'Rivals' Delivers the Naughty Goods & Teases a Second Season

From its opening mid-coitus sequence prominently featuring a naked male posterior, Rivals comes out of the gate promising you’re in for a load of saucy, soapy fun. Clever and funny, the 1980s-set series is based on prolific author Dame Jilly Cooper’s bonkbuster of the same name. The original book is the second in the Rutshire Chronicles, a series of eleven books set in the fictional English county of Rutshire, which is itself a pun (it’s where everyone’s rutting). The show is filled with unscrupulous people, examinations of class and power, and, of course, sex.

The 80s setting is shot through every aspect of the story and design*: the hair, clothing, sets, even the very subject matter of a television mogul trying to build his empire only to be challenged by his top star. There are several references to the era being the “golden age” of television as satellite broadcasting became available and globalization was on the horizon. But lest you think this is just an excuse to show T&A (or full frontal male nudity, as the case may be), be assured the characters are complicated and compelling. By the end of its eight-episode season, you’ll be begging for more. Who knew you could care so much about a bunch of fusspots who hunt foxes and pheasants – and women – for sport?

The primary characters are the aforementioned mogul, the ambitious, nouveau riche Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant), whose title and wealth belie his humble beginnings; aristocratic Rupert Campell-Black (Alex Hassell), an Olympian-turned-politician and chronic Lothario; and Declan O’Hara (Aidan Turner), a hard-hitting television journalist with a sprawling Tom Selleck mustache. Tony is the default villain, though rakish Rupert and hot-headed Declan are seriously flawed men as well.