There are television shows where people make sensible decisions, communicate honestly and attempt to resolve their problems like adults.
Rivals is not one of those shows. Disney+ has released a new trailer for the second half of Season 2, and the residents of Rutshire appear ready to resume their very important work of drinking, betraying one another and beginning affairs in houses large enough to have their own postcodes.
The series returns on 11 November with three new episodes on Disney+ internationally and Hulu in the US. The remaining three episodes will then arrive weekly. According to Disney, the residents of Rutshire will face tragedy, heartbreak, backstabbing and betrayal as Season 2 moves towards its conclusion. Disney+
So, business as usual then.
Based on Dame Jilly Cooper’s Rutshire Chronicles, Rivals takes place in the wonderfully excessive world of 1980s British television. At the centre of everything sits the battle between Lord Tony Baddingham and Rupert Campbell-Black, two men with wealth, influence and absolutely no interest in allowing a disagreement to remain manageable. David Tennant returns as Tony, while Alex Hassell once again plays Rupert. Aidan Turner, Nafessa Williams, Bella Maclean, Katherine Parkinson and Danny Dyer are also back as the battle between Corinium and Venturer moves closer to breaking point. But if we’re being honest, corporate television politics only explains part of the appeal.
People watch Rivals because everybody is attractive, badly behaved and surrounded by beautiful furniture. The houses are enormous, the parties appear expensive and nobody seems capable of walking through a room without becoming involved in somebody else’s marriage. And you know what? Sometimes that is exactly what television should give us. There is a particular pleasure in watching wealthy fictional people create problems that could have been avoided by a single honest conversation. We do not have to pay for the damaged furniture, repair the relationships or explain anything at breakfast the following morning. We simply get to watch from a safe distance while another expensive dinner collapses under the weight of several secrets.
The new trailer suggests that the second half of the season will not suddenly introduce restraint. Rutshire is still dealing with the consequences of tragedy, while its romances and rivalries continue to become more complicated. There is also a Hunt Ball, a chaotic Bonfire Night and what Disney has described as a “very Rivals Christmas”. Disney+
Now I don’t know exactly what a very Rivals Christmas involves. But I assume somebody will arrive wearing an extraordinary outfit. The possibility is, two people will disappear somewhere inappropriate and at least one marriage will be in danger before dessert. The show understands that good behaviour is not always entertaining behaviour. That does not mean its characters are completely ridiculous. Well, some of them certainly give it their best effort. But underneath the affairs, ambition and shoulder pads, Rivals works because the emotional consequences still matter. People fall in love with the wrong person. They stay in relationships that make them miserable. They chase power because admitting what they actually want would require a deeply uncomfortable conversation. Basically, they behave terribly for recognisably human reasons.
The glamour makes everything more enjoyable, of course. If people are going to destroy their personal lives, they may as well do it at a country estate while wearing something dramatic. But the beautiful surroundings also make the unhappiness more interesting. These characters have money, influence and access to rooms most of us would not be allowed to enter without wearing a name badge. And yet none of it protects them from jealousy, grief or the consequences of sending the wrong person upstairs.
Perhaps that is why shows like Rivals remain such reliable entertainment. They allow us to judge everyone while also quietly wondering what we might do if we owned a large estate and had Alex Hassell staring at us from across a crowded room.
Let’s not answer that.
Watch Trailer Here:
The second half of Season 2 has six episodes left to decide who gets a happy ending. Although, judging by the trailer, several characters may struggle to reach that ending without first causing an impressive amount of damage.
Nobody in Rutshire appears to have learned a lesson.
And quite frankly, that is excellent news for the rest of us.
