‘Rivals’: Disney+ Teases First-Look At David Tennant & Aidan Turner In Jilly Cooper Bonkbuster

Disney+ is building buzz for its Jilly Cooper adaptation Rivals by teasing first-look images of the eight-part series. The series will stream on Hulu in the U.S.

Rivals is part of Cooper’s bestselling Rutshire Chronicles and is set against the backdrop of the excess and antics of the power-grabbing social elite of 1980s England. Scroll on for more images.

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Rivals chronicles the cutthroat world of independent television in 1986 and the long-standing rivalry of ex-Olympian, MP, and notorious womanizer Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) and his neighbor Tony Baddingham (David Tennant), controller of Corinium Television.

Poldark star Aidan Turner is TV presenter Declan O’Hara, a fierce intellectual with an even fiercer temper who is wooed to Corinium from the BBC. Other cast includes EastEnders actor Danny Dyer as Freddie Jones, a self-made electrics millionaire.

Among the wider ensemble is Nafessa Williams (Black Lighting), Bella Maclean (Sex Education), Katherine Parkinson (Humans), Victoria Smurfit (Bloodlands), Claire Rushbrook (Sherwood), Oliver Chris (The Crown),  Lisa McGrillis (Mum), Emily Atack (The Inbetweeners), Rufus Jones (W1A), Luke Pasqualino (Skins) and Catriona Chandler (Pistol).

Rivals is produced by Dominic Treadwell-Collins’ (A Very English Scandal) company Happy Prince, and Treadwell-Collins is also executive producing and writing with Laura Wade. Alexander Lamb is also an EP. Lead director is Elliot Hegarty (Ted Lasso), who also serves as executive producer on Episodes 1 to 3. Eliza Mellor (Poldark) serves as series producer.

In addition to Treadwell-Collins and Wade, the series writers room also includes Sophie Goodhart (The Baby, Sex Education), Marek Horn, Mimi Hare and Clare Naylor (The Accidental Husband), Dare Aiyegbayo (The Dumping Ground, EastEnders), Kefi Chadwick (Looted, Avoidance), Tray Agyeman, and Sorcha Kurien Walsh (The Pink Pill). Dee Koppang O’Leary (The Crown) and Alexandra Brodski (Somewhere Boy) also direct episodes.

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