“Rivals” on Disney + and “Years and Years” finally on France 2

A 100% English series time and therefore necessarily of quality. Starting with “Rivals” available on Disney+

Back in the very bling bling 80s. Margaret Thatcher is in power and in Great Britain there is an explosion of private channels supposed to compete with the aging BBC. Hired by Tony Baddingham, boss of one of these new channels, Declan O'Hara, a journalist, creates under the aegis of an American producer a confrontational interview show where anything goes to create the famous buzz. In Declan's crosshairs, Rupert Campbell-Black, a majority MP, former sportsman, hunky phallocrat and big consumer of women, claiming his sexual scandals like noble coats of arms. Commissioned by Tony to destroy him live, Declan prepares his weapons. But will the blow take place?

A series where everything is false but everything could be true?

That's completely it. Eight episodes of fiction but inspired by numerous realities returning to this era of guilt-free consumerism when private TVs were created to produce not news or quality but scandal and money. Two breasts from this era when hair sauerkraut and jacket with shoulder pads brought down the elegance market. “Rivals” revisits these Dallas years (we can't not think of the series) with this sense of mocking satire which, along with tea and detective novels, is one of the major qualities of our English friends. Bathed in tasty vitriol, the series perfectly balances caustic, farce and – more unexpectedly – ​​emotion.

You also recommend “Years and years” which will be broadcast on France 2 in a late evening on Wednesday November 6 from 10:45 p.m.

But also available in replay on France.TV. Let's be clear, this is not a recommendation, it is an injunction. Don't miss this absolute marvel. A dystopian series taking place over several decades, and of breathtaking serial mastery, beginning in 2019 and imagining the consequences, not to mention the devastation, of Brexit on the daily life of a Manchester family. Economic crisis, migrant crisis, new trans identities are at the heart of this chilling political and humanist saga which sees the rise of a formidable blonde extreme right-wing politician (all similarities etc.) played by the brilliant Emma Thomson.

Our most seasoned listeners know that this series by Russell T Davis, one of the greatest authors of British TV (Queer as Folk, It's a sin, Doctor Who) is already five years old and that it was previously broadcast on Canal+ . But it is finally available on the public service and in a multilingual version. A fresco on the future of our societies in the face of the rise of visionary and chilling obscurantism.

«Rivals» available on Disney +

« Years and years » sur France 2