending up in book publishing.
Her work has been adapted at various points, including an ITV series of The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous with Coronation Street star Stephen Billington and Downton Abbey actor Hugh Bonneville, while Marcus Gilbert starred in a Riders series during the 1990s.
She won the inaugural Comedy Women in Print lifetime achievement award in 2019 and was made a dame for her services to literature and charity in 2024.
Dame Jilly's funeral will be private in line with her wishes, according to her agent.
A public service of thanksgiving will be held in the coming months in Southwark Cathedral to celebrate her life, with a separate announcement made in due course.