Outrageous

This is a fantastic series telling the true story of the six Mitford sisters. One a famous author, two famous nazi lovers.

There is some great acting from most of the cast - the actresses playing Unity and Diana not so great. The real Diana was a renowned beauty and blindly admired Hitler. We don't see her beauty here. The peroxide blonde gives us a wooden performance and she delivers her lines in a monotone way. She doesn't move her face or mouth, maybe worrying about messing up her make up. The other sisters have great speaking voices but this actress attempts a cut glass accent and it doesn't work. Another actress would have portrayed her in a more natural way.

Nancy, the narrator is my favourite. A brilliant actress giving a natural performance.

The Battle of Cable Street put an end to Moseley's vision of a facist England.

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).

These over privileged if not wealthy sisters and one brother is not to be glamorized at all..these Nazi loving communists, fascists were so bored with themselves...so in need of being a part of something bigger that this is the route they choose for themselves.

There is nothing comical...there is nothing romantic...there is nothing anyone should be applauding a family that ripped itself apart because of love, romanticism and sisterhood run a mock.

Diana the beautiful one allowed herself to be dr-Guinnessed for some black shirts penis that most likely drove her insane or at least mesmerized.

I mean she was married and birthed a baby by a Guinness people.

Nancy was the smartest of them all yet she let a gay man break her heart only to marry someone who couldn't handle a dollar bill with his eyes closed.

The rest of them needed friends and maybe the 1930s everyone needed friends or something to hold onto to because the world collapsed and then burned and the Mitfords was at the heart of it all...oh my.

I have been fascinated by the Mitford sisters for some time. So it was good to see the characters fleshed out in a drama.

The story really centres around Nancy, Diana, Unity and the parents. The other sisters and brothers are bit players in the story. And as such it's hard to grasp who's who in the initial episodes.

All the actors do a great job and it looks great. The background of political turmoil in England and on the Continent which leads to conflict within the sisterhood is a major part of the storyline. Told through the eyes of Nancy, the narrative is clearly defined.

Although to most people these actresses sound posh. The real Mitfords were part of the Englush upper class. I recently saw an interview with Diana. She made these actresses sound like washer women.

This drama portrays life in the 1930s of the extraordinary Mitford family.

In fact it could have been called Extraordinary rather than Outrageous.

The protagonist is Nancy Mitford who became an established author.

The telling of their lives underlines just how autobiographical Nancy's most famous publications really are, The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate.

Their pursuit of love wasn't really love at all, it was the pursuit of an eligible men with an income that would keep the Mitford sisters in the style of life to which they were accustomed.

As such, in the 1930s, they had very little to offer and their whole existence seemed to be aimed at "coming out" or presented to society at the annual debutants ball.

Very shallow indeed, but these were not ordinary women they held very strong views not always in alignment with one another, so much so that Unity and Diana finding themselves embroiled in Fascism.

Anyway, it is a good drama and is enhanced with a mainly unfamiliar cast. Only Anna Chancellor, as the mother, being instantly recognizable.