The data has made it patently clear that any and all things erotic are always going to make sultry eyes at streaming subscribers and entice them to watch, but nobody would have had Disney Plus getting in on the action as part of their bingo card. And yet, upcoming literary adaptation Rivals has the potential to cause much pearl-clutching among those who haven’t mastered the app’s parental controls.
Based on the 1988 novel of the same name by Jilly Cooper, the star-studded cast features Aidan Turner, David Tennant, Katherine Parkinson, Lisa McGrillis, Alex Hassell, Emily Atack and Danny Dyer, while the narrative charts the excesses of the decade through the eyes of sex, love, and lust in the picturesque Cotswolds area of England.
In fact, Turner admitted to The Times that things had gotten so raunchy Rivals required not just one, but two intimacy coordinators on set, which is merely a salacious taste of what’s to come.
“We have so much sex on our show, we have to have two intimacy coaches. Two! Every day we’re in a different huge manor house somewhere, having garden parties. And it is that thing as well, which happens sometimes in shows – and I see it happening, though none of us have kind of admitted to it, but it’s definitely there – where there’s a slight methody thing happening. We’re all up for the party. We went out the other night to the Ivy. We had a late night, lots of cocktails. Never wanted a season two of anything more in my life.”
Shooting only wrapped a couple of months ago, so Rivals likely won’t be arriving on the Mouse House’s platform until next year. When it does, though, it’ll be fascinating to see how people react to such a raunchy romp being made available on the family-friendly company’s service.