There are quite a few upsides to the streaming age that we're all living through, along with a fair few downsides, but the variety of genres that are now getting major airtime in people's living rooms and lounges is always impressive to consider. High up that list, in my opinion, is the raunchy adult drama – people can't get enough steamy, sexy, gossipy material.
A perfect example was served up in late 2024 by Rivals, on Disney+ and Hulu. It adapted the first of a series of much-loved novels by Jilly Cooper that make absolute no bones about being silly and sexy. Unsurprisingly, with a great cast and some really fun scripts, it was received really well, and now it's back with a second season that we all knew was on the way.
The first proper trailer for the new season confirms that basically the whole central cast is returning, including the return of David Tennant as Lord Tony Baddingham, who unknowingly kicked off one heck of a fight last season when he tried to bring in new blood to his TV production company Corinium.
Now he's in a two-horse race against new rival, Venturer, led by Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) and Declan O’Hara’s (Aidan Turner). Crucially, though, while those business moves are key to the overarching plot of the series, the real juice and meat is in the many love affairs swirling around them – and it's clear that we're going to get plenty more steamy action this season.
To be fair, probably for obvious rating reasons, the trailer is actually relatively tame in terms of its hints about love scenes, although the final stretch does imply that we'll get plenty of, shall we say, mature moments. There are so many couples in the show, after all, including the likes of Danny Dyer andKatherine Parkinson, that viewers are almost likely to be feasting from that point of view.
The show returns to Disney+ on 15 May, in less than a month's time, although crucially that'll only be when the first half starts. We don't yet have a confirmed window for the second batch of episodes, so you'll want to keep an ear out for more news on that front.
