If the promise of more David Tennant supervillainary, Danny Dyer’s homegrown moustache and thrusting bum cheeks aplenty isn’t enough to get your juices flowing for Rivals series two, perhaps those unanimously glowing reviews will do it.

The TV adaptation of Dame Jilly Cooper’s Rutshire Chronicles is back for a second go, and with Disney+ building anticipation with a staggered release this time round, fans might be wondering what to expect from the new drop.

All the usual suspects like Lord Baddingham, Freddie Jones, Rupert Campbell-Black, Declan O’Hara and Cameron Cook are back for more scheming and shagging in the new instalments, and with Rivals building on the success of its first series, it’s probably no great surprise that filming for the new season was a largely no-holds-barred affair.

Here are 11 behind-the-scenes facts you may not have known about how season two of Rivals came to be…

When Rivals first hit our screens in October 2024, Disney+ served up all eight episodes up front.

Proving the UK’s eternal appetite for a bit of well done smut, it quickly became the streamer’s most successful general entertainment premiere to date, as well as picking up Bafta and International Emmy Award nods.

Because of this, Rivals’ second season earned the right to go even bigger, with an extra four episodes being added to the slate for what Deadline referred to at the time as a “rare” 12-episode run.

According to director Elliot Hegarty, such was the success of season one that for the follow-up, they had actors actively pitching themselves for a role.

One such actor is My Best Friend’s Wedding star Rupert Everett, who managed to land himself the role of Malise Gordon, Rupert Campbell-Black’s former show-jumping mentor and new husband to his ex, Helen, played by fellow newbie Hayley Atwell.

According to Deadline, Rupert was so impressed by Rivals that he got in touch directly to ask if he could be in the next series.

The confident move paid off, with director Elliot teasing that the My Best Friend’s Wedding actor “brings just the right amount of twinkle” to series two.

Like the thrill of a dog getting loose in the school playground, there’s a universal excitement to a TV set cropping up in your local area.

Season two was filmed across locations in Bristol, Corsham in Wiltshire and Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, with West of England spots standing in for the Cotswolds and London.

According to Corsham Town Council, there’s been a “definite upturn in footfall” at the market town thanks to people wanting to visit the Rivals location, proving the adage that sex sells.

Meanwhile, the money raised from the show’s presence at Berkeley Castle will help with its repairs.

The cast and crew fully committed when filming series two’s bonfire scene, shooting it on a freezing November evening at Chavenage House in Gloucestershire – forcing Danny Dyer to take drastic measures.

“You got to put them heat pads in your trotters,” he explained. “I’ve got two double ones for me toes. And Long Johns, obviously.”

The battle between Lord Baddingham’s TV company Corinium and Declan O’Hara’s rival studio Venturer rages on in season two.

For the new episodes, production designer Dominic Hyman wanted to level up the Corinium set so that it mirrored Lord Baddingham’s wild ego, opting for suitably indulgent colours.

“I wanted to be darker and bolder with more contrasting and clashing colours within the Corinium studio sets,” he told Condé Nast Traveller.

“This year we leaned into rich purples and mauves, which contrasted really nicely with the established oranges, golds and blacks of Corinium. I hope people will notice how Tony Baddingham’s desperate, out-of-control ego drives the scale and ambition of the set designs at Corinium.”

He added: “The sets get bigger, gaudier and more and more extreme. This is the opposite of Venturer’s approach, which is about filming in the community, where people are the real subjects, not expensive and gaudy studio sets.”

Danny’s Rivals character Freddie has been dubbed a “wholesome sex symbol”, so it was perhaps only a matter of time before he was granted a nude scene for the follow-up series.

Anyone expecting to see “full Danny” may be surprised to learn that a lot of thought went into the scene to ensure that it didn’t cross the line.

“Let’s just say there’s a lot of strategically placed bubbles from a bubble bath! So it’s not…full Danny!” executive producer Dominic Treadwell Collins told The Sun.

“We’ve been really cautious about not being gratuitous. All the way through there’s a line with the show where you could be watching it and feel a bit uncomfortable. A bit like you are intruding.

“The whole point is you are with our characters. You are in the bedroom with them. We’re very careful in the edit, if suddenly the scene goes too far or gets too explicit, we pull back.”

EastEnders legend Pam St Clement wouldn’t have been in our first hundred guesses for celebrity cameos in Rivals season two, but it turns out the show’s executive producer boss Dominic knew her from his days as a story editor on the soap.

“There was this little cameo part and I miss Pam, we’ve stayed in contact since we both left EastEnders,” he explained.

Dominic didn’t stop at Pam, and shared that series two is packed with little easter eggs and cameos to keep fans guessing.

“It felt like the perfect little cameo treat for our audience and we drop them all the way through the show,” he revealed.

“Little treats to keep you on your toes!”

One of the most memorable scenes in series two takes place when Sarah Stratton and her husband, Paul, throw a dinner party for nefarious reasons.

In a comedy of errors that gives The Bard himself a run for his money, it’s 10 glorious minutes full of mishaps, near run-ins and deliciously catty comments, and the team filmed it all in a single take.

Emily explained: “It was a really surreal moment in my life. I’ve never done a scene like that, ever… Adrenaline’s so high, everyone’s just feeding off each other’s energies. You cannot put a foot wrong, though – then it all crumbles down.”

Apparently Queen Camilla and Dame Jilly Cooper went way back, so much so that the royal visited the Rivals set in Bristol during the filming of season two, to get shown around and meet the cast and crew.

One cast member who was present for the visit was Alex Hassell, with Dame Jilly previously revealing his character Rupert is partially based on Queen Camilla’s ex-husband Andrew Parker-Bowles.

Dame Jilly died suddenly in October 2025 after a fall, but with the scripts already approved by the author and production for series two underway at the time of her death, her stamp of approval is safely printed on the follow-up season.

In fact, Lisa McGrillis, who plays Valerie in the series, shared how the cast all gathered for a garden party at Dame Jilly’s house just weeks before she died.

“She was still so full of life and mischief, and she was so excited about the second series,” Lisa told the BBC. “She was completely across it. She read every single episode, signed it all off.”

Rivals series two is streaming now on Disney+.

Labour leadership hopeful Andy Burnham has said he would ban Video Assistant Referees (VAR) in football if he could.

The would-be prime minister said the controversial review system was “killing spontaneity [and] it’s not getting decisions right.”

Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, plans to challenge Keir Starmer if he wins next month’s crucial Makerfield by-election.

He has been cleared by Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) to stand to be the party’s candidate in the seat.

Sitting Labour MP Josh Simons, who won with a 5,399 majority at the 2024 general election, announced on Thursday that he was standing down to make way for Burnham.

In an interview with ITV on Saturday, football fan Burnham was asked what he thought of VAR.

He said: “Gone. Get rid. I’ll tell you why. It’s killing spontaneity in the ground. I’m a season ticket holder at Everton. Killing spontaneity. You can’t celebrate a goal because you think someone somewhere in an industrial unit is going to rule it out.

“So that’s a bad thing. But number two, it doesn’t get decisions right. You could put up with it if it then got decisions right, but it doesn’t get the decisions right and it’s not consistent.

“It takes a decision one week for one favoured team and then doesn’t do the same thing the next.

“So it’s killing spontaneity, it’s not getting decisions right. Get rid.”

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The text Julie Story received from her mum about a sick relative was urgent and frustratingly context-less.

“She’s got another infection,” the message read, followed by a gnarly photo of the infection itself. Later, Story – a Florida-based comedy creator – learned her relative was already on antibiotics and doing completely fine.

But in the moment, she had no idea who her mum was talking about or how serious the situation was.

The text was alarming, but Story said these kinds of urgent, context-free updates from her mum are nothing new.

“Out-of-the-blue texts like this used to flood my nervous system with panic, but now I remind myself that what I just read is likely an exaggeration of the facts and isn’t the full story,” she said.

“I’ve gotten so many ‘URGENT SOS’ text messages that I’ve mentally renamed them ‘clickbait’ because that’s how they read.”

Story recently made a viral TikTok lovingly poking fun at boomers’ knack for delivering bad news, dressed in a ’90s mum wig and clutching a coffee mug. The video struck a nerve: “OMG. Have you been spending time with my mom?” one person wrote.

Online, millennials, Gen Xers and Gen Zers often discuss their boomer parents’ penchant for sharing bad news in the worst possible ways: Texting “he is gone” along with a photo of the family’s dead cat, or calling and saying, “Welp, he dead,” without specifying who the “he” in question actually is. (Your grandfather in his 90s? Your dad with health issues? Some neighbour who hosted a Fourth of July party you went to in the ’80s?)

Some on Reddit wonder if boomers take a certain pleasure in being the “first to inform anyone and everyone of someone else’s bad medical news”.

The cliffhanger, clickbaity messaging style is such a common experience, it might as well have a name: The Boomer Bad News Drop.

Oftentimes, the Boomer Bad News Drop is about someone you hardly know. But it’s always bad news.

Mike, a millennial with a 70-year-old mother, is often on the receiving end of that. He told HuffPost he calls his mum once a week to check in and fill her in on how he and her grandchildren are doing. When he asks how she’s doing, it’s never anything good. It’s also usually nothing about her.

“I’ll call and say, ‘Our baby just discovered her hands – it’s so exciting! How is everything going in your world?’” he said. “Then my mom will say, ‘Remember our neighbour from when you were in elementary school? Yeah, unfortunately, her husband passed away recently in a car accident. It was a big thing. The car flipped over on the highway. The other driver was drunk. Several times the legal limit.’”

“It reminds me of the Debbie Downer SNL skits,” said Mike, who asked to use his first name only in order to dish on his mum in this article.

The other impulse boomers have is just as frustrating to their kids: while they love to divulge other people’s bad news, they’ll exercise extreme discretion when it comes to their own health diagnoses – a tendency Bustle recently referred to as “The Boomer Hospital Reveal.”

“Oh, I was in the hospital earlier this month for a prostatectomy,” your dad will tell you over the phone. “It’s OK, I Ubered back.”

To speak tremendously broadly about a generation – we know not all boomers are guilty of this – why are some post-50 folks so bad at delivering bad news? Oversharing about others, undersharing about themselves?

“I would say that boomers dropping bad news so casually is a combination of generational communication style and emotional coping patterns,” said Jennifer Chappell Marsh, a marriage and family therapist in San Diego.

“Many boomers were raised in environments where emotions, especially grief, fear or vulnerability, weren’t processed out loud, so instead of framing bad news in an emotional context, they tend to deliver it as a piece of information,” Marsh told HuffPost.

For many boomers, being sensitive, emotional or vulnerable can feel like unfamiliar territory, since many grew up in environments where those qualities were framed negatively. As a result, some of those emotional communication muscles may simply be a bit underused.

“Because of these challenges with sensitivity and vulnerability, I have to wonder if that contributes to it seeming like they want to be bearers of bad news,” said Jess Sprengle, a therapist in Austin, Texas. “It might just be that they don’t recognise that what they’re sharing is sensitive, potentially traumatic information,” she said.

As for the sheer number of depressing texts or phone calls you might get from a boomer in your life, let’s state the obvious. At a certain age, there’s a surplus of bad news coming your way: people getting sick, people dying, unexpected grey divorces between couples you thought were solid as a rock.

That’s bound to stir up anxiety and existential reflection. And if someone doesn’t have an outlet for those feelings – a therapist, for example, or a close friend willing to dissect the latest tragedy on their Facebook feed – their adult kids are probably going to hear about it.

Children of boomers have their own theories on why the Boomer Bad News Drop is such a common experience.

“I firmly believe they want to be seen as the person ‘in the know,’” Mike said. “It’s important to them. With their social status changing, roles in life changing, and the amount of in-person socialisation they do decreasing, they want to be seen as a knowledgeable, connected figure.”

“It’s like the drama and gossip [go] through them, even if I have never heard of the person they’re talking about,” he added. “Facebook gives them a perfect free chance to acquire as much bad news as possible.”

Story thinks these older adults just want a little attention sometimes. “I wonder if our boomer parents have felt unheard in their close connections and compensate by telling shocking stories to engage others faster or to get someone’s attention,” she said.

As for not disclosing their own bad news, especially when it’s health-related, it may come from a desire to protect their children from pain, said Mary Beth Somich, a therapist in North Carolina. She told HuffPost that she hears about this dynamic regularly from the millennial and Gen X clients she works with.

“It always follows a pattern: important or painful information is withheld with the intention of ‘protecting’ the adult child, and then revealed later, often abruptly or in emotionally loaded moments,” Somich said.

She recently had a client share that they found out a grandparent had died weeks after the fact because, as their parents explained it, “you had a lot going on and we didn’t want to upset you.” Another client learned during a holiday visit that a family pet had died long ago, but no one told them.

“This leaves children not only catching up to a loss, but doing so without the context, preparation or support that would help them process it,” she said. “For many, it lands less like protection and more like a rupture in trust and emotional consideration.”

The issue is often less about intent and more about a generational mismatch, Somich said: one generation coping with distress in the way they were taught, another, more therapised generation expecting more transparency, preparation and emotional context when receiving upsetting news.

The goal for boomer parents, Somich said, is to share important news sooner rather than later, to avoid letting it build up until it feels heavier and more emotionally charged in your own mind. From there, it can help to give adult children a little emotional framing before diving into the details.

“Something as simple as, ‘I need to share something difficult’ signals care and helps the other person prepare,” Somich explained. “That small pause is often what turns a blunt disclosure into an attuned one. You want to make sure the person on the receiving end feels considered, not just informed.”

It may seem like a small thing, but consider how it might affect your kid in the moment to hear about a fatal car accident of an old neighbour, or conversely, hear about your hospital stay months after it happened. In all likelihood, it’s going to rattle their nervous system, Sprengle said.

“Try to look at them as both your child and an adult and your peer,” she added. “How might you feel if your child were to share bad news casually and in passing without much fanfare? What would you want them to do differently?”

It may be worth reflecting on whether some of the social filters you once relied on have shifted over time, especially in conversations involving sensitive or emotionally heavy topics.

“I wish parents would ask themselves, ‘Is this the right time to say this? How would this make the other person on the receiving end feel?’” Mike said. “I don’t blame our parents for any of this, but man, it can be tricky to navigate.”

Since distressing news about loved ones and acquaintances is an unavoidable part of ageing, it may help to have proactive conversations about how your children prefer to receive it.

“You and your kids might explicitly discuss what and how they want things shared,” Sprengle said. “Ask yourselves, how can I consider your feelings in this, and how can you consider mine? Just doing that can make a huge difference in strengthening connection and preventing relationship breakdown.”

Wes Streeting vowed that the UK will one day rejoin the European Union as Labour Brexit splits burst into the open again.

The former health secretary, who quit the cabinet last week in protest at Keir Starmer’s leadership, said the decision to quit the EU had been a “catastrophic mistake”.

He told an event run by the centre-left thing-tank Progress: “The biggest economic opportunity we have is on our doorstep.

“We need a new special relationship with the EU, because Britain’s future lies with Europe – and one day back in the European Union.”

His comments are potentially awkward for Andy Burnham, who he could face in a battle for the Labour leadership within weeks.

Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, has said in the past that he wants to rejoin the EU.

However, he is set to be Labour’s candidate in the upcoming by-election in Makerfield, where the majority of voters backed Brexit in the 2016 referendum.

Asked by ITV on Saturday whether he was still in favour of rejoining the EU, Burnham dodged the question.

He said: “I’ve said in the long term there is a case for that, but I’m not advocating that in this by-election.

“In fact, what I am saying is focus now domestically, Britain has got to focus very much on the here and now and the issues that are affecting people.”

Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: “Whilst Labour relitigate Brexit, Britain is not being governed.

“This is yet another distraction from the day job at a time when families and businesses want the Government focused on the cost of living, the economy, public services and Britain’s defence.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey meanwhile said Mr Streeting must “offer something more than the same failed red lines as Keir Starmer” if he is to succeed the Prime Minister, and called for negotiations on a customs union with the EU to be opened.

Starmer has said he wants to see much closer ties with Europe, but insisted Labour will stick to its manifesto red lines of not rejoining the EU single market and customs union, or bringing back freedom of movement.

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy slapped down Streeting over his comments.

She told Sky News: “If rejoining the EU is the answer to what we were just told loud and clear by the country and parts of the country like mine, where we lost 25 out of 25 wards, 24 of them to Reform.

“If rejoining the EU is the answer, then essentially what we’re saying to people is life was fine in 2015, we just need to go back there. I know Wes is coming up to campaign in the by-election quite soon.

“He will hear loud and clear from people in places like Wigan, Ashton, Winstanley, across Makerfield, that that is absolutely not the case.”

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No matter how well-rounded you try to make your diet, sometimes certain nutrients fall through the cracks. This includes a vitamin responsible for many mental and physical health benefits that you may have never even heard of before: thiamine, or vitamin B1.

“Vitamin B1, or thiamine, is a water-soluble vitamin that plays a critical role in energy metabolism and nerve function, helping convert carbohydrates into usable energy for the body and brain,” Rachele Pojednic, chief science officer at RestoreLabs and director of education at Stanford Lifestyle Medicine, told HuffPost.

This important vitamin “helps the body convert carbohydrates into energy and supports cognitive and neuromuscular health,” according to Dr. Eve Elizabeth K. Pennie, a general practitioner, clinical research professional and medical expert.

According to a September 2021 review in the journal Cells, different patient populations across various studies have shown rates of thiamine deficiency ranging from 20% to over 90%. This review speculates that a modern lifestyle is to blame, with certain habits and medications hindering thiamine absorption.

Given how critical thiamine is for our bodies and brains, it seems like more people would be talking about it. Yet it is often overlooked in favour of more popular vitamins, like vitamin B12, vitamin D, magnesium, probiotics and iron.

Still, that doesn’t make thiamine any less important. And if you don’t have enough of it, your body will let you know.

HuffPost spoke to experts to learn more about the importance of this nutrient, the signs you may be deficient and how to get more of it.

A thiamine deficiency can cause physical and mental symptoms that affect your day-to-day life.

“Early signs of deficiency can include fatigue, irritability, poor concentration, muscle weakness, and in more advanced cases, neurological symptoms like numbness or blurred vision,” Pojednic explained.

Irritability, difficulty with short-term memory, loss of appetite and nausea are also signs you aren’t getting enough of this essential vitamin. The problem is that these symptoms could also be side effects of many other health problems, so a thiamine deficiency might be the last thing you expect.

Pennie said the dangers come when your vitamin B1 deficiency continues. “As it worsens, symptoms can include numbness or tingling, muscle weakness, difficulty walking, and, in severe cases, neurologic conditions, like Wernicke encephalopathy (WE) with confusion and vision changes,” she explained.

WE is a rare neurologic disorder caused by thiamine deficiency that must be promptly treated to prevent permanent neurological damage. It’s important to see a doctor if you believe you have a thiamine deficiency or any of the symptoms of WE.

“Deficiency is common in certain groups because thiamine stores are limited and easily depleted,” Pennie explained.

For example, if you tend to have a diet high in processed carbohydrates or have experienced chronic alcohol misuse, malnutrition, gastrointestinal disorders or bariatric surgery, you have an increased risk for thiamine deficiency.

“Increased metabolic demand, such as illness or pregnancy, can also contribute,” she added.

In addition to the factors mentioned above, Pojednic said that people with diabetes and older adults may also be at higher risk for a thiamine deficiency. Using diuretics and other types of medication can slow absorption and increase your risk of deficiency as well.

The good news is that a severe thiamine deficiency is rare in developed countries, according to Pojednic. She credits food fortification for providing the necessary daily thiamine for most people.

Don’t worry about overdoing your thiamine intake.

“It’s very rare to have too much thiamine since excess is typically excreted in urine, and toxicity is uncommon even with supplementation,” Pojednic said. “The bigger issue for most people isn’t excess but ensuring consistent intake.”

Pennie warned that it’s crucial to catch a potential deficiency before it’s too late. “Early recognition is important because an untreated deficiency can lead to serious but often preventable complications,” she said.

Depending on your age and sex, the amount of thiamine you need varies. The National Institutes of Health recommends that adult men get 1.2 mg and women get 1.1 mg per day.

Pojednic said foods that are high in thiamine include “lentils, pork, whole grain (fortified) breads and cereals, trout or salmon.”

If you’re extra tired, part of a high-risk group or don’t have a diet rich in different nutrients, it may be worth talking to your doctor about a possible thiamine deficiency. Catching up on this nutrient can have a significant impact on your body and brain.