How was your day? Extremely successful!

Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 TV shows of 2024

#7 :  Rivals

Star-studded as it is, with a cast including David Tennant, Danny Dyer, Aiden Turner, Katherine Parkinson and many more, the series adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s much-loved novel was one of the most pleasant televisual surprises of the year. Yes, there’s lots of sex, and garish 80s fashion, and soapy melodramatic conflict about winning the rights to a regional TV franchise that we still don’t really understand the mechanics of. But Rivals also delivered sharp writing, skin-tingling romantic tension, surprisingly hard-hitting moments, and one helluva cliffhanger. Not to mention the gentle chemistry and slow-burn start of an affair between <X> and <Y> (spoilers removed), which catches you completely off-guard in the best, sweetest of ways. It’s brash, a bit silly, and riddled with bare arses – but it’s also an incredibly entertaining ride. We’re crossing our fingers for Season 2.

Before we get to this, I'm skipping over two entries in the list for two completely different reasons. At #9, we have Interview With The Vampire and I'm pretty certain that everything I wrote in last year's review will turn out to be true for this season as well - all very impressive looking but just not pushing my buttons. And, in a similar but very different manner, at #8 we have Slow Horses which I absolutely know that everything I wrote in last year's review will turn out to be true for this season as well - if you've not seen this yet then just stop what you're doing right now and go and start at season 1 (it's important to do things in order with Slow Horses). 

All of which leads us to Rivals, which is something I'd never have watched under normal circumstances, but it got great write-ups, the bits I saw on Gogglebox looked to bit quite fun and it's got a great cast, so I'm quite looking forward to it. Who doesn't love the 80s, after all?

You know what? This is a LOAD of fun - it's a proper 80s romp. I was a bit concerned at the end of the first episode because they'd introduced us to so many characters that it got a bit confusing and it was so spot on with its 80s vibe that I thought it would soon pall. But I should have known to trust Jilly - everyone is so over-the-top but they're consistently so and the plot rollicks along relentlessly, but not always going where you'd expect it to. It is, however, unremitttingly silly - and all the better for it. It also leaves it on quite the cliffhanger, so I think it's fair to say that season 2 will be along soon enough.

The 80s vibe really gave the set, costume, hair and make-up departments the opportunity to run riot and they weren't going to pass up such a great opportunity - there's a load of success and excess on display and it's all done really well.

It's got an amazing cast, but we have to start with two of the lesser known names - Alex Hassell is very good as Rupert Campbell-Black, an utter cad who goes places you don't necessarily expect as the season progresses and Bella Maclean is excellent as Taggie, who is very put-upon as the beating human heart of the show, but she carries it really well. 

All the rest of the cast are completely over-the-top as required and it feels harsh to pick some names out but Danny Dyer definitely gets a shout-out because he's an absolute revelation in this. He's in my good books anyway after his appearance on The Assembly (catch them all if you haven't so far) but he's surprisingly nuanced and absolutely charming here - he's quite restrained but then his "Bat Out Of Hell" karaoke is just so uncool it goes all the way round to being cool. Katherine Parkinson is also nicely restrained as a surprisingly normal person (there aren't many of them in this) - she's really come a long way since The IT Crowd and she absolutely shines in this. 

Considering the other main roles, David Tennant has a great time chewing the scenery as Lord Baddington (the clue's in the name), Aidan Turner is amusingly smouldering and Oirish as a journalist and Victoria Smurfit is impressively insecure as a fading beauty. There's also a trio of excellent wives - Emily Atack is surprisingly good as the local MPs trophy wife (the naked tennis is most entertaining), Claire Rushbrook is the no-nonsense Lady Of The Manor and Lisa McGrillis is touchingly pathetic as a naff (there's a word you don't use often these days) social climber. Lara Peake is also good as Daisy in an stereotypical 80's piece of fluff role that suddenly gets considerably more serious than you might expect and it was also lovely to see Felicity Kendal in a brief cameo.

I suspected I might enjoy this, but also worried it would lose its appeal - but, if anything, I think it improved as time went on and you got to understand the characters more. It's all completely over the top and ridiculous, but the cast take it seriously (whilst also having had a tremendous amount of fun, I expect) and throw themselves into their roles - it's a strong recommendation from me and it's on Disney if you fancy it. 

This and Slow Horses, its predecessor on the list, are certainly two of the more enjoyable series I've seen from the year so far, so I'm expecting great things from the rest of the list (so I'm probably going to be disappointed).

#10 - Good-looking, atmospheric nonsense
#6 - Entertainingly tense