From ‘Rivals’ to ‘The Idea of You,’ 2024 Was the Year of Age-Gap Romances

Few things douse the flames of a budding romance in cold water as fast as someone saying, “You’re old enough to be her dad.” It can kill the vibe right in its tracks, at least for some people.

For Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell), such a comment is a challenge. The former show-jumping Olympian turned politician, who in and of himself is the show pony of Hulu’s Rivals, thinks age is but a number, a spectrum on which he wants to collect as many notches as possible. But when it comes to Taggie (Bella Maclean), the shy but strong-willed daughter of his newscaster neighbor Declan O’Hara (Aidan Turner), he’s suddenly aware of the dynamic their age difference poses. It’s what makes the prospect of her even more intoxicating, and not just for the reasons you probably think.