THERE’S A SPECIFIC joy in watching a show that knows exactly what it is, and behaves accordingly. Rivals is that very show – a Jilly Cooper adaptation that wears its naughty side on its sleeve.

Yet at the same time, the series – which returns for season two on Disney+ this weekend – doesn’t talk down to its characters or its audience. We’re not made to feel bad for wanting to watch something that leans towards frothy, and the show relishes in giving us exactly what we want.

And what do we want? For starters, characters who are often quite clueless about their own idiocy, motivated as they are by pure self-interest. Megalomanical businessman who’d sell their own granny to win a deal. Love affairs that are as steamy as they are forbidden. Politicians with nary a brain cell to rub against another brain cell.

The show hands us all of this on a plate and asks us to eat up. So before the first episode of season two is over, we have experienced full-frontal male nudity, at least two thwarted love affairs, threats between business rivals, an unplanned pregnancy and an on-air puke.

There was a time when Jilly Cooper’s novels were read in their droves but also sniffed at. As if women’s interest in the books showed that their poor little brains couldn’t cope with anything intellectual.

But it takes brains to be that good at ripping apart a specific part of society in such a specific way. Rivals the TV series shows how good Cooper was at taking the mick out of a community she knew well, while also giving us juicy love affairs and despotic behaviour. If it’s an entertaining romp you want, Rivals provides. And you’ll be glad to know that season two is perhaps even more juicy than its predecessor.

Delicious romp

Bella Maclean as Taggie O'Hara Artist Artist

To make Rivals sing, you need a cast who are able to strike a very specific tone. They need to lean into the absurdity, amp up the comic behaviour, but pull things back and become more human when required.

Oh, to be able to access footage of what it’s like on set at the show. Watching this latest season, you just know that the actors are grabbing their roles with gusto. David Tennant is clearly delighting in playing the terrible Lord Tony Baddingham, whose grasp on power feels ever more tenuous as he recovers from an attack at the end of season one.

Meanwhile, his nemesis Alex Hassell manages to inject some humanity into his portrayal of the woman-obsessed, self-absorbed toff Rupert Campbell-Black.

Then there’s our own Aidan Turner, who continues to put on his best brogue to play Declan O’Hara, who’s able to cast a cold eye over the antics of his neighbours. In season one, O’Hara was headhunted to work at Corinium, owned by Baddingham, but by the end had left to form rival TV production company Venturer. There’s a nice little subplot in season two involving Venturer wanting to make a Yeats documentary that’ll keep the Irish fans happy. (The lead writer for the series, Dominic Treadwell-Collins, has an Irish father, it has to be added.)

Emily Atack gets to shine this season as the bubbly and ambitious Sarah Stratton, and though Victoria Smurfit doesn’t get a lot of airtime, she brings the airy Maud O’Hara down to earth while also showing the sparkiness that her husband finds so appealing (even if he’s too selfish to really do right by her).

It can be a hard task to balance the nod-nod-wink-wink tone that Rivals demands, and sometimes Nafessa Williams (who plays Cameron Cook) and new addition Haley Atwell (who plays Campbell-Black’s ex-wife Helen Gordon) find that balance a little harder to manage than their colleagues. 

Taggie O’Hara (Bella Maclean) provides a grounding force throughout season two. She’s one of the few characters who isn’t duplicitous, which admittedly makes it hard to understand her ongoing attraction to Campbell-Black. But then again, she tunes him into the softer emotions that he’s rarely called on to display otherwise. Their age gap is a bit discomfiting, but somehow the show makes it work. In episode two, Taggie is able to disarm Campbell-Black into becoming someone who – shock, horror! – is caring and honest without having an ulterior motive, which is a nice surprise for the audience.

When it comes to other characters, the introduction of Maxim Ays as Sebbie Carlisle and Bobby Lockwood as Dommie Carlisle, chummy-but-dim twin polo players, adds a nice streak of ridiculousness. 

Rivals is at its most riveting when it’s sending up the habits of posh folk: their accents, their dinner parties, their backcombed hair, silly sports and Laura Ashley dresses. The show is great at highlighting the casual sexism prevalent in the 1980s, and how casually a stupid remark could be made. These moments feel like they’re punching up rather than down, showing how the men making such comments are buffoons.

Humour and pathos

Rivals could coast along on humour alone and leave us enjoying how it skewers rich, stupid people. But it’s the moments of pathos that keep things interesting, such as the secret love affair between Lizzie Vereker (Katherine Parkinson) and Freddie Jones (Danny Dyer). This pair are sweet and cute, and watching them try not to be together is one of the most endearing parts of the series.

The series continues to be beautifully shot, with bright colours and gaudy patterns throughout. The score punches up the drama with operatic and classical flourishes when it demands, or else provides catchy 80s hits to keep the tone flying. These all come to the fore in episode three, when Campbell-Black, just before the polls open for an election, finds his past behaviour under scrutiny. 

The dialogue is also pitch-perfect. Lines like “I hope you lose your seat to the Monster Raving Loonies”, “I thought you couldn’t stand peacocks – you say they look like rats in ballgowns” and “you want me to enjoy an evening of Ibsen – on the day of an election?” made this reviewer hoot with laughter.

Every episode zips along with the energy of Campbell-Black’s lovemaking (how do I know? Well, rest assured: we’re shown that in detail in episode two), with not a scene or piece of dialogue wasted. Rivals correctly deduces that a blend of nostalgia, hubris, and sauciness is the dose of escapism we all need in 2026. Ridiculous but also sublime, Rivals is just the tonic. 

The first three episodes of the second season of Rivals are streaming on Disney+ now.