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“Rivals,” Hulu and Disney+’s acclaimed drama about the ruthless British independent television industry of the 1980s, will return for Season 2, Hulu announced Wednesday.

The series is based on a 1988 novel by Dame Jilly Cooper, and tells the story of wealthy and ambitious entrepreneurs Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) and Tony, Lord Baddingham (David Tennant) as they build a network to compete with the BBC during the era of deregulation. It’s a witty and sexy show that has found an audience on both sides of the pond since its release in October.

“Nearly 40 years after my novel Rivals was published, I’ve adored seeing the world fall in love with my beloved characters — Rutshire’s Finest,” Cooper said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, referencing the series her novel is part of, the “Rutshire Chronicles. “And it has been a fairytale come true working with Happy Prince [part of co0269801 autoITV Studios...

Hulu announced today that the drama Rivals, based on the novel by Dame Jilly Cooper, will return for a second season. Following a dramatic, cliff-hanger ending, Emea Disney+ with Happy Prince (part of ITV Studios) has officially renewed the hit UK Original series for a second run.

Rivals Season 2 will debut on Hulu in the U.S. and on Disney+ in the UK and internationally.

Rivals is part of Cooper’s bestselling “Rutshire Chronicles,” and is packed full of wit, romantic entanglements, sex and unforgettable characters. The story is set against the backdrop of the drama, excess, and shocking antics of the power-grabbing social elite of 1980s England in the ruthless world of independent television.

The series is executive produced by Dominic Treadwell-Collins, Alexander Lamb, Felicity Blunt, Elliot Hegarty, Olivier Award-winning playwright Laura Wade (The Riot Club), Rivals author Dame Jilly Cooper and for Disney+ Emea Scripted Content, Jonny Richards.

Phew — a second season of British drama Rivals is on the way. Walt Disney streamer Disney+ said on Wednesday that its critically acclaimed series, based on the novel of the same name by Jilly Cooper, will return for a second season after the first ended on a dramatic cliffhanger.

With a star-studded cast of Aidan Turner, David Tennant, Alex Hassell, Bella Maclean, Emily Atack, Victoria Smurfit, Katherine Parkinson, Danny Dyer, Nafessa Williams and Luke Pasqualino, the series has proved overwhelmingly popular with Disney+ viewers.

The story follows Cooper’s novel on the infamous scoundrel Rupert Campbell-Black (Hassell) and his rivalry with Tony Baddingham (Tennant) that seeps into the world of Baddingham’s Corinium independent commercial television station, located in the fictional county of Rutshire, the Cotswolds in southwest England.

Rivals is part of Cooper’s bestselling Rutshire Chronicles series of novels. The author said: “Nearly 40 years after my novel Rivals was published,...

Jilly Cooper drama Rivals will return for a second season.

Based on Cooper’s novel of the same name, the series is set in the Rutshire Chronicles universe and set against the background of the drama, excess and power-grabbing 1980s socially elite England, in the world of independent television.

In the U.S., Season 2 will once again stream on Hulu, while going out internationally on Disney+.

Season 1 stars the likes of David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Alex Hassall, Danny Dyer, Katherine Parkinson and Emily Atack, and was produced by ITV Studios-owned Happy Prince, which will return to make the second.

Cooper, who is an executive producer on the project, said: “Nearly 40 years after my novel Rivals was published, I’ve adored seeing the world fall in love with my beloved characters – Rutshire’s finest. And it has been a fairytale come true working with Happy Prince and Disney+ on the first season.

Jilly Cooper fans have reason to rejoice: “Rivals” is returning for a second season.

Based on Cooper’s bestselling “bonkbuster” of the same name, the series stars Emily Atack, Aidan Turner and David Tennant as residents of a fictional English village called Rutshire where they regularly fight, flirt and fornicate.

The book was first published in 1988.

Season 1 ended on a cliffhanger, with Cooper’s iconic hunk Rupert Campbell-Black (played by Alex Hassell) finally giving in to his feelings for his friend’s daughter Taggie (Bella Maclean), some 16 years his junior, and evil TV boss Tony Baddingham (Tennant) getting his comeuppance after violently beating his mistress and employee Cameron Cook (Nafessa Williams).

Last month Tennant told Variety he felt “very fortunate” to be part of the series, despite only taking on the role of Baddingham at the behest of his wife Georgia. “It’s happened a handful of times to me...

Hulu has shared the trailer and key art for Shardlake, the new series based on the popular Tudor murder mystery novels by C.J. Sansom. The series premieres on Wednesday, May 1, on Hulu in the U.S., Star+ in Latin America, and Disney+ in select territories.

Drenched in mystery, suspense, and deception, this four-part drama, based on the first novel in C.J. Sansom’s book series, is an eerie whodunnit adventure set in 16th-century England during the dissolution of the monasteries.

Shardlake’s sheltered life as a lawyer is turned upside down when Cromwell instructs him to investigate the murder of one of his commissioners at a monastery in the remote town of Scarnsea. The commissioner was gathering evidence to close the monastery, and it is now imperative for Cromwell’s own political survival that Shardlake both solves the murder and closes the monastery.

He leaves Shardlake in no doubt...

Disney+ UK scripted exec Johanna Devereaux has swapped the Mouse House for Apple TV+.

Devereaux, who was VP of Scripted Content and DE&I Strategy and has been a driving force behind Disney+’s scripted content outside the U.S., will join Apple TV+ Europe boss Jay Hunt’s scripted development team.

She will work in a drama team that has greenlit hits such as Slow Horses, Hijack and Bad Sisters.

At Disney, she had a hand in the launch of 34 originals including the likes of Extraordinary, Wedding Season and The Good Mothers. She worked in Liam Keelan’s team and closely with fellow scripted exec Lee Mason, the former It’s a Sin commissioner, while also overseeing the streamer’s Emea inclusion policy.

Going forwards, Mason will lead the team featuring Jonny Richards and Hannah Scott, with Mason assuming all responsibility for projects set to launch from January onwards as...

The Favourite and The Room producer Element Pictures is bolstering its nascent TV division with the hire of former Channel 4 exec Jonny Richards as head of TV development, effective immediately.

In the newly created role Richards will oversee Dublin and London-based Element Pictures’ continued push into small screen drama, expanding its development slate for the UK, U.S. and international market. He will be based at Element Pictures’ London office and will report into recently appointed head of television, Anna Ferguson.

The film company’s growing TV slate includes BBC-Hulu drama Normal People, the adaption of Sally Rooney’s hit novel, and The Dublin Murders for BBC and Starz.

At Channel 4, Richards was a drama commissioning executive overseeing several shows, including the third series of popular returners No Offence and Humans, James Graham’s critically acclaimed single film Brexit: The Uncivil War and the upcoming six-part drama Baghdad Central,...

Fresh from the success of A Very English Scandal, writer Russell T Davies is focusing on AIDs in the 1980s for his next British drama project.

The Doctor Who writer (above) has created The Boys, a five-part series for Channel 4. The series is produced by Studiocanal-owned Red Production Company, which recently made Netflix’s Michael C Hall-fronted thriller Safe.

The Boys follows the story of the 1980s, the story of AIDS, and the story of three boys, Ritchie, Roscoe and Colin, across the decade. The young trio, strangers at first, leave home at 18 and head off to London in 1981 with hope and ambition and joy. However, they’re walking straight into a plague that most of the world ignores. Year by year, episode by episode, their lives change, as the mystery of a new virus starts as a rumour, then a threat, then a terror, and then something...