Rivals: Season 2: Review

Dame Jilly Cooper's bonkbuster returns for another round after its rip-roaring success back in 2024.

In this second series, there's no sign of the stakes letting up, either dramatically or in terms of what audiences expect when it comes to sex romps and passion within the fictional county of Rutshire.

Picking up after its cliffhanger which saw Lord Tony Baddingham (a cigar-chomping, scenery-chewing David Tennant) lying in a pool of his own blood after being hit across the head by a wronged colleague and MP Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) finally acting on his impulses for his colleague's daughter Taggie (Bella Maclean), there's a lot to get into in this unabashedly hedonistic 1980s set OTT drama which delights in its OTT nature.

Of the three episodes of season two which were made available for review, it's fair to say that the second time around, there's no compunction from the writers and the cast about embracing the absurdity of the setting and the drama's premise, with the latest high-production series feeling like a trashy soap at the high-end of its game.

It has to be said, those who were not fans of the first series won't find anything new to enjoy here, with more episodes and even more parochial fighting between the two groups fighting for a lucrative TV franchise as the incumbent Corinium (led by Baddingham) takes on the upstarts of Venturer.

At the heart of Rivals Season 2, there's a deliciousness of interplay between the main leads. You can't dispute that Tennant's having a ball playing the villain, and there's a level of malevolence this time that he just manages to pull back from being too cartoony. While Hassell and Turner (as former Baddingham employee Declan O'Hara) seem to be trying to elicit more sympathy this time around, there's a softness and more emotional resonance to their characters throughout.

And while Taggie continues to pine for Rupert (a thread that rapidly feels like it's losing its audience, thanks to its overplaying), the women on the periphery of this come more to the fore. From Emily Atack's TV host Sarah through to Lady Baddingham (Clare Rushbrook) and Declan's wife (Victoria Smurfit), the arcs are a little stronger and more enticing rather than just shoulder pads and lustful eye-candy.

It's perhaps here that among the 80s precision needle drops Rivals' second season feels like it's embracing its own DNA and expanding it out to cover all of the cast, as opposed to just some of the key players. 

Because of that, Rivals remains an evolution of its trashy, soapy UK premise - it's a riotously OTT romp that's watchable, yet highly disposable fare.

Rivals season two premieres on Disney+ on Friday, May 15.