“I like persons better than principles,” Lord Harry Wotton, the libertine mentor in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, tells his impressionable friend. “And I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.” This manifesto of decadence could well serve as the county motto for Rutshire, whose randy residents form the ensemble of Disney+’s Rivals, returning this week for its eagerly awaited second outing.
In the wake of the first skirmish between Corinium Television – led by Lord Baddingham (David Tennant) – and Venturer – proposed by the ragtag trio of Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell), Declan O’Hara (Aidan Turner) and Freddie Jones (Danny Dyer) – the battle for the airwaves is heating up. “1987 is a franchise year and we are at war,” Baddingham tells his staff, as he recovers from a head injury sustained in the first series’ climax. He’s lost none of his spirit. “An eye for an eye? We’ll take their f***ing heads off!”
