The Mitford sisters are amongst some of the most well known people in the United Kingdom, gaining notoriety in the 1930s. What caused this fame and widespread attention was not the affluent and aristocratic status of these women (although their status did lead them to be targets for scandalous headlines in the press), but the jarring political views and sudden radicalisation of the sisters.
The story of the Mitford sisters had yet to be told on the silver screen, with very little references to them in popular culture – until now. The BritBox original series Outrageous will be bringing this story to life for the first time, with a fictional exploration of the events that occurred over the years that lead the sisters on their separate paths.
Packed with incredible performances from a stand-out cast, this historical drama is witty and most definitely outrageous.
We spoke with Joanna Vanderham (Diana Mitford), Shannon Watson (Unity Mitford), and Zoe Brough (Jessica Mitford), who play three of the Mitford sisters in the upcoming series.
What intrigued you the most about telling the story of the Mitford sisters and wanting to be a part of the project?
Zoe Brough: I think the project being female lead, and how it’s such a powerhouse of women. Not only was it six sisters and based on their stories, but we had a female writer, we had a female director for three of the episodes, we had female AD, female DOP, the whole thing about it! But it was just such an incredible story about six women that had never been told before. And reading into it, deep diving into the script, it was such an authentic portrayal of them that had never been seen before, and there has never been anything about them.
Shannon Watson: Which is crazy!
Zoe Brough: Which is crazy in my opinion! There’s been The Pursuit of Love [the BBC One Series based on the book by Nancy Mitford], but that’s not about them. But you know, I find it wild that there’s never been anything written about them or seen about them. So that for me was just like “wow, first time!”
Joanna Vanderham: For me it was the chance to get to play, and to really summarise the bad guy, because I’m so often the good guy. And it’s nice! But to get to lean in to this sort of vile aspect of a human being, which I very rarely get to do. I felt like it unlocked a whole different side of me performance wise. And interacting with the girls in different ways, and the power dynamic, and not just because of the politics but also the dynamic of being one of six sisters, of course you’re going to have a status hierarchy. So getting to have these head on head, full on arguments with Nancy, it was just a challenge in my career that I was ready for.
Shannon Watson: For me it was probably, at the time in which the show was set, it starts in 1933 and doing the research, that’s what I found most fascinating. Obviously researching the family, but also just the period of the time and how the time was so turbulent. And in such a turbulent, unsafe world, how these women, speaking from Unity’s point, have absolutely no self doubt. So playing someone with no self doubt gives you ultimate freedom.
Joanna Vanderham: And that really comes across in your performance. Honestly, you’re so raw and unfiltered. And there are moments that you are so in it, even if Unity isn’t necessarily listening to the conversation that’s happening in front of her. You are in Unity’s head somewhere and it just makes me want to lean in and go “what are you thinking?”
The characters on the show have so much depth and nuisance and that’s truly a testament to how you portrayed those roles. How excited were you to play such complex characters?
Shannon Watson: It’s important as well when you’re going into a character and they are stereotypically the bad guy, it’s important for me to come in with it with no judgement, and just human curiosity, in order to give yourself a better chance at playing the character truthfully. And the bad characters don’t think that they’re bad, so obviously she starts off at 17, and she’s going through so much; adolescence and coming into her own. There were so many different waves of the mindset she had and that was really fun and interesting.
Joanna Vanderham: I also love the fact that – I’m Scottish, I grew up in Scotland – but there’s something about English people, as an outsider, where you’re not saying what you think. You’re thinking something completely different and you’re seeing this sort of socially acceptable version of it until it reaches this boiling point and you have this bust up. But there was something about the challenge of portraying the bubbling subtext, and because we had this sisterly dynamic, we had to really quickly form this history and this bond, and now we can communicate with a look. So that was a real added complexity on top of the fact that the characters themselves. Like Diana, she’s a wonderful mother, she loves her sisters, she’s fun to be around, she’s one of the most charming women, and yet she has these, in my mind, quite horrific views on the world. How can those coexist in one person? And that’s what the show questions and that’s why the show is fascinating.
Zoe Brough: I would say for me I think because they were real people, and as an actor when you’re playing someone that actually existed, there’s quite a lot of pressure on you really doing it justice, and I wanted to do that as much as I could. Knowing that out there, there are people that know so much about them and that going into the job you just want to make sure, (more than for the public and the people involved in the project, more for her [Jessica] and her family), knowing that they’re out there and they could possibly watch it, even if they do or if they don’t, hoping I did it justice for me, would just mean more than anything.
The three of you have all done quite a bit of theatre, what did you bring from your experiences in theatre or vice versa to this role? And do you have a preference for stage performance or performing on screen?
Shannon Watson: They’re just so different!
Joanna Vanderham: They’re really so different!
Zoe Brough: They’re really uncomparable. But also you know what was quite similar, and what crossed over in my opinion, is we were really were really lucky, and I don’t know if this is what happens on most filming jobs, is that we had a week of preparation, all six sisters, to get to know each other, and to get under each other’s skin and to really feel familiar. Which feel akin to rehearsal rooms and rehearsal spaces. Usually you just get onto set and meet the person there for the first time and you’re just delving into the depths there on set, which is a lot. But we were very lucky.
Joanna Vanderham: I also think because we all believed in the show so much that we’d be sitting in the green room, that we’d run the lines and run the scene unprompted because we would want to unpack it and use the time on set to know that when we walked in front of the camera on take one, we were going to deliver. And we were telling the same story, and I think that’s a testament to how much passion and how much we loved the show, is that we just brought that extra level of preparedness.
Shannon Watson: The sort of theatre aspect of it, and us all having experience in that, is that the family are very dramatic and theatrical and I think that works well. Especially those sort of dinner scenes, or family scenes when we’re all around the table, or at your [Diana’s] house.
Joanna Vanderham: The one thing I would say that is totally different for me from theatre, is that Diana is famous for never moving her face. In any of the photos she doesn’t smile because she doesn’t want to get wrinkles. So I really channeled that into my performance, of “how can I deliver the majority of my lines with the stillest face possible?” And she also does this thing in the photos, where she has her eyelids at half closed, and the only way you can look at someone with your eyes half closed is if you look down your nose at them, and that just sent me into the character of Diana.
Joanna and Shannon, Diana and Unity have such extremist ways of thinking and are often referred to as the most hated sisters. Was it hard to find an understanding in the way these characters think?
Joanna Vanderham: Yeah, there were definitely lines that I found hard to deliver, but your job as an actor is to understand why and to find something that you can relate to. So from my perspective, it was the idea of falling in love with a man you’re not supposed to fall in love with. That feels like a really relatable, universal, story that I think people will relate to. And she sets herself on a path, and as we said how stubborn they are, it just means that she continues down on that path. So again that something really relatable, is that once you’ve made your bed you’re going to lie in it. And I kind of respect that in a weird way even though it went in the wrong direction. But there were definitely things that you had to connect with and I think those were the main ones. Also she was so adored by everyone and society and all of the sisters.
Zoe Brough: She’s so persuasive.
Joanna Vanderham: And so charming.
Zoe Brough: And a great mum!
Joanna Vanderham: Such a good mum, she loves her babies. So yeah there were definitely parts that I would bring to the fore, that made it easier to see her humanity. But I do think the show does a really good job of questioning “how does someone become radicalised?”, “how did it become so extreme?” when she is this kind, funny person to begin with. That’s why the show starts when it does, so you can see Diana before she becomes that ice queen that she’s famous for being.
Shannon Watson : And I think what was helpful for me was reading about Unity as a child and reading about her experiences as a kid, and then coming into a teenager.
Joanna Vanderham: Queen Victoria?
Shannon Watson: Yeah! So pulling little stories from her childhood, like how she would steal strawberries from the greenhouses, and she dressed up as Queen Victoria, which is what Jo was saying, and I had a fascination with Queen Victoria when I was a kid, the way that other people have a fascination with The Mitford sisters. So I just used those experiences to make her seem more relatable to me. But when it did get hard, because of the extremist views, you had to use your imagination. You have to just delve into it.
Joanna Vanderham: And that it was the reality of the matter that actually occurred.
Was it hard to shake off the feeling after doing scenes like that?
Joanna Vanderham: Well because I have a wig, it was like “ah, goodbye!”.
Shannon Watson: Totally, and the wigs were so tight, so it did feel like all of this pressure. And then once it was off, and once you weren’t them anymore and you had a bath…
Joanna Vanderham: Yeah you wash them off.
Shannon Watson: Yeah and it’s not dark anymore. And she [Joanna] just played Blanche DuBois! [in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield].
Joanna Vanderham: And that’s why I cut off all of my hair! I need to let all of these women go!
Shannon and Zoe, I understand that these roles are your first leading roles in a television show, what was your reaction when you got the call?
Zoe Brough: Oh my god! I remember I was on set for something else and my agent was like, “you’ll hear in 24 hours” and I didn’t hear. And I remember being on set and waiting and waiting. I had run off set, like “have I got the call?” and I didn’t hear. I went oh god, and I just remember going “have I got it? Have I got it?”. I got a call I think 48 hours later and when you just get these calls and it’s just a pinch me moment. It’s such an out of body experience. I just remember going “I’m having a big glass of wine!” and “this is not real.” It’s some of those moments in life where it’s just euphoric, and there’s nothing that compares in the world in my opinion.
Shannon Watson: For me it was the first job since leaving drama school that I really really wanted. And so when my agent called me after a press night of a show that I was doing, and I was actually slightly hungover, and sad because my family were going back down south after seeing me at press night, and my agent gave me the call. And I was buzzing to go back to work. I wasn’t even humble about it, I was telling everyone!
Outrageous premieres on the 24th of July on BritBox.
