Emily Atack’s wedding is set to be a three-day star-studded bash.
The Rivals actress, 36, and her fiancé Alistair Garner, 40, have revealed they are ‘in the thick of’ planning their dream nuptials.
And Emily has asked her onscreen ‘hubby’ Rufus Jones, 51, who plays MP Paul Stratton, the spouse of her unfaithful alter ego Sarah Stratton in the Disney+ bonk buster, to give a reading.
She told HELLO: ‘It’s going to be lovely. I’ve really enjoyed planning it. It’s going to be three days of joy with all my favourite people – it’s going to be chaos.’
On May 6, Emily’s mum, actress Kate Robbins, accidentally hinted at the wedding date when she took to her Instagram Stories with a snap of Kim Kardashian’s Met Gala outfit.
Spitting Image alum Kate, 67, joked in her caption: ‘That’s me sorted for my ‘mother-of-the-bride’ outfit later this year.’
Emily has asked her Rivals ‘hubby’ Rufus Jones (pictured) who plays MP Paul Stratton, the spouse of her unfaithful alter ego Sarah Stratton, to give a reading at her upcoming wedding
The Rivals actress, 36, and her fiancé Alistair Garner, 40, have revealed they are ‘in the thick of’ planning their dream nuptials.
In 2025, The Sun reported that Emily and Alistair, who are parents have eyed up Spain as a place for their wedding.
A source said at the time: ‘Emily has been going to Spain with her family on holiday ever since she was a child and loves the idea of getting married there.
‘She and Alistair adore the stunning countryside there, and guaranteed sun is a bonus. They love the idea of friends and family joining them.’
Emily’s love of Spain stems from her childhood, saying: ‘I loved my family holidays there when I was growing up. We had a property there, and my dad sold it a couple of years ago, but it’s our favourite place, and we still go every year, and stay in a hotel.’
Rivals series two more than lives up to its opening run, according to critics – with a string of five-star reviews heralding its return to screens on Friday.
Based on Dame Jilly Cooper’s 1988 novel, the comedy-drama debuted on Disney+ in October 2024 and immediately became a huge hit. The eight-episode first series ended in December 2024 and was soon renewed for a second outing.
And the all-star cast of David Tennant, Emily and Danny Dyer, to name just a few, is back for more raucous exploits in Rutshire.
On May 6, Emily’s mum, actress Kate Robbins, accidentally hinted at the wedding date when she took to her Instagram Stories with a snap of Kim Kardashian’s Met Gala outfit
‘It’s going to be lovely. I’ve really enjoyed planning it. It’s going to be three days of joy with all my favourite people – it’s going to be chaos’ (Rufus pictured in RIvals)
In 2025 it was reported that Emily and Alistair, who are parents to eyed up Spain as a place for their wedding (Emily pictured in Rivals)
Critics previewing the first four episodes have almost unanimously praised the second outing.
Sarah Dempster for The Guardian gives the show five stars but muses ‘how best to reward such exquisitely knowing escapism? Ten stars? Ten thousand stars? Rivals is beyond earthly praise’.
The Telegraph’s Benji Wilson agrees with another five-star write-up, as he declares that ‘Rivals continues to refresh the parts that other television cannot reach – a heady mix of guilty pleasure, trenchant satire, rambunctious comedy and out-and-out trash’.
Carol Midgley for The Times says ‘despite its deliberate corniness, this is also gloriously uplifting television. It is unashamedly celebratory and perhaps even better than the last series’.
Den Of Geek’s Lacy Baugher praises the show’s ‘sprawling cast’ who ‘remain thoroughly excellent throughout’.
Baugher singles out Emily Atack ‘who steals much of this run of episodes, and makes her Sarah feel indispensable to the larger world of Rutshire in ways few of us likely expected’.
Rebecca Nicholson for the Financial Times is one of the few to not award five stars, giving the second series three instead.
‘Some of the storylines, particularly those about the TV industry, drag a little,’ she writes. ‘Rivals needs more slapstick, more of those capers, to keep things as light as they need to be for it to really work… Rivals is at its strongest when it embraces its silly side, and accepts its lot as a jolly old romp.’
