A tabloid-baiting family of socialites, a lone brother completely overshadowed by his sisters’ antics, and a marriage to a megalomaniac who turned to fascism. It’s understandable why the aristocratic clan known as the Mitfords have been hailed as the inter-war’s answer to the Kardashians. But is BritBox original “Outrageous,” the latest attempt to bring their scandalous story to the screen, worth keeping up with?
As its title suggests, the six-part adaptation of Mary S. Lovell’s biography “The Sisters” seems content to lean into the comparison. “We weren’t just a family, we were a force of nature,” eldest sis and chief narrator Nancy (Bessie Carter) proudly boasts in one of several well-spoken zingers you could imagine gracing a reality show confessional. She also handily narrates a beginner’s guide to her siblings — complete with name cards and incidental jazz — before serving up the juicy teaser that one would soon become “the most hated woman in Britain.”
It doesn’t take long for the prime suspect to emerge. Within the first 20 minutes, the married Diana (Joanna Vanderham) has started making eyes at Oswald Mosley (the typically hunky Joshua Sasse, very much playing against type), the mustache-twirling MP who’d soon found the British Union of Fascists. “There’s someone here tonight who has the most revolutionary ideas about how the country needs to change,” she later gushes to Unity (Shannon Watson) about the man who’ll soon have her kicking Guinness heir husband Bryan (Calam Lynch) to the curb. “I think he’ll be the Prime Minister one day.”
“Peaky Blinders” viewers will already know the pair, who get into cahoots with the entirely fictional Tommy Shelby in season six, become a gruesome twosome. And as anyone with a surface knowledge of the family’s checkered history will also be aware, she wasn’t the only sister who found herself rubbing shoulders with Hitler, either.
Period piece extraordinaire Sarah Williams (Austen biopic “Becoming Jane,” royal romance “Wallis & Edward,” slavery drama “The Long Song”) has vowed to dig much deeper into the Mitfords’ darker sides than previous depictions, particularly Nancy’s own semi-autobiographical novel “The Pursuit of Love” (“a lovely, frivolous tale of non-controversial girls falling in love,” she recently quipped).
That might not be particularly evident in the first and only episode available for review. Mosley’s sinister presence aside –— in one of those bizarre pop cultural twists of fate, his real great grandson Matthew serves as the show’s executive producer — the tone is largely of the “jolly hockey sticks” variety, particularly when the sisters are roaming around their vast Oxfordshire estate dubbed “The Fortress.”
Still, the experienced Williams ensures “Outrageous” keeps ticking over until it truly starts living up to its name. The hunger march protest that interrupts a gaudy birthday bash — essentially 1930s high society’s answer to “My Super Sweet Sixteen” — cleverly sows the seeds for Jessica’s future venture into Communism. And there’s an intriguing romance between Nancy and Hamish (James Musgrave), a slightly effete soldier whose lack of commitment, and indeed libido, suggests her taste in men might not be as sharp as her wit. “You’re quite sure he’s not a fan of Oscar Wilde?,” asks her closest confidante Joss (Will Attenborough) in a distinctly pre-war euphemism.
“Muv” and “Farve,” AKA the parents who put a silver spoon in the sisters’ mouths, also look like they’ll bring their fair share of drama. Fresh from a similarly controlling role in one season wonder “My Lady Jane,” Anna Chancellor pulls few punches as a mother increasingly exasperated by how her offspring refuse to play by the rules. “In a few months’ time, you’re going to be dancing at bars with gentlemen,” comes the pep talk designed to convince her more rebellious daughters to act more ladylike. “Neither of you are beauties like Diana, or clever like Nancy, or practical like Pamela,” she adds in the manner that would make a passive-aggressive momager proud.
James Purefoy also gets to chew the scenery as father David, an eccentric, and often rage-fueled, landowner who rules breakfast time with military precision. “Nancy, you’ll be six seconds late!,” he barks holding his stopwatch before gleefully holding court with house rules about personal allowances and rationing bathwater. As the financial crisis continues to threaten both his reputation and bank balance, expect his outbursts to get even more unhinged.
It might take a while for the House of Mitford to come entirely crumbling down (and without wishing to give spoilers away for a real-life dynasty that peaked nearly 100 years ago, it does so in spectacular style). Williams has expressed a desire to make three seasons, also arguing, not unfairly, that if the six sisters had been six brothers, then the show would have already been commissioned many moons ago.
“Outrageous” certainly has enough salacious, couldn’t-make-it-up source material to last the course. And although it doesn’t show any signs of reinventing the period drama wheel — we’re still very much at the “Downton Abbey” end of the spectrum here rather than “The Great” — it’s the kind of compelling family hot mess that makes Kim, Khloé, and co. look like utter amateurs.
“Outrageous,” a BritBox Original, premieres in the U.S. and Canada with the first two episodes on Wednesday, June 18. Subsequent episodes will drop weekly on Wednesdays.
