1 August 2024 Susannah

The Outrageous Mitfords

The Mitford Sisters & Bessie Carter as Nancy Mitford

For many years I have been fascinated by the extraordinary Mitford sisters and I find when I give talks about their lives and writings, that many others share my fascination. So, I was intrigued to hear that a new TV series based on their lives is currently being made. It’s called Outrageous and will star Anna Chancellor as the mother, James Purefoy as the father, and the sisters will be acted by Bessie Carter (Nancy), Isabel Jesper Jones (Pamela), Joanna Vanderham (Diana), Shannon Watson (Unity), Zoe Borough (Jessica) and Orla Hill (Debo). The script is by Sarah Williams and is based on Mary S. Lovell’s excellent biography The Mitford Girls. The series will air some time in 2025 and will also stream on Britbox.

Nancy Mitford is my favourite amongst the sisters because she was the finest writer. Her novels The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate are highly autobiographical and a sheer delight to read. She was also a fine historian and biographer, and you may like to try her Voltaire in Love and Madame de Pompadour. There’s a chapter about Nancy’s life in Paris in Lucinda Holdforth’s True Pleasures: A Memoir of Women in Paris, a book I can highly recommend.

If you want some good biographies of the outrageous sisters, try Mary S. Lovell’s biography, or Take Six Girls: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters by Laura Thompson, who has also written Life in a Cold Climate: Nancy Mitford. There are books available on each of the sisters: The Other Mitford: Pamela’s Story by Diana Alexander, Diana Mosley: A Life by Jan Dalley, Hitler’s Valkyrie: The Uncensored Biography of Unity Mitford by David R.L. Litchfield, Jessica Mitford: Churchill’s Rebel by Meredith Whitford, while Debo wrote many memoirs about her life as Duchess of Devonshire. The sisters were brilliant letter writers and several volumes of their correspondence have been published. I especially like In Tearing Haste: Letters Between Deborah Mitford and Patrick Leigh Fermor.

You can read more about the sisters and the forthcoming TV series at Country & Town House.

Which Mitford sister is your favourite? Let me know by leaving a comment.

Comments (2)

  1. Marie Nesbitt

    I recently visited Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. Debo ,of course, is my favourite. Her entrepreneurial skills enabled Chatsworth to be saved from the harsh British “death duties” ! The guides were absolutely outstanding with their knowledge of Deborah and the house.
    My joy was enhanced because we stayed in the Mitford room at Cavendish Hotel. An unexpected bonus!

  2. Brian

    Nancy is by far my favourite Mitford even her lesser novels have their passages of brilliance. The Mary S Lovell biography is by far the best I’ve read and I’ve read them all, I particularly enjoyed Nancys letters, such a brilliant correspondent for those lucky enough to be a recipient of her coruscating wit and keen observances of the human condition she deserves her own bio pic. Great news that there is a new tv series being made about this endlessly fascinating family.

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