This article contains spoilers for all episodes of Outrageous
BritBox’s newest period drama, Outrageous, portrays the true story of how the turbulent politics of the 1930s simultaneously tore a family apart and also forged their desire to rebel against their upper-class sheltered background.
Nancy Mitford (Bessie Carter), the eldest sibling, acts as the narrator who explains that her younger sister Diana fell in love with the leader of the British fascists Oswald Mosley (Joshua Sasse), and another sister Unity (Joanna Vanderham) became obsessed with Hitler. On the other side of the spectrum, sister Jessica (Zoe Brough) joined the Communist movement, after seeing how her upper-class family lived in comfort while others were starving.
Previously, GBH Drama interviewed the Executive Producers on their creative process. In the second part of our coverage, GBH Drama spoke with actress Bessie Carter about her perspective on Nancy’s journey throughout the season, the scenes she struggled with most, and what’s next if the series gets renewed.
GBH Drama: What drew you to the role of Nancy?
Bessie Carter: I was saying “I’m not going to do another period drama.” Then my agents sent me this audition. They were like, “I don’t think you’re going to want to say no to this, though, because it is the lead of a show.” I’d never played a lead before. Then I read the script, and I knew loads about Nancy Mitford; I had weird connections to Nancy Mitford. I [narrated] her book “The Pursuit of Love” five years ago. I went to the same school as her. I lived near where she and Peter Rodd ended up living.
The script is the most important thing in any job. If you have a good script, it’s hopeful that [the product] might be good. If it’s a bad script, there’s no chance. This script was brilliant, and I thought it was funny, and intelligent, and heartfelt. I thought it was mad, the fact that we’d never seen the Mitford Sisters on screen before. I thought, “Oh, my God. I want to be in the first version that tells their story.” Then, to be honest with you, when I went in for my audition, I met Joss Agnew, the director, and Rachel Sheridan, the casting director. I had the best audition in my life, because they were so nice and kind and open and curious. It felt collaborative and energetic. I left with a skip in my step and thinking, “I might have got that job.” Not in an arrogant way, but I got a good feeling. I waited two weeks, and then I got the job. It was great.
GBH Drama: How did being the eldest affect Nancy’s relationship with her parents and her younger siblings throughout the season?
Bessie Carter: They have a close relationship. Her parents put a lot of responsibility on her to look after the brood. It was quite natural for Nancy to look after them. There was a 16-year difference between Nancy and Debo, the youngest. There was some pressure from her parents to keep them all together, but Nancy also feels increasing pressure from her parents to be successful in love and to find an appropriate person. She continually doesn’t do that. Nancy feels quite ashamed towards the end. She then comes back and spends a lot more time with her parents when her relationship with Peter starts to go down the drain. And that’s quite human, isn’t it? You go, “Let’s go back to mum and dad’s,” if you’ve got the privilege of having mum and dad who can have you. She wanted to be looked after.
GBH Drama: Do you believe that if Nancy knew more about the world, she would have made different relationship choices?
Bessie Carter: Her marriage was a rebound because of Hamish. She was with Hamish for four years in an unofficial engagement. She didn’t want to look beyond what she had with Hamish; she wanted to hope for the best. Nancy decided, “okay, I’m going to take the lead,” but it failed. Poor Nancy. When the relationship fell through, I think she felt the shame and the pressure from society to hurry up and get on with it. She never acted or behaved like a victim or felt like a victim, but I think she was a victim of her time. I believe she did have time to potentially find someone else, but I don’t think she let herself. She was a hopeless romantic, and Hamish was very charming, and we’ve all been there. If it were in modern days, she probably would’ve dated Hamish for about six months and then realized the red flags were far too loud to ignore. I think they got married within a month in those days, which is remarkable.
GBH Drama: Nancy narrates the stories of her sisters as well as telling her own. What were the most difficult scenes of hers to portray and why?
Bessie Carter: The scene where Nancy finds her husband cheating on her. When I read the script and I came to the end, I saw Nancy didn’t forgive him, but also made the choice to stay married. When I read that, the 21st-century feminist in me struggled with it. I was like, “No, he’s a shitbag and she should walk away. She should leave.” Sarah Williams, our amazing writer, was like, “No, well. This is just what happened. Nancy made this decision, but not from a place of being a victim who was staying stuck, but from an empowered place where she goes, if he can do whatever he wants, he can never tell me I can’t do what I want.” You have to be true to what their actual story was. It is in some ways very empowered to say, “Right, okay. I see him now for who he is.” There is power in that, but I found that difficult. I found that journey from the betrayal, which she did feel, and the hatred and all of that, to then come to that place of peace… I found that as Bessie, the actor, I had to quieten her opinions about it and step up as Nancy.
GBH Drama: Nancy’s eventual falling out with Diana on the surface is about politics. What else do their conversations reveal?
Bessie Carter: I believe Diana was seduced by a man who needed her and her brain. With a lot of the sisters who went down the extreme paths, they went to places where they felt heard and respected. They weren’t being heard or respected in their normal society, where they were told, “no, you’ve just got to be a wife or a mother,” and “you’re not allowed to go to school. School is for boys.” They then go to the corners of the world where they do feel heard, and I think Diana felt heard by Mosley. She lost interest or connection with her friends in the love affair. Nancy’s continually trying to say, “where are you going? Where have you gone? We are here. What are you doing?” I believe the love story between Nancy and Diana is the interesting love story of the series.
GBH Drama: Do you believe that Nancy had it in her to stop Unity from going off the rails into extreme fascism?
Bessie Carter: Unity was completely ignored and taken the mick out of, and none of them took her seriously. I don’t believe they could see where that path was going to lead. She was a child who was not being heard, and if you think about 18-year-olds in 1930, they’ll be even younger than 18-year-olds today, who look about 25. Nancy didn’t take it seriously; thought it was harmless until it was too late and they received that letter. Then they realized the severity of Unity’s ambition and drive, which [all the sisters] had in different areas, and it probably came from their parents. Nancy had it with her writing. She wrote under her own name. She didn’t care about being a female author.
GBH Drama: Circling back to the age gap, can you elaborate on how that is presented through Nancy’s interactions with Debo, Pam, and Decca?
Bessie Carter: Nancy and Decca have that big sister/little sister thing. They argue, they butt heads; “oh, shut up,” and “oh, no. You.” Pamela was different; very independent from the family. She had her car, so she could drive around. Debo was a lot younger. She was like a child. We were all just trying to honor what was written in Sarah Williams’ scripts. What’s great is that this series is only a tiny fraction of their lives. There’s so much more to go. You see, there are many more dynamics that happen between them all, carrying on. This is very much the setting up; the first few steps leading up to the war. The dream is to do a series two and three as a complete story.
GBH Drama: Were you surprised by the ending in the script? Is there a possibility for more episodes of Outrageous, and what would you like to see from Nancy’s story in the future?
Bessie Carter: It was a clever ending with the photograph. Knowing what has happened in between, it’s excellent. I’d like to see Nancy get to Paris, mainly because I’d love to spend some time in Paris. Nancy felt Paris suited her. I can imagine her with her chic little bob sort of trotting down a pristine cobbled alleyway. That’s probably around the era where Nancy’s voiceovers come from. It would be cool to get to the person who is doing the reflecting.
All episodes of Outrageous are currently streaming on BritBox.