{"id":565574,"date":"2026-05-04T12:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T12:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/565574\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T12:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T12:05:12","slug":"secrets-of-rivals-series-2-sex-and-shocks-that-will-knock-your-socks-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/565574\/","title":{"rendered":"Secrets of Rivals series 2 – Sex and shocks that will ‘knock your socks off’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first series proved an almighty success and reminded us all how much fun the 80s had been, this one goes even further<\/p>\n

07:00, 04 May 2026Updated 07:27, 04 May 2026<\/p>\n

\"Rivals<\/p>\n

Rivals is back – and this time it’s raunchier than ever(Image: PROPERTY OF DISNEY+)<\/p>\n

The 1980s are about to burst back onto our screens once again, thanks to the second series of Jilly Cooper<\/a>\u2019s Rivals<\/a> – and it contains even more boozing, bust-ups and bonking than last time.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the launch on Disney + later this month, the cast playing the Rutshire regulars have revealed the secrets of the new run, which they’re hoping will be even bigger than the hugely popular first series.<\/p>\n

Series one ended with David Tennant\u2019<\/a>s character Tony, AKA Lord Baddingham, being left for dead after an almighty row with his mistress Cameron Cook (Nafessa Williams). He\u2019s come back madder and badder than ever, but now his wife Monica (Claire Rushbrook) is watching closely and, as he gambles everything in the pursuit of victory, Tony will is surely about to discover the true cost of war.<\/p>\n

\"Rupert,<\/p>\n

Rupert, Cameron and Declan will all go to war with Lord Tony Baddingham in this series – but who will win?<\/p>\n

The actor says that the whack on the head has not improved his character\u2019s mood, after discovering that arch-enemy Rupert Campbell-Black – a polo player turned Tory MP – is going all out to win the local TV franchise with his new consortium.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a little bit vulnerable when we first meet him – physically vulnerable – and he\u2019s had a shock,\u201d David says of cigar-chomping Tony. \u201cBut it makes him more determined to win, to succeed, to crush everything beneath him. It may have taken off a couple of filters. The safety wheels are slightly off for Tony, if they were ever there at all. It\u2019s slightly unleashed him.\u201d In terms of upcoming surprises for the audience, David says that Lady in Red hitmaker Chris de Burgh<\/a> playing live in one episode was \u201cextraordinarily giddy-making\u201d. He laughs: \u201cAll of us who lived through it remember his work – and particularly the song he sings in the show \u2013 it just says mid-eighties in every possible sense. To have him there singing live to us was an absolute joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gary Lamont, who plays TV executive Charles Fairburn, said people watching the first series had said the joy in it felt palpable. \u201cI believe that\u2019s because we had such a joyous time making it,\u201d he mused. \u201cIf you enjoyed season one, buckle up, because season two will absolutely knock your socks off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tony<\/p>\n

Tony is the sort of guy who gives his wife peacocks for their wedding anniversary – then threatens to run them over(Image: PROPERTY OF DISNEY+)<\/p>\n

For her part Katherine Parkinson<\/a> believes she had a hand in getting Rupert Everett <\/a>signed up to play Malise Gordon, Rupert\u2019s old polo boss who\u2019s now married to his ex-wife Helen. She says that after the success of the first series, created by Dominic Treadwell-Collins, she was inundated with messages from people wanting to join in with the fun. \u201cI\u2019ve never had so many brazen texts from people who aren\u2019t typically brazen,\u201d she laughed. \u201cNot just actors, but makeup designers, costume people \u2013 saying, how the hell do I get in on this? One of the people who texted me is actually in the second series.\u201d Revealing that it is Rupert Everett, who directed her in a stage production of Uncle Vanya in 2019, she said: \u201cHe\u2019s hilarious and brilliant company. When Rivals came out, he texted saying, how do I get in this wonderful, gorgeous show?\u201d Fast-forward a few months and he\u2019d landed a part. \u201cI don\u2019t think he needed to ask me \u2013 he\u2019s Rupert Everett,\u201d she added, modestly. \u201cI think he was friends with Jilly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katherine plays local author Lizzie Vereker, who is married to Corinium anchor James, who is having an affair with fellow presenter Sarah Stratton, who is married to Tory MP Paul (come on, keep up). Lizzie herself is now contemplating a full-blown affair with tech billionaire Freddie Jones, who not only backs Rupert\u2019s TV company Venturer, but he is also funding a new polo team. \u201cThe advantage of being middle-aged is that there\u2019s a tenderness and an intimacy to it,\u201d she explained. \u201cI really liked that the B-plot romances didn\u2019t feel any less than the A-plots. Middle-aged love, even adulterous love, is particularly moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Actor Danny Dyer<\/a>, who plays Freddie, agreed: \u201cWe\u2019re delving into the complications of two people who are madly in love but married with children to other people. There are a lot of people rooting for infidelity, which is quite rare.\u201d Last time around the actor found learning Japanese for the role pretty challenging – but this time he\u2019s had to learn to play polo and also speak French along with more Japanese. \u201cI can now actually ride a horse – I\u2019ve been lying about it for many years, and now I actually can,\u201d he guffawed. \u201cFreddie speaks five different languages \u2013 Dutch, Italian \u2013 we haven\u2019t delved into all of them yet. He\u2019s so humble.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emily Atack<\/a>, who plays ambitious, promiscuous and newly pregnant TV presenter Sarah Stratton, said the second series had pushed her acting skills to new heights. This is largely thanks to a long, complicated scene shot in the kitchen during a dinner party, where many secrets and lies are exposed. Somehow, they managed it in one long shot. \u201cYou can\u2019t do a scene like that without every single person knowing exactly what they\u2019re doing at the right time. It\u2019s almost like a play,\u201d she explained. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to know the lines inside out, know every bit of the rhythm of it. And we did it all in one go, which was a first for me. There\u2019s a bit towards the end of the party scene where I break down, and that was genuine, because I was like, \u2018I\u2019ve done it\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aidan Turner<\/a> plays dashing TV journalist Declan O\u2019Hara who is trying to balance the demands of work with his needy wife Maud (Victoria Smurfit<\/a>) – last seen walking out on him. He says that a particularly steamy shower sex scene between Declan and Maud in the opener had been \u201cfun\u201d to film. \u201cVictoria and I are very comfortable with each other. We\u2019ve worked together quite intimately since the first series and we just clicked straight away \u2013 it might be the Irish thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Rupert<\/p>\n

Rupert and Taggie’s romance will be of the slow-burn variety<\/p>\n

Bella McClean, who plays lovelorn Taggie O\u2019Hara, will spend this whole series wondering if falling for Rupert was a good idea. But the actress says there are big changes ahead for the character. \u201cShe really becomes a woman this season, and it\u2019s wonderful,\u201d Bella declares. \u201cI got to dance. Taggie got to let herself go twice and dance very wildly. It was so wonderful to play, because she deserves it. It felt really well- earned. Those two scenes were big, monumental shifts in her as a person \u2013 real coming-of-age moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rupert is having to juggle an awful lot this time with both a franchise bid and an election looming – not to mention the different women in his life. Actor Alex Hassell says that called for a lot of different looks. \u201cRupert goes on loads of adventures and has different guises \u2013 I get to emulate James Bond, Indiana Jones and Steve McQueen.\u201d<\/p>\n

So even if you\u2019ve read all of Jilly\u2019s world-renowned books, don\u2019t think that you already know exactly what is coming. Showrunner Dominic teased: \u201cWe\u2019re going to throw some big curveballs that people will not be expecting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivals 2 launches on Disney+ on May 15<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first series proved an almighty success and reminded us all how much fun the 80s had been,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[162823,193846,193844,3147,3149,7169,96,149568,193358,36838,40923,391,56,54,55,193845],"class_list":["post-565574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-aidan-turner","tag-chris-de-burgh","tag-claire-rushbrook","tag-danny-dyer","tag-david-tennant","tag-emily-atack","tag-entertainment","tag-jilly-cooper","tag-katherine-parkinson","tag-rivals","tag-rupert-everett","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-victoria-smurfit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}