The great and good of British telly romp their way through a deliciously entertaining tale of sexy nonsense. Hereās our Rivals episode 1 review.
A decade or so after the on-demand revolution, the streaming industry has finally eaten its own tail. Rivals is the closest thing to a terrestrial TV drama we’ve seen in years. After years of experimentation, talent-pilfering and moves to make streaming the new Hollywood, Disney+ has settled on remaking Showtime’s The Tudors in the 80s.
Based on Jilly Cooper’s 1988 erotic novel of the same name, the show follows the scheming, scandal and sex-lives of the poshest people you’ve ever seen as they politicise their way around 80s commercial TV juggernaut, Corinium – and the sexy, venom-tipped rivalry at its centre.
David Tennant’s new money oik, Lord Tony Baddingham, has built his media empire from the ground up, and therefore has a hereditary wealth-shaped chip on his shoulder. Ready to exploit that chip is Alex Hassell’s Rupert Campbell-Black, a former equestrian who wears his shirts open to the nipples and induces the female orgasm with a look. Aidan Turner provides the obligatory ‘bit of rough’ as left-wing firebrand Declan O’Hara, a Paxman-like interviewer pilfered from the BBC with the promise Corinium will let him expose politicians’ affairs on live TV, dammit!
Inconveniently, all involved live in a trio of mansions in the same slice of idyllic Gloucestershire countryside doubling for the fictional county of Rutshire (this is very funny). If the first episode is anything to go by, this means our gang will be spending a lot of time hosting extravagant garden parties and seducing each other’s spouses. It’s as if Downton Abbey were catapulted forward 60 years and began with Hugh Bonneville bonking in a Concorde toilet.
You could hardly accuse it of being subtle. The ridiculously star-studded cast are clearly having a blast hamming up to the nines and introducing the world to their buttocks. Rivals is pure, uncensored, candy-cane nonsense; it’s also (like the presumably frightening number of STIs going around) difficult not to find contagious.
Read more: Rivals episode 2 review | A pavlova response
In an era of increasing prudishness on TV, why not enjoy a bit of harmless filth every now and then? The show’s got posh people, sex, and some lovely stately homes – switch that melon off and have a blast.
All episodes of Rivals are streaming on Disney+ now.