David Tennant confirmed for Rivals season two as Disney+ makes huge announcement about new series
Disney+ has confirmed the cast of Rivals season two as filming gets underway this month.
Rivals season two is one step closer to hitting screens as Disney+ announced filming is set to commence this month. The 2024 show, based on Dame Jilly Cooper's best-selling novels, had viewers utterly gripped with its wild focus on the glamorous, high stakes world of 1980s British TV, set against the backdrop of the stunning Cotswolds countryside.
And it's been confirmed that viewers can expect to see the return of the stars including Scots actor David Tennant, who will be back in his iconic role as the ruthless Lord Tony Baddingham, who fans know was at the centre of a huge cliffhanger at the end of season one.
He'll be joined by Alex Hassell, who returns as Rupert Campbell-Black, Poldark hunk Aidan Turner, Declan O'Hara, Nafessa Williams as Cameron Cook and Danny Dyer as Freddie Jones, as well as a host of new faces.
The drama returns with an extended season 12 episodes - and even more wit, desire, and dramatic twists. As power struggles escalate and rivalries deepen, ambition drives every move, pushing loyalties to the edge.
The first season has become the streamer's most successful general entertainment premiere on Disney+ in the UK to date*.
The series has also recently garnered a number of award wins, including; winner of the RTS Television Award for writing for Dominic Treadwell-Collins and Laura Wade, RTS Television Award for supporting actor for Danny Dyer as Freddie Jones, British Press Guild Award for best actor for Danny Dyer, BAFTA TV Craft Awards for Production Design and Make Up and Hair Design and BAFTA TV Award Nominations for David Tennant as Best Actor and Katherine Parkinson as Best Supporting Actress.
Executive Producer and Rivals author, Dame Jilly Cooper commented: 'I'm utterly sex-static filming for the second season is upon us. It was magical working with Happy Prince and Disney+ on the first season and seeing everyone fall head over heels for my beloved characters. I'm delighted to be able to work with them again and for everyone to see what further mischief they all get up to!'
In April, we reported Tennant had given an update on Rivals season two, confirming that he was waiting for the script to be uncovered before he'd know for sure if he'd be returning. He joined Lorraine Kelly on her Wednesday morning show on April 30 to reveal he was still in the dark.
Last season ended with Tony Baddingham slapping Cameron, who he'd been having an affair with, across the face after discovering she slept with Conservative MP Rupert Campbell-Black. In retaliation, Cameron bludgeoned Tony with a TV award she happened to have to hand, leaving a question mark over his fate as he lay bleeding on the ground.
Anyone who has read the Jilly Cooper book on which Rivals is based will know this ending is a deviation from the original story, in which Cameron doesn't hit back when she's slapped by Tony. But it led to fan speculation that the character would not be alive to make season two.
Also set to return for season two are: Bella Maclean as Taggie O'Hara, Katherine Parkinson as Lizzie Vereker, Victoria Smurfit as Maud O'Hara, Claire Rushbrook as Lady Monica Baddingham, Oliver Chris as James Vereker, Lisa McGrillis as Valerie Jones, Emily Atack as Sarah Stratton, Rufus Jones as Paul Stratton, Luca Pasqualino as Basil 'Bas' Baddingham, Catriona Chandler as Caitlin O'Hara.
Rivals will return to Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ in the UK and internationally. All episodes of 'Rivals' season 1 are available to stream now, on Disney+.
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The National
28 minutes ago
- The National
Poetry's curious relationship with power is seen in stone voices
This week, lines from three of our National Makar's works were unveiled on the wall – from Liz Lochhead, Jackie Kay and Kathleen Jamie. The method is beautiful. Words are carved into geologically specific types of Scottish stone – Achnaba Schist from Lochgilphead for Liz; Ailsa Craig granite from Ayrshire for Jackie; Dalbeattie granite from Dumfriesshire for Kathleen. Stone voices indeed, as Neal Ascherson once put it. These new rocks disturb another kind of ancient continuity. For the first 10 years of the wall, as chosen by an all-male panel, there were no female writers (the worker-poet Mary Brooksbank was included in 2009, along with Norman MacCaig). READ MORE: Jeremy Corbyn says police 'picked on him' as Gaza protest case dropped Rennie Mackintosh, RLS, Gray, Henderson, MacCaig, Morgan, two from Burns, three from MacDiarmid … Many of the quotes are undeniably inspirational (I hold close to me MacDiarmid's 'Scotland small? 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'The particularity of a poem, rolling around in the back of my head, reminds me how to look for repetition and snags elsewhere, to hear both text and subtext. 'I think I'm more perceptive, a better observer of both art and the people I love … In my idle mind, instead of defaulting to whatever demands my attention, I move toward a precise, generous beauty,' Locke concludes. Poetry as an 'excess investment of imaginative energy' looms large in the writings of Franco 'Bifo' Berardi. Bifo is a wild-haired Italian radical from the 1970s (who is also a conceptual darling of the contemporary art circuit). He redefines poetry as 'the error' (in any piece of culture, not just words on a page) 'that leads to the discovery of new continents of meaning … The excess that contains new imaginations and new possibilities'. Berardi counterposes this 'poetry' to our over-measured, over-surveilled, depression-inducing, tech-dominated present. He urges young folks, diminished by apprehension about their future prospects, to practice it furiously – and replenish themselves. These poetic activities sound like the spoken-word, 'slam' poetry scene of the early 2000s in Scotland, as described by Jenny Lindsay in the Scottish-themed edition of the current Irish Pages. Going by the mantra 'if it doesn't exist, create it!', Lindsay recalls that 'we wrote for audiences, not for snooty poets and writers. And the liveness was key, the audience reaction our main critic'. The 'scene' (as Lindsay describes it) fell prey to culture wars, entertainingly described by poetry maven Colin Waters as 'a punch-up in a phone box'. Yet Lindsay also profiles how social media, and the marketed self it enables, has also changed – or perhaps incorporated – the pathways of poets. She notes Rupi Kaur's 4.4 million followers on Instagram, her self-help poems accompanied by evocative line drawings. This produced a first volume that sold two million book copies. Perhaps the algorithms might not be so antipathetic to the poetic voice, after all … I guess it depends on the poetry – whether, as Ezra Pound once put it, it's 'the news that stays news'. This week in Glasgow's Kelvin Hall, I was speaking on a panel to commemorate the centenary of a Scot who troublingly exemplifies Berardi's version of the disruptively 'poetic': Alexander Trocchi. Situationist; writer of manifestos, existential novels, pornography (and poetry); both publisher of Beckett and Neruda, and drug dealer/pimp …Trocchi crashed the doors of the palace of excess, in both constructive and destructive ways. Read his essay in the Scottish New Saltire journal of 1962, The Invisible Insurrection Of A Million Minds, and it remains spookily relevant to our times. Think of this in the context of memes and networks: 'We envisage an organisation whose structure and mechanisms are infinitely elastic; we see it as the gradual crystallisation of a regenerative cultural force, a perpetual brainwave, creative intelligence everywhere recognising and affirming its own involvement … Trocchi describes further this poetic action: 'Without indignation, by a kind of mental ju-jitsu that is ours by virtue of intelligence, of modifying, correcting, polluting, deflecting, corrupting, eroding, outflanking … inspiring what we might call the invisible insurrection.' READ MORE: Charles Rennie Mackintosh building 'at significant risk' from O2 ABC plan Insurrection out of what, against what, though? I can see the current terrain clearly enough. Levels of trust in politics and business-as-usual are vertiginously low; the very worst could be the beneficiaries of it. Empowerment at the everyday level has to be paid much, much more than the present lip-service. 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Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Romeo Beckham's sweet four-word message to dad after he finally gets knighthood
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South Wales Argus
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- South Wales Argus
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Georgia Harrison - Reality TV star - MBE for services to tackling online privacy and cybercrime awareness Samantha Morton - Actress - OBE for services to drama and charity Pam Duncan-Glancy - Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Glasgow Region - MBE for political and public service Penny Mordaunt - Former MP, former leader of the House of Commons and former Defence Secretary - Damehood for political and public service Rufus Norris - former director of the National Theatre - Knighthood for services to theatre Adjoa Andoh - actress - MBE for services to drama Pat Barker CBE - writer and novelist - Damehood for services to literature Claudia Winkleman - television presenter - MBE for services to broadcasting Tess Daly - television presenter - MBE for services to broadcasting Anita Dobson - actress - for services to charitable fundraising and philanthropy Gary Oldman - actor - Knighthood for services to drama David Beckham - former footballer - Knighthood for services to sport and charity Virginia Wade - former tennis player - OBE - For services to tennis and charity Billy Boston - former rugby player - Knighthood for services to rugby league Luke Littler - darts player - MBE for services to darts Luke Humphries - darts player - MBE for services to darts Deta Hedman - darts player - OBE for services to darts and charity Alistair Brownlee - former triathlete - OBE for services to triathlon and charity Rachel Daly - footballer - MBE for services to association football Frank Rothwell - Oldham FC owner - OBE for services to dementia research Devon Malcolm - former cricketer - OBE for services to cricket and to diversity in cricket Steven Davies - former cricketer - MBE for services to sport David Lawrence - former cricketer - MBE for services to cricket Monica Vaughan - former Paralympian - OBE for services to sport Andy Lapthorne - wheelchair tennis star - MBE for services to tennis Natasha Jonas - boxer - MBE for services to boxing and to the community in Liverpool Michael Dunlop - motorcycle rider - MBE for services to motorcycle racing Trish Johnson - golfer - MBE for services to women's golf Christine Still - BBC gymnastics commentator - MBE for services to gymnastics Stephen Lambert - television producer - OBE for services to television Roger Daltrey - leader singer of The Who - Knighthood for services to music and charity Debbie Crosbie - chief executive of Nationwide - Damehood for services to financial services Roisin Currie - chief executive of Nationwide of Greggs - CBE for services to hospitality Dana Strong - group chief executive of Sky - CBE for her services to business and media Clare Barclay - chief executive of Microsoft UK - Damehood for services to business, technology and leadership Lyssa McGowan - chief executive of Pets At Home - OBE for her services to retail Elaine Paige - West End star - Damehood for services to music and charity How does the British honours system work? Any member of the public or an official body can nominate someone for an honour. UK nationals and citizens of 15 Commonwealth 'realms', of which the King is head of state, are eligible for nomination. People living or working overseas, whose achievements were made in another country or in the UK and have a significant international element, can be nominated too. Nominations are submitted to the Cabinet Office's Honours and Appointments Secretariat, which oversees the honours system. A group of 10 independent honours committees, each covering a specialist subject area such as sport or health, consider nominations. King Charles ultimately decides who is recognised in the Birthday Honours list (Image: Temilade Adelaja/PA Wire) The recommendations of these groups of independent experts and senior civil servants are passed on to the Prime Minister and, ultimately, the King for approval. There are two sets of honours per year, at New Year and in June on the King's official birthday. Once all recipients have been decided and checked, the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood at St James's Palace arranges investitures for the presentation of medals. These ceremonies, held about 30 times a year at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and, occasionally, the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, and are hosted by senior royals. The most senior ranks of the Order of the British Empire are Knight or Dame Grand Cross (GBE) and Knight or Dame Commander (KBE or DBE). Recommended reading: The order's ranks, after Knighthood or Damehood, are Commander (CBE), Officer (OBE) and Member (MBE). Other honours include Companion of Honour (CH), British Empire Medal (BEM), Royal Victorian Order (RVO), Order of the Bath and Order of St Michael and St George. There is also Royal Red Cross (RRC), King's Police Medal (KPM), King's Fire Service Medal (KFSM) and King's Ambulance Service Medal (KAM).
