Rivals Season 2: Shower Orgasms, Golf Carts and 33 Sex Scenes
Rivals returns this week for a second season, with six new episodes and 33 sex scenes already on the books. A ranking of the 10 best, from shower orgasms to golf carts, shows how the bonkbuster makes bums its signature.
Rivals, the TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper's Rutshire Chronicles, returned this week for its second season with six new episodes, and a ranking of its 10 best sex scenes, from shower orgasms to golf carts, is already circulating. The series has screened 33 sex scenes so far, with more promised.
The second season arrives five months after the first ended. Cooper, the author of the books, has died.
What the series is about
Some viewers read Rivals as an affectionate take on the shoulder-padded excess of the late 1980s. Others see a critique of the era's social and political attitudes, as wealthy rural England chases glory among cufflinks and consortiums.
Both readings hold, but only slightly. What the show is really about, one critic argues, is bums. They bounce through nearly every one of its love scenes.
The scenes that stand out
First place in memory goes to the opening episode of series one. Rupert Campbell-Black, played by Alex Hassell, is the MP for Chalford and Bisley. He meets Beattie Johnson, played by Annabel Scholey, in the onboard loo of Concorde at 50,000ft, to Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love.
Series two has already added several entries. In episode three, Charles Fairburn (Gary Lamont) pleads with aspiring MP Gerald Middleton (Hubert Burton) to stop talking about Margaret Thatcher. Gerald has just celebrated the general election result. A political argument follows, with a budgie and a dead cheese plant looking on.
Episode four moves to a swimming pool. Electronics whiz Freddie Jones (Danny Dyer) tells shy novelist Lizzie Vereker (Katherine Parkinson), "You're bloody brilliant." The union that follows comes after many months of yearning.
Episode five takes place in an office. Tony Baddingham (David Tennant) snarls in his vest while actor Maud O'Hara (Victoria Smurfit) pounds his torso, amid desk-slamming, high heels and a very large perm.
Back in series one, episode six sends Rupert to a Málaga hotel after a TV awards ceremony. His on-off squeeze and business rival, Cameron Cook (Nafessa Williams), is with him, and the soundtrack is Una Paloma Blanca.
What comes next
The six new episodes promise more of the same. With 33 scenes counted before the new run begins, the tally is set to climb.
