In the 'Rivals' Trailer, All's Fair In Love and (Corporate) War

Hulu has dropped the first teaser for Rivals, its upcoming adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s best-selling 1988 novel of the same name. Technically based on the second installment in her bestselling Rutshire Chronicles series, the uber-soapy saga follows all the sex, scandal, and betrayal happening among the upper-class families of a fictional British county. Set amid the drama and excess of 1980s England, the story follows the longstanding feud between two men: charismatic former Olympian turned Tory MP Rupert Campbell-Black and his Rutshire neighbor, the ambitious television executive Lord Tony Babbington.

Babbington's independent Corinium Television franchise is framed as a rival to the BBC (shades of ITV, anyone?), and as the two men butt heads over the future of the company, everyone around them finds themselves caught in the crossfire. David Tennant (Good Omens) stars as Babbington opposite Alex Hassell (The Tragedy of Macbeth) as Black, and if this teaser is anything to go by, both appear to be having a blast playing a pair of utter sleazeballs. 

Set to Robert Palmer's peak 1980s banger "Addicted to Love," the clip features zero details about the plot and no dialogue that isn't a snappy one-liner. But there's certainly big hair, colorful fashion choices, and lots of sexual innuendo, though there's little hint at who exactly is going to be getting it on with whom. 

(Though Cooper was given the nickname "Queen of the Bonkbuster" for the book series this show is based on, so I think there are probably a fair amount of options.)

Here’s the series description. 

Set in affluent 1980s England where two powerful men and neighbors – Olympian turned politician Rupert Campbell-Black and television exec Tony Baddingham – have a longstanding rivalry that finally comes to a head. As tensions rise and rivalries deepen, there are spilled secrets, forged alliances, and snatched liaisons that draw wives, lovers, colleagues, friends, and families into their battle.

Alongside Tennant and Hassel, the show’s sprawling ensemble cast also features Aidan Turner (Poldark), Danny Dyers (EastEnders), Nafessa Williams (Twin Peaks), Katherine Parkinson (Doc Martin), Bella Maclean (Sex Education), Claire Rushbrook (Sherwood), Annabel Scholey (The Sixth Commandment), Victoria Smurfit (Bloodlands),  Oliver Chris (The Crown), Lisa McGrillis (Deadwater Fell), 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 that includes Sophie Goodhart (Sex Education), Marek Horn (Wild Swimming), Mimi Hare & Clare Naylor (The Accidental Husband), Dare Aiyegbayo (The Dumping Ground), and Kefi Chadwick (Avoidance). The lead director is Elliot Hegarty (Ted Lasso), 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+.

Rivals doesn’t have a fixed premiere date on either side of the pond yet, though it’s being promoted as “coming soon.” On the plus side, the fact that Hulu is releasing promotional assets almost simultaneously with Disney+ U.K. is a fairly solid hint that the series will likely drop fairly close together on both platforms.