'Rivals' Reviews: "Rivals wears its ugly side on its sleeve, letting David Tennant sink his teeth into a juicy villain role while embracing the shameless entertainment value of a primetime soap"

         On October 18. 2024, Hulu released 'Rivals', which has received predominantly positive reviews, currently holding at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of this writing. In the series, "In 1980s England, a rivalry between two powerful men finally comes to a head." The ensemble cast includes Oliver Chris, Luke Pasqualino, David Tennant, Alex Hassell, Victoria Smurfit, and Katherine Parkinson. But what did the critics say?

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        Abigail Stevens of Screen Rant says, "Rivals features some electrifying rivalries happening behind the scenes at a cutthroat television station, but it is overshadowed by personal drama." Adding, "Based on Jilly Cooper's second Rutshire Chronicles novel, Rivals sees cutthroat independent television station director Tony Baddingham (David Tennant) out to rise to the top of his industry, having poached both brilliant producer Cameron Cook (Nafessa Williams) from New York and radical journalist Declan O'Hara (Aiden Turner) from the BBC. Taking place in Thatcher-era England, Rivals showcases the fascinating professional world that is the chessboard of these determined players — for a few fleeting moments. Sadly, the rest of the initially promising show is spent on a tangled web of meaningless sexual entanglements among its interconnected cast."

       Gavia Baker-Whitelaw of TV Guide notes, "Rivals wears its ugly side on its sleeve, letting David Tennant sink his teeth into a juicy villain role while embracing the shameless entertainment value of a primetime soap."

        Nick Curtis of London Evening Standard writes, "Rivals is gloriously trashy and arch, the epitome of guilty-pleasure TV, everyone smoking and smirking in between the schtupping." Continuing, "There are knowing jokes. “Andrew and Fergie are a modern day fairytale,” someone says of the great royal romance of 1986, the year in which Rivals takes place. (Claire Rushbrooke played Sarah Ferguson in the recent drama about Prince Andrew’s car-crash Newsnight interview, A Very Royal Scandal.) Before hiring Declan, Tony’s biggest hit was Four Men Went to Mow, a series featuring shirtless agricultural hunks and an obvious nod to Aidan Turner’s iconic scything scene in Poldark. The talk of “revolutionary” satellite TV feels ironic from our fragmented disinformation age. Is Rivals good TV? God, no. It’s brash, obvious, cartoonish. Is it great entertainment. Phwoar, yes."