The cast of Rivals star across this week's covers | Radio Times

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There's a very particular kind of British television magic that arrives with a raised eyebrow, a double entendre and a soundtrack full of 1980s bangers – and Rivals has it by the bucketload.

When the first series bonked its way onto our screens, I thought we had exhausted the national supply of innuendo. Apparently not. Because Rivals is back, bigger, brasher and more gloriously ridiculous than before.

Quite what audiences in America make of a deeply British take about the battle for regional commercial television licences in the 1980s, I can't imagine. And yet Disney+ has found global audiences unable to resist it.

The larger-than-life characters created by the sadly missed Jilly Cooper have now settled into their screen lives, delivering some of the funniest and sauciest television since the Carry On films. There's champagne, shoulder pads, scandal and enough bad behaviour to keep an HR department busy for decades.

But beneath the outrageous flirting and athletic adultery, Dominic Treadwell-Collins has turned what could have been camp nonsense into something that's genuinely joyful, escapist, romantic and funny without ever becoming cynical.

And perhaps that's why Rivals works so well. In an age where so much television seems determined to exhaust us, this simply wants to entertain us. Frankly there's something rather refreshing about that.

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Radio Times cover featuring Nafessa Williams and David Tennant in character for Rivals.

Also in this week's Radio Times:

The time-travel love story has gripped millions of fans – but how will Outlander end?
Meet the team behind the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk on playing an action hero in his 60s.

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Radio Times editor Shem Law wears a shirt, tie and grey jumper. He is sitting at a wooden desk behind a sign saying "Editor" clasping his hands. There are other items on the desk, including a dial telephone and typewriter.

Shem Law is the brand editor of Radio Times, and the 20th person to hold that esteemed position in over 100 years. He wasn't allowed a television growing up, but over the years he has rather overcompensated for that fact.