ony Baddingham? Tony Worse-ingham, more like! For reasons best known, one suspects, to streaming giant Disney's revenue-maximisers, the second series of Rivals has been split up into two parts of six episodes each. We left the rutting folk of Rutshire just after Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell, a sex god by way of Hugh Laurie and once you notice this you can't unsee it) had broken the news to arch-rival Tony (David Tennant, having the time of his life as the unrepentantly villainous mogul) that his wife, Monica (Claire Rushbrook), had been killed. She drove off into the Great Storm of 1987 after discovering Tony's affair with Maud (Victoria Smurfit), his bitter enemy's wife, and demanding – at last – a divorce. One tree later, however, poor Monica's dreams of freedom and future happiness ended.

Now, after a five-month hiatus for viewers, we arrive at the funeral. Never has there been more lustful inter-pew side-eyeing. Taggie (Bella Maclean, doing such fine work with what could be a tremendously boring character) and Rupert Reformed-Bounder-Question-Mark are yearning across the aisle. Freddie's moustache is quivering at Lizzie and Lizzie's perm is quivering right back (sported, respectively, by Danny Dyer and Katherine Parkinson). Gerald (Hubert Burton) and Charles (Gary Lamont) are suffused with the love that dare not speak its name, especially in front of Gerald's new fiancee, Muffy (Eliot Salt) – but they find a way to express it non-verbally in the car after the service. And James (Oliver Chris) doubtless is transfixed by the vision of himself in the nearest reflective surface.

After that, it's sort of business as usual, but … not quite? The Venturer v Corinium shenanigans continue as the fight for the franchise intensifies, but nobody watching cares about that. We're here for the other shenanigans, the kind that have made Rivals beloved since the off – emotional scenes, dramatic reveals, painful confessions, SAUCE, backcombing, betrayals, SAUCE, dastardry and bastardry, dogs running around huge houses and grounds, a bit more SAUCE and all soundtracked by 80s bangers or Mozart's Dies Irae, depending on the mood.

There is plenty of everything. Without Monica (she was, as a guest at the wake points out, his conscience) and full of grief and fury, Tony is off the chain. Two shotgun blasts and a brace of dead peacocks later, Tennant has turned his eyes black and given up blinking for the duration. It's very unsettling.

The parentage of Sarah's baby is revealed and so, as the series progresses, is the state of the maternity clothes market in 80s Britain. Freddie and Lizzie's relationship intensifies and he (possibly also she) discovers a lady part that apparently neither of them knew about before, which is nice.

There is a mole in the Venturer camp, shovelling information back to Tony. Is it the woman who used to work for Tony before she attempted to murder him? Or is it the woman sleeping with him now? Will Declan (Aidan Turner) discover that the latter woman is Maud, in revenge for – – him not going to see her in an Ibsen play? Will Gerald tell Muffy she has signed up to a lavender marriage? Will Paul (Rufus Jones) notice Sarah is pregnant? And if he does, can he count to nine?

At the same time, however, it is as though a dark cloud is gathering over Rutshire – or maybe it is the shadow of so many chickens coming home to roost. There are more consequences to more actions in this six episodes than there have been in the entire series and a half that went before. Sometimes this results in scenes of real poignancy. There is a wonderful and much-deserved (for both character and actor) death scene for Monica: real heartbreak played out between devastated spouses and the ones who have betrayed them.

All of these work beautifully, because even though (like the Jilly Cooper books on which it is based) Rivals has a reputation for being just a romp, it is not. It's a light drama featuring characters written with real depth, played by actors who can hint at multitudes and plumb those depths in the moment. But as the crises and breakdowns and evocations of really dreadful grief mount up, you do sometimes wonder where the fun went.

None of this is helped by the fact that Rupert has been neutered by his love for Taggie. History's most dashing bounder has mutated into something between village elder and marriage counsellor and, well – it changes the vibe, you know?

The final two episodes restore some of the original spirit to the overall enterprise. It is still, taken in the round, a joy – filled with warmth, wit, intelligence and brilliant actors (plus a touching appearance by the woman without whom none of this would exist, Dame Jilly). But perhaps Tony could be persuaded to shoot a few of those chickens overhead before the next series arrives and see if a little more light can be let back in. Let the rolling hills and pumping buttocks shine once more.