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Bessie Carter stars as famed British novelist and socialite Nancy Mitford in BritBox’s new series, Outrageous, based on Mary S. Lovell’s book, The Sisters
Taking on the role, which is one she tells PEOPLE she’s felt “connected” to for her whole life, was definitely a step in a different direction compared to Bridgerton, where she plays the snobby Prudence Featherington
“They’re completely different characters,” she says of Prudence and Nancy. “They’re both really fun to play for different reasons”
Bessie Carter is back in the period drama world — but in one that lives very far outside the glitzy Bridgerton universe.
The 31-year-old actress is taking on the real-life story of famed British novelist Nancy Mitford, whose eccentric lifestyle with her five sisters became something of a societal, in the new BritBox series Outrageous. It’s a role that feels very serendipitous at this point in her life, she tells PEOPLE.
Carter immediately felt a sense of connection to the character — one that dates back to her early life.
Carter admits that even before landing this role, she “knew a weird amount about Nancy Mitford.”
“Throughout my life, I’ve been connected to Nancy Mitford,” she explains. “I went to the same school as her. I was born in the hospital she worked at during the war, and I narrated her audiobook four years before getting the part. So I knew a lot about her.”
Courtesy of BritBox
Bessie Carter as Nancy Mitford in ‘Outrageous’.
When the opportunity to bring her to life onscreen arose with Outrageous, Carter says it felt “weirdly meant to be.”
“It was one of those scripts that I read and I knew exactly how to do it — without sounding arrogant. I was like, ‘I know her mind,'” she recalls. “So it felt weirdly kismet.”
It was also “an honor” in Carter’s eyes, because of how groundbreaking Nancy’s work was. “She was writing under her own name, which at that time, was completely rare. She used to say, ‘Why can’t I do that?’ And I really respect that kind of, ‘Well, why can’t I?’ I think it’s really cool.”
This isn’t Carter’s first period drama, but she says Outrageous feels like completely different from Bridgerton.
Trying to compare Prudence Featherington, the jealous and spoiled sister of Penelope Featherington (now Penelope Bridgerton!), to Nancy Mitford is a weird task for Carter.
“I mean, they’re so different. They’re completely different characters,” she says. “They’re both really fun to play for different reasons.”
“The Prudence snobbery, I suppose, is fun to play because you are never like that. So you get a chance to be. ‘Imagine if I got to say stuff like this,'” she says.
“But then Nancy was actually quite an interesting challenge because I felt quite close to her in many ways. The way that she reacts to things and the way that her heart — she’s sort of romantic.”
Being able to relate more with Nancy didn’t necessarily mean it was easier, though. “[It’s] sometimes a bit more vulnerable to play, because it’s closer to you. So you have to trust that it’s enough, what you’re doing. You don’t need to add any more to it.”
Where Bridgerton feels “larger-than-life,” Outrageous tells a very authentic version of the Mitford sisters’ lives.
“It’s so punky and fast-paced and funny,” Carter says of the series. “And there’s an energy to the way it’s shot, which I think is our tempo, which was their tempo. I mean, they were eccentric.”
The details in the series, too, like in the costumes, “make it very real.”
“It sort of veers away from the Bridgerton larger-than-life period drama thing,” Carter, who is the only daughter of Imelda Staunton and Downton Abbey star Jim Carter, adds. “It’s very authentic to the time.”
Courtesy of BritBox
Bessie Carter as Nancy Mitford in ‘Outrageous’.
The six-episode series is based on Mary S. Lovell’s The Sisters and explores the “decadence, frivolity and lavishness of British high society,” and the Mitford’s antics in particular, amidst the “gathering storm clouds of the 1930s,” per the official logline.
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Outrageous is now streaming on BritBox.
Read the original article on People
