Outrageous

Outrageous is a long-overdue dramatisation of the Mitford sisters, bringing to life one of the most extraordinary and divisive families in 20th-century Britain. Set against the backdrop of a country on the brink of war, the show cleverly frames the story through Nancy's eyes, allowing for a rich, intimate view of the family's tangled dynamics rather than a dry historical checklist. The acting and casting are superb, each sister is pitch-perfect, capturing their eccentricities and contradictions with warmth, sharpness and real emotional weight. Even moments I thought I knew surprised me in performance. My only complaint is that we don't have a second series yet. It's brilliantly addictive, almost impossible not to binge in one go.

Let me get one thing out of the way first. They can never get the hairstyles right in these period pieces. I read once that art evaluators always look at the hair first when trying to see if a painting is fake; counterfeiters just can't get it right. Nor can modern hairstylists. The sisters' hair was completely anomalous.

And now, why was it sanitised? Nancy, who narrated the series was cast as a wise elder sister on good terms with all of her siblings to begin with. In fact she bullied them terribly, even into adulthood with a waspish wit and sarcasm.

Tom was a fascist but portrayed as a good egg in the series; he even refused to fight against Germany.

Muv was a fascist in real life. So deep were her leanings that she separated from Farve because of his patriotism for the UK. Yet in the series she's portrayed as a gentle, mother goddess with no political views, indeed, if anything, shocked at the doings of her two fascist and Nazi daughters.

Pam was a virulent anti-Semite who stated, along with her husband, on many occasions that all Jews should be killed. Yet she's portrayed as a jolly hockey sticks hoyden and a sympathetic character.

Unity was a Nazi and that was made clear in the show. But for goodness sake! They brought modern psychology into it. The actress playing her had clearly been directed to play her as neurodivergent.

Jessica and Diana seemed to be the only ones who were, more or less, true to life.

Someone of my age and generation would know about this family from parents, newspapers, Nancy's novels and Jessica's work. They were a pretty gruesome bunch. Perhaps historical accuracy would have made the series far too depressing.

As it was, I watched the lot in 24 hours. I enjoyed it but I felt disappointed and had a sense that an opportunity was missed. I am nonetheless looking forward to the second season.

A bit of a mixed review, I'm afraid. I'd say watch it but with no great expectations.

It's easy to dismiss the Mitfords as posh, privileged and irrelevant, but that would be a mistake. The main theme of the first series, which only goes up to 1937, is the issue of how people can easily get swept up into extremist movements, which is just as relevant today as it was in the 1930s.

As others say, truth is stranger than fiction. If this had been presented as fictional, you'd say it was implausible, but almost everything described in the series really happened (though at least one of the characters is an invention). And what happens next, which we will probably see in the inevitable series 2, is even more shocking. It's remarkable that anyone could describe this story as boring. I suppose there are no car chases or shoot-outs.

The production is good (houses, cars, dresses...) although some of the scenes supposedly set in Germany are not very convincing. The acting performances are strong, considering how difficult these roles are to play. Kudos to the brave girls who took on the challenging roles of Diana and Unity.

I must say, my teeth were grinding even before I started to watch... reading that the Milford girls were 'independent minded rule breakers who threw off convention'. They weren't. They came from a background so privileged and entitled that the 'rules' others lived by were not even recognized by them. They didn't break rules knowingly, they were unaware of them.

The pre show blurb went on to speak of their lack of education, when in fact they were educated at home like so many women in history. A university education was never the only form of education. Their letters alone will tell any reader as much about what they did know as what they didn't.

The first episode, seemed to be the cliched cartoonish version of the English upper classes between the wars which holds sway with the chattering classes now.

But it did improve, its talented cast brought out some of the layers in their bilateral relationships, and the increasing clouds on the political horizons began to make their presence felt amidst the unfathomable stupidity of at least three of these under-employed but seemingly intelligent women.

What remains unpalatable (the commitment to fascism before, during and after the war of at least two of these daughters, and the similarly odd communist sympathies of another) is almost impossible to understand, other than to reflect on how divorced from the reality of most people they really were; by class, by design and by history.

Their characters are individually interesting when one reads their diaries, letters, work etc...but perhaps the story of these siblings cannot be told collectively without making it seem glib and crass, given its relationship to the sweep of history in the 20c.

Ninety percent of the dialogue in this series is given over to exposition -- characters conveniently explaining things to one another, describing events we never get to see, or summarizing various plot developments -- and this strictly functional dialogue (along with Nancy Mitford's voice-over narration) has to do a great deal of work, since the series is filled with all manner of events, comings and goings, whirlwind romances, debutante balls, weddings, break-ups, divorces, financial crises, political allegiances, trips abroad, spats between siblings, reconciliations, etc. -- so the whole busy story with its multiple points of view, though handsomely mounted, feels somewhat artificial and contrived.

However, the acting is so good, by virtually all concerned, that the series is quite likable and a pleasure to watch. I particularly admired Bessie Carter as Nancy and Shannon Watson as Unity, but all the cast was excellent, including the actors (though the men in the series tend to be a fairly caddish and inadequate bunch).