Rivals; Stacey Dooley’s Australia: Off the Beaten Track; Gardeners’ World

“Feeling gloomy since the clocks went back? Don’t worry. Your dose of televisual fluoxetine is here. Rivals, the Disney+ show that manages to put sunshine and shagging in a bottle, is back for a second serving (from Wednesday), and it is, as we have come to expect from Jilly Cooper, glorious. Saddle up for another outrageous, life-enhancing, knicker-dropping pom-pom of a series. Although tragedy and heartbreak are on the menu alongside bonking and Bollinger. Actions have consequences, chickens come home to roost and rot. But this show never lets life’s heavy stuff bring the mood down for long.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“There are sex scenes aplenty, and if you’ve ever wanted to know what Danny Dyer looks like in the buff, well, this is the show for you. Even the funeral of Monica Baddingham in episode seven has an aphrodisiac quality, judging by what some of the mourners get up to after sneaking away from the wake. The funeral is also the chance for a new character to pop up: Monica’s glamorous sister, played by Rachael Stirling.”
Anita Singh, Telegraph

“Rivals is a high-class soap opera, with slightly racier sex scenes. At times, keeping your eye on the myriad adulteries is like watching a magician manipulate a ball between a set of cups (“wait,” I found myself thinking, “whose baby is she actually having?”) but that’s true to the world that the late Jilly Cooper created. Characters like Nafessa Williams’s Cameron Cook come and go when the plot needs them.”
Nick Hilton, The Independent

“The obligation to conjure something from nothing means light factual can be, in its own way, more challenging than reporting from a war zone or a cult. Happily, there are signs that Dooley will find her voice. It doesn’t happen when she returns to the theme of the bush blazes, visiting a fire station where she interviews the guy in charge, Rodney, about swathes of his patch being obliterated (“It must have been devastating”) and learns that the worst of it came from a night when Kangaroo Island was hit by 16 lightning strikes (“That’s unbelievable. I didn’t realise there were quite so many lightning strikes”).”
Jack Seale, The Guardian

“Travel shows that explore the harsher aspects of life in holiday hotspots can work well. Simon Reeve has presented superb documentaries, revealing the hidden economic hardship along the Mediterranean and in Central America. But Reeve sticks to his subject: he doesn’t go surfing or swimming with dolphins. Stacey couldn’t make up her mind whether she wanted heartbreak or high jinks.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Monty Don left Gardeners’ World (BBC Two) in trademark style: with understatement. Compare and contrast with Amol Rajan, whose send-off from the Today programme after a mere five years included a montage, a roll call of tributes from colleagues, a speech in which he name-checked his heroes Bertrand Russell and Shane Warne, and a jungle track by General Levy. Don has been with Gardeners’ World for 23 years, but his elegant “final goodbye” lasted no more than a minute. With Ned, the Golden Retriever, at his feet, Don gave us a potted history of his time on the show. From Berryfields to Longmeadow, with Nigel and Nellie and Patti (RIP all), it was now time to go. He thanked the viewers for “the incredible privilege and pleasure of sharing my garden and my gardening life with you here, as well as working with so many superb people. So thank you. Thank you for coming on that journey with me and good luck with your own gardens in the future. So, for the last time, bye bye”.”
Anita Singh, Telegraph