As Disney+ seeks to diversify under its Star banner overseas, and with Hulu becoming integrated in the US, several high-profile shows have been commissioned. In one of their biggest bets for the international market, they snared the rights to Rivals.
The best-selling novel was written by Jilly Cooper and is part of her Rutshire Chronicles. These are set among the extremely badly behaved British upper-class establishment who spend their time scheming and bed-hopping. These novels made a generation of housewives across the world go all weak at the knees.
They are also, amusingly, actually great fun despite not really being written with your average Outposter in mind.
Rivals is set in 1986 in the cutthroat and highly competitive world of independent television franchises. A long-standing rivalry between ex-Olympian, MP, and notorious womanizer, Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) and his neighbor Tony Baddingham (David Tennant), controller of Corinium Television, explodes.
Wives shall be shagged, champagne will be thrown, and curiously posh insults will be shouted, as the two vie for control of the airwaves.
The other two leads are Aidan Turner (Being Human, Poldark) as television superstar Declan O’Hara, and Bella Maclean as his daughter Taggie. Rounding out the cast are Danny Dyer, Katherine Parkinson, Nafessa Williams, Emily Atack (The Inbetweeners), and Victoria Smurfit.
Rivals is produced by Dominic Treadwell-Collins’ (A Very English Scandal) company Happy Prince, and Treadwell-Collins is also executive producing and writing with Laura Wade. Alexander Lamb is also an EP. The lead director is Elliot Hegarty (Ted Lasso), who also serves as executive producer on Episodes 1 to 3. Eliza Mellor (Poldark) serves as series producer. So there is a lot of well-known television talent behind this one.
Rivals will launch on October 18th and will be available worldwide on Disney+, which means you will get to experience the vaguely naughty feeling of logging on to a Disney product to watch something with sex and swearing in it.