Yahoo News Rivals review: David Tennant's new '80s drama is a soapy shagathon
If you go into Rivals unaware that it's adapted from a bonkbuster classic, the hilariously-named fictional setting might clue you in. Welcome to Rutshire, an idyllic part of the Cotswolds. You won't have to strain the imagination for what they get up to here.
The new Disney+ shagathon is an adaptation of a Jilly Cooper novel set (and originally published) in the heyday of the '80s, when TV stations ruled and, apparently, there were sizzling hot ministers in Margaret Thatcher's government. If the name of the county weren't indication enough, this is very much not based on a true story.
Said minister is Rupert Campbell-Black, who, for a certain crowd of Cooper-ites has a mythic pin-up status akin to Mr Darcy, Daniel Cleaver or James Bond. Played by Alex Hassell, we first meet him aboard Concorde joining the Mile High Club in the loos.
A fellow passenger is Tony Baddingham, played by David Tennant, who runs Corinium television network and is a bit like a hammy Logan Roy figure – at one point he actually says "Now f**k off, the lot of you" as he leaves a room. When he's not mouthing off, he sucks on a cigar like it’s the only way he can respire.
A longstanding feud between Campbell-Black and Baddingham is at the heart of this swirling soap opera. (Although, frankly, the rivalry is a bit one-sided since Campbell-Black is too busy bedding anything that moves to give a fig about it.) People almost always greet him as "Rupert! Darling!", unless they’re spurned women, of course. Suffice it to say his ministerial duties seem to be light work.
This is an ensemble piece, so there's also TV presenter Declan O'Hara (Poldark's heartthrob Aidan Turner) and his tough-as-nails producer Cameron Cook, played by Nafessa Williams with the most infectious laugh possibly ever, as well as Danny Dyer as a new-money tech millionaire, Katherine Parkinson as a sort of Cooper stand-in who writes smutty fiction and Emily Atack as am ambitious MP's wife. That's just the tip of the iceberg, character-wise.
Showrunner Dominic Treadwell-Collins has said Rivals was the last show commissioned in the streaming gold rush, and the super-sized budget shows. It's steeped in period detail – cigars, fax machines, hideous-looking food, shoulder pads, Tom Selleck handlebar moustaches, rampant workplace misconduct. The soundtrack is peppered with '80s anthems: Starship, Paul Simon and Robert Palmer among them.
Much of the first few episodes are spent enjoying Rutshire's perpetual spring. There's always a party with gaudy outfits and unappetising appetisers, or it's shooting or hunting or naked tennis (yes, really). It's as campy and tongue-in-cheek as the pre-release press has led you to believe.
But is it any good?
Later in the show's eight-part run, the Rutshire larking is sidelined by the actual plot, concerning a bidding war for the rights of an ITV franchise. This portion is about as fizzy as it sounds.
When it's playing out like a brilliant episode of EastEnders or a Carry On film, Rivals goes down as easily as the bubbly they're constantly knocking back. Even being in the Corinium office can be fun, because it's the type of setting where somebody says a mid idea and it's immediately hailed as a genius concept.
A high point is the tender romance between Katherine Parkinson's Lizzie and Freddie, played by – checks notes – Danny bloomin' Dyer! They're both married to pretty unlikable people, but together share a love of food, booze and each other. It is Dyer as you have never seen him before and forms the emotional core of the show, with a Bridgerton-worthy slow-burn creeping towards an al fresco romp.
Nobody could accuse the show or Jilly Cooper of taking anything too seriously, so when serious matters rear their heads – such as a violent sexual assault and its fallout – it feels like another drama entirely has wandered onto our screens.
There's also a series-long simmering attraction between Campbell-Black, a retired Olympian turned MP in his 40s, and the dyslexic, 20-year-old aspiring cook Tag O'Hara (Bella Maclean). The fact he's old enough to be her father is pointed out, and the relationship might have passed muster in the '80s, but with a modern-day sensibility, it feels icky.
When the show isn't straying too far from the sex, money and chicanery, it's good soapy fun – albeit with a stonking cliffhanger that might leave you frothing at the mouth, since we don't know if Disney will be game to sink another whopping budget into more.
You will blush. You will cackle. You will gasp.
Rivals premieres on October 18 exclusively on Disney+.
You Might Also Like
