Disney+’s entertainingly lavish version of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals is cast to the hilt but a little hollow
“I need to finish the kedgeree”
Is there anything as 80s as the bonkbuster? Doyenne of the scene Jilly Cooper ruled the roost with titles like The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, Polo and Riders but surprisingly few have made it to the screen. Even more surprisingly, it is Disney+ who are bucking the trend with a big budget, gaudy production of Rivals, eight episodes of 80s excess, big hair and lots of bonking.
It’s not the thing that anyone would or should take seriously but for all the enjoyable elements of the show, it’s a bit naff, a bit hollow in its storytelling. Its narrative driver is a rivalry over a regional television franchise, the one led by old money MP Rupert Campbell-Black, the other by nouveau riche Lord Tony Baddingham, both of whom are shagging around ad nauseam.
Everyone they employ or work with is shagging around too, and that’s about it. With very few emotional stakes at play, it’s just a whole lotta kitsch nonsense. With a very strong cast – Aidan Turner, Victoria Smurfit, Claire Rushbrook, Denise Black, Lisa McGrillis, Oliver Chris, Annabel Scholey with a great haircut – it is never less than watchable but rarely do you actually care about anything on screen.
Alex Hassell’s Campbell-Black and David Tennant’s Baddingham are a curious pairing as the titular, super-rich rivals, glitzy and vacant and struggling to convince that any of their relationships are truly meaningful. Katherine Parkinson and Danny Dyer emerge as the best of the lot, their characters finding one of the true chemistry matches as they deal with their own marital dissatisfaction by flirting up a storm.
