If you’re in search of some period drama escapism with a splash of sauciness to it, BBC iPlayer has a new six-part series just for you.
The appropriately-named drama Outrageous is based on the true story of the Mitford sisters, as told in Mary S Lovell’s bestselling biography.
This adaptation sees the six sisters in 1930s London, as the storm clouds of war begin to gather and the pillars of aristocracy start to crack.
The sister at the centre of this drama is Diana, played by Scottish actress Joanna Vanderham, who kicks things off with a very public and very scandalous divorce.
She trades in her husband for fascist leader Oswald Mosley (Joshua Sasse), which earned the real Diana the questionable honour of being dubbed ‘the most hated woman in Britain’.
In between the champagne and country estates, there’s political intrigue in the mix as, elsewhere among the siblings, Jessica (Zoe Brough) pursues an interest in communism.
Meanwhile Unity (Shannon Watson) gets into fascism (what a thing to say – the real Unity mixed in Nazi circles), leaving their parents perhaps understandably bewildered.
Meanwhile, we also have Nancy, played by Bridgerton star Bessie Carter, who’s unlucky in love but tremendously good with a pen.
On the whole, the Mitfords can’t keep out of the gossipy headlines – they’re the Kardashians of the 1930s – while their mother (Anna Chancellor) and House of Lords cardholder father (James Purefoy) try to make sense of what their daughters are up to.
The best-known statement from the Mitford sisters’ long-suffering mother, according to the New York Times, was: ‘Whenever I see the words “Peer’s Daughter” in a headline, I know it’s going to be something about one of you children.’
Who were the Mitford sisters?
Celebrated and sometimes scandalous, The Times once summarised the sisters as follows: ‘Diana the fascist; Jessica the communist; Unity the Hitler-lover; Nancy the novelist; Deborah the Duchess and Pamela the unobtrusive poultry connoisseur’. Catchy.
The six sisters gained much attention for their stylish and – if it wasn’t clear already – occasionally controversial lives in high society. Their heyday marked a high-water-mark of the British upper class.
Much of what we know about the sisters, and that is dramatised in the show, is because they were prolific letter-writers. They would have probably crushed on social media.
If any of that sounds familiar, it might be because you watched the 2021 drama The Pursuit of Love, starring Lily James, which was based on the real Nancy Mitford’s novel of the same name, which in turn drew heavily on her sisters’ lives.
Outrageous has already garnered glowing reviews, with a five-star write-up from Digital Spy, labelling it ‘brilliantly seductive television’.
Meanwhile, the Radio Times awarded the show four stars, hailing it as ‘scandalous’ and ‘stylish’, before adding: ‘A series which beggars belief, Sarah Williams’s six-part drama could easily be mistaken for a work of fiction, and understandably so.’
The show’s writer Sarah Williams said she was drawn to the subject material two decades ago, after a friend told her to read Lovell’s biography of the sisters.
‘I was completely blown away,’ Williams told Vanity Fair, ‘because here was everything. Love, death, passion, elopements, imprisonment, suicide.’
She added: ‘They had passionate opinions, and were prepared to go to jail for what they believed in, were prepared to kill themselves for what they believed in. They were not playing about.’
Will there be an Outrageous season 2?
There’s no official confirmation for Outrageous season two yet, but the cast and production are reportedly keen on a renewal, with the first season only covering the lead-up to World War II.
And there’s still plenty of scandalous Mitford sister history left in Mary Lovell’s biography the show is yet to explore, including wartime events and darker storylines.
Outrageous is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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