Rivals season 2 spoilers follow. Rivals fans got a shock earlier this year when season two's first instalment ended with a tragic twist. Lady Monica Baddingham (Claire Rushbrook), the wife of David Tennant's Tony, was killed in a car accident after finding out about her husband's affair with Maud O'Hara, played by Victoria Smurfit. Monica's death served a massive twist to fans of Jilly Cooper's original Rutshire Chronicles novels, as the character has a very different arc in the books.