Rivals review – this TV joy is so much more than just a romp

It’s not just backcombing, betrayals and bonking in this second part of series two. There are moments of real poignancy

Tony Baddingham? Tony Worse-ingham, more like! For reasons best known, one suspects, to streaming giant Disney’s revenue-maximisers, the second series of Rivals has been split up into two parts of six episodes each. We left the rutting folk of Rutshire just after Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell, a sex god by way of Hugh Laurie and once you notice this you can’t unsee it) had broken the news to arch-rival Tony (David Tennant, having the time of his life as the unrepentantly villainous mogul) that his wife, Monica (Claire Rushbrook), had been killed.