UKTV & BritBox Order Mitford Sisters Drama

UKTV and BritBox International have co-commissioned Outrageous, a six-part series about the Mitford sisters, to air in 2025.

Set in the 1930s, the series will tell the true story of the six aristocratic sisters, who refused to play by the rules and frequently made headlines around the world with their scandalous lives. It will explore how and why they were so ahead of their time and what drove them to take their complex and often dangerous paths in life.

Bessie Carter (Bridgerton, I Hate Suzie) is set to star as Nancy Mitford, alongside Joanna Vanderham (Crime, The Control Room) as Diana Mitford, Shannon Watson (The Jetty, Say Nothing) as Unity Mitford, Zoe Brough (Casualty) as Jessica Mitford, Orla Hill (Stonehouse, A Confession) as Deborah Mitford and Isobel Jesper Jones (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, The Serpent Queen) as Pamela Mitford. Their brother will be played by Toby Regbo (Belgravia: The Next Chapter, Platform 7), with Anna Chancellor (My Lady Jane, Trust) and James Purefoy (The Veil, Malpractice) as their parents.

Additional cast includes Joshua Sasse (Love is in the Air, Galavant), Jamie Blackley (Becoming Elizabeth, The Last Kingdom), James Musgrave (Einstein and the Bomb), Calam Lynch (Bridgerton, Archie) and Will Attenborough (Our Girl, The Hollow Crown).

Outrageous is created and written by Sarah Williams (Small Island, Flesh and Blood, The Long Song) and is based on Mary Lovell’s definitive biography The Mitford Girls. Joss Agnew (The Man Who Fell to Earth, Vigil) and Ellie Heydon (Trying, Dreamland) are directing.

Firebird Pictures, part of BBC Studios, is producing the new series. Executive producers include Firebird Pictures’ Elizabeth Kilgarriff, Matthew Mosley and Craig Holleworth; UKTV’s Helen Perry; and BritBox International’s Robert Schildhouse, Jess O’Riordan and Stephen Nye.

Outrageous will air on U&DRAMA and U in the U.K. and on BritBox in North America in 2025. BBC Studios is handling international distribution.

“Mad, bad and dangerous to know, the story of the Mitfords is based on fact stranger than fiction and is awash with contemporary resonance,” said Perry, head of drama at UKTV. “With Outrageous, Firebird and Sarah Williams have created a uniquely bold period drama, which doesn’t shy away from the horrors of the time yet offers us a chance to know these scandalous women who defied the world and tore themselves apart in the process.”

“Outrageous is an instantly gripping story about six fascinating and uncompromising sisters who were celebrities of their day,” commented Emma Ayech, channel director for UKTV’s Drama. “Sarah Williams’ witty and highly engaging scripts will bring the glamour, scandal and heartache of the Mitfords’ world to life in a way that Drama’s audiences will relish.”

Robert Schildhouse, president of North America and general manager at BritBox International, commented, “History has found the Mitford sisters to be endlessly fascinating, and we expect the BritBox community will be just as captivated by their glamour and scandals. Sarah Williams and Firebird have captured the Mitfords’ unique and shocking story in Outrageous, and we can’t wait to share it with the world.”

“We couldn’t be more excited about the stunning cast we’ve assembled to breathe life into this epic tale of sibling rivalry and political radicalization—and we can’t wait for directors Joss Agnew and Ellie Heydon to weave their visual magic in evoking the febrile world of 1930s Britain, where old social orders are crumbling and a group of headstrong, rebellious sisters set out to change the world, with sometimes devastating consequences,” added Firebird’s Mosley.