The Full Trailer for Hulu's 'Rivals' Is Peak 1980s Excess

There's a major TV debut coming to the U.K. in October, one of those high-profile shows on streaming, adapted from a series of best-selling sexy novels. It stars major A-list talent and several hot men in period costumes, all of whom are now gracing the covers of The Times Magazine and giving teasing quotes about how much skin will be shown. No, we're not talking about Bridgerton on Netflix; we're talking about Rivals on Disney+. The biggest series Americans have no idea about is coming this fall.

To be fair, Rivals isn't coming to Disney+ in the U.S. A racy British series based on the infamous Jilly Cooper "boinkbuster" novels is decidedly not what Americans expect when opening a streaming service branded with the House of Mouse logo. The show will instead stream on Hulu, which, for those who have both services, is merely a tile on Disney+, but who's counting? (Eventually, Disney will have to stop dumping all the "not family friendly enough" onto Hulu, but apparently, today is not that day.)

Anyway, the series dropped a trailer that instantly went viral for implied nudity all over the likes of The Sun, The Mirror, and The Daily Mail. American entertainment sites may not have noticed it, but for those who got used to Poldark with an Eight-Pack, it's refreshing to see Turner return to his natural shirtless state.

This is one of those cases where the trailer above is more valuable than the synopsis because it names the characters and explains their relationships. 

Set against the backdrop of the drama, excess, and shocking antics of the power-grabbing social elite of 1980s England, Rivals delves headfirst into the ruthless world of independent television in 1986.

Alex Hassell (The Tragedy of Macbeth) stars as ex-Olympian, MP, and notorious womanizer Rupert Campbell-Black, with David Tennant (Good Omens) as his neighbor Tony Baddingham, the controller of Corinium Television, Aidan Turner (Poldark), as BBC News talent Declan O’Hara, and Bella Maclean (Sex Education) as Declan's daughter, Taggie O’Hara.

The rest of the ensemble includes Katherine Parkinson (Doc Martin), Claire Rushbrook (Sherwood), Annabel Scholey (The Sixth Commandment), Victoria Smurfit (Bloodlands),  Oliver Chris (The Crown), Lisa McGrillis (Deadwater Fell), Danny Dyers (EastEnders), Nafessa Williams (Twin Peaks), Emily Atack (Dad’s Army), Rufus Jones (Four Lives), Luke Pasqualino (Shadow & Bone), and Catriona Chandler (Pistol). 

The series is written by Dominic Treadwell-Collins (A Very English Scandal) and Laura Wade (The Riot Club), backed by a full writers’ room. Elliot Hegarty (Ted Lasso) was lead director, with Dee Koppang O’Leary (The Crown) and Alexandra Brodski (Somewhere Boy) also helming episodes. Treadwell-Collins, Wade, and Hegarty are listed as executive producers, along with author Cooper, Alexander Lamb, Felicity Blunt, and Lee Mason for Disney+.

All episodes of Rivals arrive on Hulu (or under the Hulu tile on Disney+) on Friday, October 18, 2024.