Disney+ chose Rivals as it was looking for ‘things like Downton’, says executive

He said of the new series: “It’s 1986, it’s lots of posh people in the 80s, in the Cotswolds, working in the world of independent television. There’s lots of rivalries, there’s lots of sex, there’s lots of affairs, there’s lots of heartbreak and all of those sorts of things. And it really is sort of escapism.