Even in an era of declining TV output, there is still more than enough room to fly under the radar — which is exactly what the first season of Rivals did in America. A smart, soapy and, at times, very sexy (I’ve blushed!) adaptation of the 1988 Jilly Cooper novel of the same name understandably hit bigger its native United Kingdom. But with a noticeable promotional push from Disney, which airs it on Disney+ and Hulu, the location porn of its Cotswolds backdrop and even more fawning reviews for the second season, its stateside profile is on the rise.Also, it never hurts to have David Tennant in your corner. One of the greatest stage actors of his generation, and arguably the most successful performer to tackle Doctor Who, Tennant stars as Lord Tony Baddingham. He’s a ruthless TV executive with the kind of chip on his shoulder that can only come from being new money in Margaret Thatcher era Great Britain. “A lot of what Jilly writes is embedded in the British class system and what that means and all the weird intricacies and nuances of that,” says Tennant. “There’s the power that comes with money, but the real power comes with bloodline. That’s part of the ceiling created in a society that has a monarch at the top of it. There are rooms you are simply not allowed into.”On Rivals, viewers are invited into many of those rooms — even if Tennant’s alter ego isn’t. Speaking during a recent episode of The Hollywood Reporter podcast I’m Having an Episode (Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple), the actor dug into the unique role sex plays on his series, being happy to return to Doctor Who when called and why, with hindsight, he’s realized that exact replica of Broadchurch he made for Fox back in 2014 probably wasn’t the best idea.I probably wouldn’t even mention this were it not on Disney+, but there is a lot of sex on Rivals.