Flares, Formula 1, and fumbling auditions: Luca Pasqualino talks Rivals Season 2 in the Pub Corner
The raunchiest show on Disney+ is back, and we've had a pint with one of its stars.
Open your go-to social media service in 2024, and you would have almost been guaranteed to see some Rivals on your feed. Whether you watched the Disney+ show in 10-minute increments on TikTok, watched the BTS interviews with the A-list cast on Instagram, or rolled your eyes at someone on LinkedIn talking about how watching a five-person-orgy made them rethink communication skills in b2b networks, it was everywhere.
Now Jilly Cooper’s hit novel Rivals from her Rutshire Chronicles is back for a second series, which is just as much of a fun, fantastic, frivolous romp through the 80s.
Series 2 of Rivals picks up in the middle of the battle for the South West ITV franchise, with Tony Baddingham (David Tennant’s) Corinium going up against Venturer, led by TV presenter Declan O Hara (Aidan Turner), tech mogul Freddie Jones (Danny Dyer), and ex-Olympian MP and heartthrob Rupert Campbell-Black. The battle for power leads to more shocking scandals, betrayals, and new romance.
Playing the half-brother of Lord Tony Baddingham, Luca Pasqualino stars as Basil "Bas" Baddingham in Rivals, returning in the second season as a key part of the competing Venturer company who are going to head to head with Corinium. Known for his flagrant sexual encounters, being a wickedly good polo player, and serving team members on both sides of the heated rivalry in his pub, Bas is a fun loving 80s incarnation of the prodigal younger brother – although this couldn't be more different from the laid back guy who joined us in The Admiralty Pub in Trafalgar Square.
From bursting onto screens as the dope-smoking rebel Freddie in Skins aged 18, and going on to star in TV favourites like Our Girl, Snatch, Criminal Record, and The Musketeers, Luca looked back on his worst auditions, the best sets, and what life would have looked like had he not gone into acting.
TV is comfort, and he's always picking the classics
It's funny to think of actors watching TV as a comfort when they know all the BTS secrets that might spoil the magic of it – in some ways, it would be like an accountant settling down with some bank statements for a chilled evening in. However, for Luca, it's classic British sitcoms that have his heart.
"Only Fools and Horses or Fawlty Towers are my comfort shows - any of those old quintessentially British TV shows," he reveals over a pint.
"With this kind of work, you're travelling a lot, and it’s easy to get homesick. Put something like that on, and I immediately feel at ease again."
The cast are anything but Rivals IRL
(From L-R): Danny Dyer, Luca Pasqualino, Brenden Patricks, and Alex Hassell in Rivals, as they play the inaugural match for the newly founded Polo team backed by Dyer's Freddie Jones
Look, maybe we're just blinded by the TV magic, but between the on-screen laughs and the off-screen good times, Rivals looks like the most fun project in history to work on — the TV equivalent of a massive school trip but with way more booze. Is it all it seems to be? Do they all hang out IRL??
"It's such a great cast," says Luca.
"A lot of the time, the days off do [overlap] – certain characters have certain storylines and scenes with each other, so you have ones that don’t overlap a lot. Then you’ve got these big ensemble scenes when you know everyone is going to be there. They seem a lot longer, and sometimes you can’t wait to get out of a certain location, but they are some of the most fun days."
Taking on the greatest onscreen rivalries
It's almost a bold statement to call a series Rivals, almost laying down a gauntlet to be compared to the greatest onscreen rivalries in cinematic and televisual history. Once again, for Luca, it's the classics that reign supreme:
"I watched Heat again the other day, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino – two of the most epic actors of all time, and seeing them play rivals when they're probably quite good friends in real life. I love that iconic scene of them in the diner, I just don’t know if it gets better."
David Tennant as Tony Baddingham in Rivals season two, in search of Cameron Cook after their explosive fight in the season finale of the first series
He's not a London local but he's got a few favourite spots
It's easy to think that actors reside exclusively in Soho or The Groucho Club, and on BAFTA-esque red carpets. But for Luca, life is a lot more picturesque and wholesome – in fact, he's a self-confessed country bumpkin. Luckily, that doesn't mean he doesn't have a favourite foodie spot, and he's not gatekeeping either...
"I live out in a little countryside village, which makes coming to London exciting. I like the slower pace of life. I’m in and around Soho a lot [and a favourite is] Boco Di Lupe. I love going there for lunch on a special occasion."
The 80s are the great-ies, but it's not Luca's favourite era
Aidan Turner as Declan O' Hara on the set of Rivals S2 in a behind the scenes shot as he gets ready to watch Corinium's latest smear campaign against his company Venturer.
Rivals is doing great PR for the 80s, reminding us all how iconic the outfits, hair, and music were, even if we weren't alive the first time around. Despite having done a few period pieces, there are a couple of epochs Luca's still eyeing up.
"I did a show a few years ago that was set in the 70s, and that was a lot of fun," Luca reflects.
"I would like to do something in the 70s in maybe Italy or Monte Carlo, where you see these amazing pictures of like Formula One back in the day."
Maybe he just wants to race Formula 1 in Monte Carlo?
"Yeah, I do!" he laughs.
He's an F1 mega fan
(L) Rupert (Alex Hassell) and (R) Taggie (Bella Mcclean) sit together as their complicated relationship continues to face fresh obstacles in series two of Rivals
Speaking of F1, it's a big part of life for Luca, or at least, an obsession. If all roads lead to Rome, then the cars on said roads are probably all of the F1 ilk.
"I do love Formula 1," he admits.
"With my Italian roots, I’ve got a bit of a penchant for Ferrari. I've driven a couple of them before – they’re a sexy car."
If he wasn't acting – or F1 driving, he'd be cheffing it up
(L) Victoria Smurfitt and (R) Aidan Turner as Maud and Declan O Hara, outside the theatre as Maud makes a surprise return to the West End stage.
"If F1 weren’t taking me on as a driver, then I’m from a family of restaurateurs and hairdressers," he reveals.
"I worked as a chef, and I’ve got a passion for food, so probably in the culinary world. It’s a very unsociable job though – but then again so’s this job.
"Being Italian, it’s a lot of Italian dishes – I was a pizza chef when I was 16 until 18. I make a really nice homemade pasta, I’ve got the machine, and I like the ceremony of it. It might sound basic, but I love a Penne – I’ll slide it onto the fork and line them up. I found out that my grandfather used to do it, so I guess I inherited it from him, unknowingly."
A dream gig would be a biopic of a cinematic heavyweight Marlon Brando
Normal People, The Shawshank Redemption, Rivals – what do they all have in common? They've all been great books which have been made into even greater cinematic adaptations. If the magic wand of commissioning at a streaming house were in Luca's hand, it wouldn't be a book that would be getting the big screen treatment, but more of a biopic.
"I don’t have a favourite book really," he says.
"But I recently watched a documentary called Listen to Me Marlon, during the clearance of all of his belongings his family found all of these tapes that he basically recorded his diaries on every evening. They made a documentary about all of the tapes and stuff and I think to make a movie about that – because he was quite a complex man – to make a movie about him making these tapes as a journal would be a really interesting thing to visualise."
(L) Taggie (Bella Mcclean) and (R) Rupert (Alex Hassell) catching a rare moment alone in the pantry.
There are a couple of auditions that still haunt him – although luckily Rivals wasn't one of them
"I do still have to audition," Luca admits.
"When you get the call up saying you’ve got a direct offer, you don’t feel like hot shit, it’s more like 'why??'" he laughs.
"But I have had some really bad auditions – one of which I was semi-forced into by my old agent. I’m no singer, and I’m not very musical, but I’d been asked to go in and do a reading for a new show about a band. They said 'this is the song they want you to sing' and it was some kind of 80s rock ballad, and I thought there’s no way I'm going to do that.
"So they said, you know, just go in and sing whatever you want. At the time, I was listening to this Canadian artist called Matt Anderson, and why on God’s green Earth I thought I pulled off this deep register soulful voice – it seemed like a good idea at the time, probably because I knew all the lyrics all the way through. There were 15 other dudes outside with guitars and pianos. I put my headphones in and pressed play, ready to sing, and forgot that there was about 45 seconds to a minute before the lyrics kicked in, and we were all standing there in silence. It was a whole thing – I tried to skip forward and went too far... It was awful. I left and thought: I am never doing that again."
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