Bessie Carter on Finding the Modern Woman in 'Outrageous's Nancy Mitford

BritBox’s Outrageous brings the story of the Mitford sisters to life, six siblings who captured the imaginations of many in 1930s Britain thanks to their polarizing politics, scandalous social behavior, wealthy connections, and exceptional fashion sense. But while the behavior of younger sisters Diana and Unity may be the most shocking onscreen throughout the first season’s first four episodes, it’s eldest sister Nancy who serves as the narrative and emotional linchpin around which the rest of the show revolves. And while her story may be slightly less dramatic than that of, say, the sister writing antisemitic screeds in the newspaper from her perch in Adolf Hitler’s inner circle, it’s no less compelling to watch unfold. 

The real Nancy Mitford is likely the family member most modern-day viewers (and indeed most Americans) are familiar with, thanks to her many books, some of which satirically poked fun at her siblings and their exploits. That she’s the primary storyteller of Outrageous makes perfect sense. However, the show smartly employs devices like the breaking of the fourth wall and the concept of the story being told years in the future by a Nancy who has already lived through it to complicate what we’re seeing onscreen. 

Telly Visions had the chance to sit down with star Bessie Carter, who plays Nancy, to talk about the challenges of bringing such a well-known historical figure to life, working with her onscreen siblings, the timely issues at the heart of Outrageous creator Sarah Williams’s script, and lots more.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. 

Telly Visions: Nancy Mitford is probably the most well-known of the siblings. What was your North Star when it came to deciding how to play her — figuring out who she really was, who this TV series version of her is, and where those two ideas meet?

Bessie Carter: It’s such a good question because you don’t want to just do an impression of someone. We made a decision very early on that we wouldn’t try to do their voices. Their voices — if you watch any interviews, they’re really clipped and significantly heightened RP [Received Pronunciation] — and we just knew the moment we tried to do that, we’d lose the modern audience because it’s so far from our ears now. 

So, with Nancy, it was an amazing mixture of, obviously, dipping into all the resources we had. We had an amazing wealth of them: Mary’s book was incredible; it reads like a novel, and there’s so much more you probably don’t know. It’s kind of wild. I spoke to Sarah and Mary Lovell right at the beginning before we ever started filming, and they said some really useful things that I just held onto throughout the whole process, one of which was that Nancy was never a victim. She never played the victim or felt like one. Even though she has this sort of torrent of terrible, hopeless romantic affairs with these useless people, she never pitied herself. That was a really helpful characteristic to hold on to. 

But I suppose it’s the same with any character — I try to look for the differences between me and them, as well as the similarities. Funnily enough, with Nancy in the script, there were quite a lot of similarities with how I am. What was so brilliant that Sarah did by making Nancy the storyteller is that Nancy was the least political of all of them, for want of a better word. She wanted to remain in the middle and be the glue that held everyone together. What I hope is satisfying for the audience is that you go on the journey with Nancy, and you realize she has to take a stance at the end, because you can’t just sit in the middle when you recognize those paths [her sisters] are going down. 

TV: I love the idea of Nancy as a storyteller both in real life and the world of the show. Did you read any of Nancy’s books to help prepare to play her?

Carter: She was a storyteller — she loved telling stories and dressing up; she loved gags and physical teasers. She’d dress up as a weird pretend aunt to try to trick her sisters into thinking she was this mad-out lady who just turned up at the door. As for her books — I narrated The Pursuit of Love on Audible about five years ago before they ever cast me. And Matthew Mosley [an executive producer] was listening to it as part of his prep for the show without knowing they’d cast me. How weird is that?

TV: Wow, that feels like fate! It took me a minute to realize that Nancy, the in-show narrator, is telling this story from many years in the future, so there’s a post-war Nancy and also the younger version we’re watching in the show. Did you consider the differences between Nancy, who is going through all these things, and Nancy recounting the story of them?

Carter: We had really long conversations about that because we really had to get it right, because we were also marrying it with Nancy in the show, looking into the camera and talking to the audience. We had to find that balance. So, the idea we came up with is: it’s Nancy years later, during the war or post-war, with a cup of tea and a group of friends around her, telling a story like she does best. She’s got the power of hindsight, so she knows where it all goes, and there are moments where she can be somewhat foreboding and enticing to keep that group of friends in her house listening. But at other times, she can make a joke or laugh about it because she knows where it will end up as well. 

Then, with Nancy breaking the fourth wall and looking down the barrel of the lens, you know, that was very much Nancy in the moment, but also strangely knowing where it goes. I have so much respect for Phoebe Waller-Bridge (from Fleabag) because looking down a camera is freaking hard. Excuse my half-French, but it is really difficult to find the balance of what tone to set, and as the show goes on, the tone shifts quite a bit. 

TV: Timing is a peculiar aspect in terms of when things are filmed and then released. This show is a recounting of the rise of fascism in the 1930s, and it’s coming out at a moment when authoritarianism is on the rise all around the world. What do you hope that modern audiences take from this story in the moment we’re in right now? 

Carter: It’s about connection, communication, and love. The sad thing about telling stories that show how times haven’t changed is that we have the power of hindsight now that they didn’t have in the 1930s, and that’s the tragedy. What I would love the audience to come away with is a look at this family, who were all raised under one roof, and who are just refusing to play the roles they’ve been told repeatedly they have to as wives and mothers. These women just went, ‘No, thanks, I want more than that.’ 

They had all this energy and youthfulness that they wanted to put into something, and they weren’t given a vehicle to put it in. So they go to places where they are listened to, and those tend to be, unfortunately, terrible places with terrible consequences. So if you don’t listen to these voiceless women, if you don’t give them a role in society where they feel like they are being respected and heard, they’re going to scream louder. And so, I suppose politically, that’s my sort of thought on it. 

But I think it comes back to this group of six girls, and they try, no matter what, to stick together and try to understand one another, to empathize and to communicate, and that’s what I think we still need to be doing now.

TV: When I talked to Sarah, she said something that’s stuck with me ever since — that the heart of the show is about whether we can love someone and despise their politics or whatever their particular beliefs are, and how do we keep those relationships together. How do you feel the show answers that question?

Carter: I don’t think it’s necessarily our job to answer it. Our job is to tell this story without adding too much of our own opinions into it, because then that wouldn’t be true to telling their story. What I appreciate about it, and what I like about watching a television show, film, or play in the theater, is when something raises more questions, prompting me to ask more questions. 

TV: Tell me a little bit about working with Joanna Vanderham [who plays Nancy’s sister Diana]. Nancy and Diana’s relationship is such a linchpin of the show for me. How did you guys forge that bond together?

Carter: What I love is that [the show] is kind of weirdly a love story between us. The men come and go, and that is obviously relevant, but it’s also obviously a love story between Diana and Nancy, and they do really come head to head. Me and Jo got on so well. We met up before we started shooting to chat through the script and get to know each other. We’d call each other up and go through lines; we’d be in the green room working on bits, asking how we could make this or that better, and going through everything. 

I really respect actors who work hard and turn up prepared, and all the sisters turned up having read all the books and letters. Because then, when you’re doing a dinner scene, and they ask you, “Can you just improvise some chat whilst we come in with the camera, or while we’re following the maid with the turkey? We knew which sister would kick which sister under the table and which sister would laugh at that joke. It was really lucky, all the resources we had.

TV: All of the actors on the show have such great chemistry

Carter: We all get along really well. 

TV: Is there a Mitford family group chat? 

Carter: Of course there is! There’s the Mit Sibs, which is Mitfird Siblings with all the grownups and the producers and directors and everyone, and then we have the kids, which is just all of the younger actors, including Will [Attenborough] who plays Joss, our best friend, and Jamie Blackley who plays Peter Rodd. We’ve been out dancing together on multiple occasions. We all hang out. 

TV: I love that so much! But speaking of Peter Rodd… poor Nancy and her love life. She’s such a fabulous woman; I just want her to have better taste when it comes to men.

Carter: I know. I feel like she’s this hopeless romantic who’s actually just quite traditional at heart. She really does want that fairytale ending. 

TV: You can see that I think in relation to her sisters, they’re turning towards these external things to validate themselves, but it’s Nancy who wants the husband and kids and is reading baby books and chasing that dream. 

Carter: I think Nancy’s outlook is in part because she’s got her writing. She’s got somewhere where she can pour her frustration, her intelligence, her wit. She was constantly writing; she wrote for Vogue, The Lady, and Tatler, and also wrote novels. She had somewhere to pour all of that that those other women didn’t, and she was also closer to her parents’ age — she was the eldest, so she was more of that generation. 

I think Nancy was very insecure. I think people who are seemingly very confident and funny tend to have had to learn to be funny because they didn’t think they were enough in some way. Yeah, that was the sort of psychoanalyzing work I did with Nancy; that she was, deep down, shy and insecure, and did just really want to feel loved. I think that’s what the audience will hopefully connect with. We all have an element of that in ourselves, or we know someone who’s like that in our lives, where you think: ‘Oh, I just wish that you could see how great you are. You’re not worth that shitty man, you’re worth better.” That’s the journey that we go on with her, and hopefully, the audience will root for her. 

Outrageous continues with new episodes every Wednesday on BritBox through the end of July 2025.