The Stars of 'Outrageous' Talk Sisterhood & the Dark Side of Politics

The BritBox period drama Outrageous chronicles a particularly thorny time in history by telling the story of a complex and often challenging family. The six Mitford sisters — Diana, Nancy, Pamela, Deborah, Unity, and Jessica — captured the imagination of 1930s Britain thanks to their polarizing politics, dramatic fashion sense, and seemingly never-ending scandals. But these women were more than the easy-to-digest stereotypes that followed them for much of their lives.

These were women who contained multitudes, and perhaps that is never more apparent than when considering the family’s three most controversial members. Diana Mitford was once one of the most hated women in Britain. She married the leader of the British Union of Fascists and was ultimately thrown in Holloway Prison during World War II as a danger to the king’s realm. Her younger sister, Unity, was a known close friend of Adolf Hitler and a virulent antisemite, while Jessica threw herself into Communist causes and essentially ran away from home to fight against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War.

Outrageous doesn’t shy away from the truth of their difficult or even heinous views; however, the series also never forgets that these women are more than their most scandalous deeds, leaning into the complicated relationships between the siblings in ways that often cross political and familial boundaries.