“I think the show is summed up by the theme tune, a duelling operatic duet between a man and a woman reaching orgasm.

“I think that’s the team. We’re all working together, looking at every frame in the edit and remembering this is a show about female pleasure.

“So much television lingers over women’s bodies and we said, as a show, we’ll linger over men’s bodies!”

And one man not afraid to show off his body this series is former EastEnders star Danny Dyer, who plays millionaire Freddie Jones.

He’s confessed that he filmed a full frontal scene this series, but bad luck ladies, Dominic said they’ve spared his blushes.

He laughed: “Let’s just say there’s a lot of strategically placed bubbles from a bubble bath! So it’s not…full Danny!

“We’ve been really cautious about not being gratuitous. All the way through there’s a line with the show where you could be watching it and feel a bit uncomfortable. A bit like you are intruding.

“The whole point is you are with our characters. You are in the bedroom with them. We’re very careful in the edit, if suddenly the scene goes too far or gets too explicit, we pull back.”

As well as the sex, fans can expect plenty of betrayal this series as the war between Tony Baddingham’s TV station Corinium and Rupert Campbell-Black and Declan O’Hara’s Venturer hots up.

And while the boys slug it out, the women have their own drama with Sarah Stratton desperately trying to cover up a shock pregnancy.

Emily Atack steals the show as the big-busted presenter and Dominic says he knew she was the perfect Sarah from her first audition.

He said: “She was always someone we talked early on about. She came in and it was her. She did everything we wanted her to do.

“And there’s echoes of Barbara Windsor in her.

“There’s a sort of carry on naughtiness to her, but also a sharpness underneath that she brings.

“I think she’s incredible.”

But this series isn’t just about the sex and scandal, fans need to keep an eager eye on a host of famous famous who are going to pop up in cameo roles throughout the action.

I revealed last week that EastEnders legend Pam St Clement makes a surprise appearance in the opening episode, and Dominic says she won’t be the last star surprise.

Talking about getting her onboard, he said: “There was this little cameo part and I miss Pam, we’ve stayed in contact since we both left EastEnders.

“It felt like the perfect little cameo treat for our audience and we drop them all the way through the show. Little treats to keep you on your toes!”

Following the success of the first series, this latest outing has been given a boost with four extra episodes, taking the total to 12.

Dominic already has the third series mapped out, but he’s set his sights on Rivals running for years to come.

He said: “We’ve got this huge amount of incredible books and we’ve only done one so far, so we have a lot of road to run down!

“We keep talking about Game of Thrones, it ran for, I think, seven seasons.

“You have the House of Baddingham, the House of Campbell Black, the House of O’Hara. And we would love to keep coming back to Rutshire and playing with those families.

“We want a long-running drama that people adore and re-watch.”

It’s up to the bigwigs at Disney whether his dream comes true, but it probably helps that the show has the royal seal of approval.

Queen Camilla was a close friend of Jilly’s and visited the set during production to honour the author after her death.

She confessed she’s a huge fan of the show and Dominic says having her set foot in Rutshire eased the heartbreak of losing Jilly, who died after a fall at home.

He said: “It felt like a little bit of Jilly was back.

“They are similar women, both funny, smart, kind people. Queen Camilla was all of those things to all of our cast and crew.

“It was really special and moving. We all cried a lot that day.”