The announcement came in the form of an Instagram reel of scenes and quotes from the first series. According to Alex Hassell's local lothario and MP Rupert Campbell-Black, the second helping is "guaranteed to be even more pleasurable." 

Dominic Treadwell-Collins and Laura Wade led the writers' room who adapted the first half of Jilly Cooper's 'bonkbuster', bringing to riotous life the heady days and TV franchise battles of Cooper's heightened 1980s.

Commenting on the renewal, Cooper, who also executive produced the series, 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 [the producer of the series] and Disney+ on the first season. I’m orgasmic with excitement and cannot wait for the return of my superhero Rupert Campbell-Black and the rest of the characters in season two!”

The first season pit David Tennant, Aidan Turner and Hassell against one another as the sparring TV exec (Lord Tony Baddingham), presenter (Declan O'Hara) and politician, all hampered by their varying degrees of sleaze and egotism. But it also explored the lives of the women left in their wake (Katherine Parkinson's long-suffering housewife Lizzie), and those bending them to their will (Nafessa William's self-empowered producer Cameron). 

The finale saw several climaxes, *spoilers inbound*. Some, in typical Cooper fashion, quite literal. Over the previous seven parts, the series had built up to an epic bid for The Franchise between Tony Baddingham's incumbent Corrinium and Declan and Rupert's Venturer. With Declan's rousing speech about the unifying power of television, the Venturer team managed to overcome all of Tony's underhand tactics, including stealing their proposal and releasing ostensibly compromising pictures of Rupert and Taggie, Declan's daughter.

Meanwhile Lizzie and her cheating husband James begin dishing out marriage advice in a new depressingly ironic daytime show. But after bonding with Sarah over their mutual abandonment by useless men – Sarah being the very co-host James was having an affair with – Lizzie feels empowered enough to begin her own affair with Freddie (Danny Dyer). Cue the climax.

Declan later hears from The Independent Broadcasting Authority that they have won the first round of bidding, but it's not all good news. An embittered Tony confronts Cameron about her affair with Rupert, and when the fight turns physical, Cameron grabs her Spanish TV award and clubs Tony over the head and leaves him splayed out on the floor.

Add to such dangling questions all the rave reviews, a second series was almost inevitable. “Packed with sex, excess and fabulous awfulness,” said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian, “this adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s 80s bonkbuster starts as gloriously as it means to go on!”

All episodes of Rivals are available to watch on Disney+.