Sophie RobinsonRivals Season 2 drops its fourth episode on Disney+ today, 22 May 2026, and viewing figures suggest the show has already become one of the streaming platform's biggest UK hits of the year. Based on Jilly Cooper's 1988 novel, the series is set in the cutthroat world of British television franchising — a world of boardroom betrayals, deliberate humiliation, professional sabotage, and the ruthless exercise of power. It is enormously entertaining. It also depicts workplace conduct that would, in a real UK office in 2026, expose an employer to significant legal liability. The behaviours on screen are not just dramatic. They are, in many cases, against the law.
What Rivals Actually Shows
The series centres on the fierce rivalry between media moguls competing for ITV franchise licences in the 1980s. Characters manipulate subordinates, exploit professional relationships for personal advantage, intimidate colleagues into silence, and use power imbalances — financial, social, sexual — to maintain control. The world Cooper depicts was real: it reflected how many British workplaces actually operated before the wave of employment legislation that reshaped workplace rights over the following decades.
What makes the show compelling viewing in 2026 is the dissonance. We watch the conduct on screen and recognise, instinctively, that it would no longer be acceptable. But the recognition raises a harder question: how much of it still happens, just in forms that are harder to see?
The Gap Between What Happens and What Employees Know
According to the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), around 25% of UK workers report experiencing bullying at work. Of those, the majority never make a formal complaint. The reasons are consistent: fear of being seen as a troublemaker, uncertainty about whether what happened actually counts as bullying, and a belief that nothing will change.
That gap — between what happens and what employees know they can do — is precisely where legal expertise makes the biggest difference.
UK law on workplace bullying and harassment distinguishes between two categories. Bullying itself has no specific legal definition, but it can form the basis of a constructive dismissal claim, a personal injury claim, or a grievance that triggers a duty of care investigation. Harassment, defined under the Equality Act 2010, is distinct: it occurs when unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic — including sex, race, age, disability, religion, or sexual orientation — creates an intimidating, hostile, or humiliating environment.
Both forms of conduct are addressable through employment law. The key is knowing which applies to your situation, and acting within the relevant time limits.
The Four Rights UK Employees Often Don't Know They Have
The right to raise a formal grievance without automatic consequences. An employer cannot legally dismiss or penalise an employee for raising a formal grievance about bullying or harassment. If they do, the dismissal is likely to be unfair — and in harassment cases involving a protected characteristic, it may also constitute victimisation under the Equality Act.
The right to a safe working environment. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, employers have a duty to protect the mental as well as physical health of their employees. Sustained bullying that causes anxiety, depression, or psychological harm can constitute a breach of that duty — and form the basis of a personal injury claim.
The right to resign and still have legal recourse. If working conditions become so intolerable that resignation is the only reasonable option, this may constitute constructive dismissal — regardless of whether there was an explicit act of firing. A pattern of bullying, isolation, or humiliation can meet this threshold.
The right to raise concerns without using the word "bullying." Employees often hesitate because they feel they need to categorically name what is happening to them. In practice, a well-documented pattern of adverse treatment — recorded contemporaneously with dates, witnesses, and specific incidents — can support a claim even without a single definitive label.
The Devil Wears Prada Problem — and Why It Persists
The toxic workplace depicted in Rivals — and in similar cultural touchstones like The Devil Wears Prada — endures because it operates through ambiguity. A demanding boss is not necessarily a bully. High standards are not inherently harassment. The behaviour becomes legally significant when it crosses from demanding into demeaning, from critical into threatening, or when it targets someone because of who they are rather than how they perform.
As explored in this analysis of workplace bullying law prompted by The Devil Wears Prada 2, the legal landscape has shifted significantly — but cultural norms in some industries have not kept pace. Creative industries, finance, law, and media — the sectors most likely to produce Rivals-style environments — are also the sectors where informal power cultures are most entrenched.
When Should You Speak to an Employment Lawyer?
If you are experiencing conduct at work that feels wrong but you are not sure whether it crosses a legal line, that uncertainty itself is a reason to seek advice. An employment lawyer or ACAS adviser can assess whether the pattern you are describing meets the threshold for a formal grievance, a tribunal claim, or both.
Situations that consistently warrant prompt legal advice include:
- Systematic exclusion from meetings, communications, or decision-making processes
- Being set impossible targets or deliberately set up to fail
- Public humiliation by a senior colleague or manager, repeated over time
- Unwanted comments or conduct related to your gender, age, race, religion, or disability
- Being pressured to accept changes to your contract under the implicit threat of dismissal
- Receiving disciplinary action that appears unrelated to your actual performance
Employment tribunal claims for unfair dismissal must generally be filed within three months less one day of the act complained of. That window closes quickly, and the preparation of a solid case takes time.
Why Drama Like Rivals Matters
Television doesn't change workplace law. But it does shift cultural permission: it makes conduct visible, gives it a name, and creates a shared reference point for conversations that are otherwise hard to start. If watching Rivals prompts someone to reflect on their own experience at work — to recognise conduct they had normalised as simply "how it is" — that is not a trivial outcome.
If that reflection leads to a conversation with an employment lawyer, it could be a genuinely significant one.
This article is for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. For advice on your specific situation, consult a qualified employment solicitor or contact Acas on 0300 123 1100.
