Whether you noticed it or not, it was a pretty big week of new watches this week.
From the new Anna Kendrick thriller to Netflix’s ‘evil’ catfish doc to a second season of Shrinking and the controversial Aussie version of The Office, one new series debuted with a huge Rotten Tomatoes score.
With an absolutely stacked cast, viewers have been left stunned by Emily Atack’s fully nude scene after sitting down to watch Rivals.
The Disney+ series landed yesterday (18 October) and also stars the likes of David Tennant, Danny Dyer and Katherine Parkinson.
Based on Jilly Cooper’s 80s steamy novel, the raunchy show kicks off as it means to go on with a mile high club scene, before we get the famous naked tennis match – all in the first 25 minutes.
And yes, that means the first time we see Atack in the show, she’s totally nude and whacking a ball – a tennis ball, with a tennis bat.
The 34-year-old plays Sarah Stratton, the wife of the Prime Minister’s deputy (played by Rufus Jones), who uses her status to get a TV presenter spot.
She previously told Digital Spy that her main worry about this naughty scene wasn’t the naked part but the sport bit.
“It wasn’t, ‘I’m gonna have to run around a tennis court completely starkers’. But, I like a big entrance. I was like, ‘Yeah, bring it on’,” she added.
Atack’s first time on screen she’s in the nude. (Hulu/Disney+)
“We keep saying that the nudity and the sex scenes are a huge part of this, but there’s always a reason for them. We’re not just getting our kit off for no reason. They’re very integral to the storylines and characters.”
And as Rivals is already getting rave reviews, that scene is unsurprisingly one of the big talking points.
While there is a swathe of disrespectful comments about Atack’s nudity online, plenty have pointed out how ‘hilarious’ the show is as the clips of the tennis match do the rounds on X.
The show is stacked in many ways. (Disney+/Hulu)
Some did admit they were only ‘watching it for Emily Atack’ as the likes of Kathy Burke praised the show: “Had the privilege of a sneak peek of the first episode and it’s fantastic! All eps drop today like most of the characters under-crackers. Can’t wait!”
The show has debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with a mega 94 percent average score on the Tomatometer as one wrote on X: “Squieling, smiling, giggled and literally going feral because of Rivals.”
Others are calling it ‘absolutely outstanding’, a ‘bonkbuster’ and the ‘sexiest show’ yet.
Rivals is available to stream now on Disney+.