Emily Atack has said she identifies with the body confidence struggles her Rivals character Sarah Stratton faces in series two. A new batch of episodes will stream on Disney+ from next week, with one storyline focusing on Sarah's struggle as a mum and speculation over the identity of the baby's father.
The actress, 36, said the character finds it hard to cope with her identity shifting from "sexy bombshell" to "changing nappies", something she can empathise with.
Body Image in the 1980s
She explained: "I think she is definitely going through that insecurity, thinking, 'Oh God I used to be the sexy bombshell and I would get all the jobs that I wanted and all the men fancied me, and now I'm changing nappies.'
"And, you know, it's what we all go through. We can all strive for body positivity and to embrace our motherly bodies and the stretch marks and all of that, but it's not as simple as that for everybody."
Atack added: "And again, I'm sort of half speaking as myself, half speaking on behalf of Sarah Stratton. In the 80s, there was no body positivity, there was no social media for people to create these communities of being positive.
"It was just like, 'You've got to be slim, you've got to be fit, you've got to be a housewife whilst also being a mother.' Those kind of more old-fashioned things. So, I think it's interesting looking at how it was for women, for new mothers, from the 80s lens compared to now. Definitely."
Filming with a Baby Bump
Atack gave birth to son Barney in 2024 before filming began on series two, which she described as an odd experience. Speaking about what it was like to film with a bump, she said: "I couldn't believe that I just had Barney and then they said, 'Sarah Stratton's pregnant throughout this series' so I got put back into a baby bump.
"It actually made a really good cushion for lunchtimes. I had to keep reminding myself that it was there because it was so comfy."
Atack welcomed her first child two years ago with nuclear scientist partner Alistair Garner. The couple wed in August 2026 in an intimate church ceremony in Bedfordshire before celebrating in a second lavish ceremony in front of 200 guests in Mojácar, Spain.
Tony Baddingham's Return
Atack's co-star David Tennant, who attended her Spanish wedding in September, returns as devious media mogul Tony Baddingham. Despite numerous affairs, his character is reeling from the death of his wife when viewers rejoin the action.
David said: "I wouldn't say he's in a great place. He's obviously shocked, but kind of cast adrift as well. I think Monica was a very steadying influence for him, and without her, he's not really got a safe space to return to. He's not really got an anchor, and that's not a particularly desirable place for him to be, objectively speaking. I mean, in some ways, I suppose it is quite liberating for him because it allows him to abandon any sense of there being any kind of moral watchdog in his life whatsoever."
The opening episodes on Disney+ will also see Tony at the funeral of wife Monica. He describes the scenes as "emotionally charged" and added: "There's so much there, the layers of responsibility and the guilt."
Summing up his character's energy in the forthcoming episodes, David said: "It's not a word we used in the '80s, but it does feel like a very apposite one looking at it from the 21st century. There's not a lot of hope for him, it would seem. If he's winning, he's just about bearable. If he's losing, then we just all have to get out of the way. He's such a fantastically awful and loathsome villain."
Asked if he enjoys playing Tony, Tennant added: "Yeah. I mean you get to indulge all those corners of your psyche that any rational human being wouldn't want to indulge. But to get to imagine what it might be like to be that psychopathic, it's fascinating, to be honest."
Rivals Season Two returns with a three-episode premiere on Wednesday 11 November on Disney+ in the UK.
