Rivals review – this TV joy is so much more than just a romp

It’s not just backcombing, betrayals and bonking in this second part of series two. There are moments of real poignancyTony Baddingham? Tony Worse-ingham, more like! For reasons best known, one suspects, to streaming giant Disney’s revenue-maximisers, the second series of Rivals has been split up into two parts of six episodes each. We left the rutting folk of Rutshire just after Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell, a sex god by way of Hugh Laurie and once you notice this you can’t unsee it) had broken the news to arch-rival Tony (David Tennant, having the time of his life as the unrepentantly villainous mogul) that his wife, Monica (Claire Rushbrook), had been killed. She drove off into the Great Storm of 1987 after discovering Tony’s affair with Maud (Victoria Smurfit), his bitter enemy’s wife, and demanding – at last – a divorce. One tree later, however, poor Monica’s dreams of freedom and future happiness ended.Now, after a five-month hiatus for viewers, we arrive at the funeral. Never has there been more lustful inter-pew side-eyeing. Taggie (Bella Maclean, doing such fine work with what could be a tremendously boring character) and Rupert Reformed-Bounder-Question-Mark are yearning across the aisle. Freddie’s moustache is quivering at Lizzie and Lizzie’s perm is quivering right back (sported, respectively, by Danny Dyer and Katherine Parkinson). Gerald (Hubert Burton) and Charles (Gary Lamont) are suffused with the love that dare not speak its name, especially in front of Gerald’s new fiancee, Muffy (Eliot Salt) – but they find a way to express it non-verbally in the car after the service. And James (Oliver Chris) doubtless is transfixed by the vision of himself in the nearest reflective surface. Continue reading...