Netflix star warns his new period drama will ‘wake people up'

Daily Mirror

7 hours ago

A beloved British star has previewed his next role in a scandalous period drama hitting screens this week
Actor James Purefoy believes his new series will strike a chord with the current political landscape despite being set nearly 100 years ago.
The British star, recently best known for portraying Remi Milburn in Netflix 's hit comedy-drama Sex Education, takes on a crucial role in U and U&Drama's Outrageous, premiering later this week.
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Based on the life of Nancy Mitford, Bridgerton star Bessie Carter steps into the role of the iconic writer during her family's rise to notoriety in the 1930s.
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With the Second World War looming, Nancy's relationship with her sisters begins to fracture when they start to develop radically opposed political views.
When their father, David Freeman-Mitford (played by Purefoy), known to the girls as 'Farve', is forced to tighten his belt, some of his daughters begin to rub shoulders with British Fascists, believing them to be the answer to the country's growing financial woes.
Speaking exclusively to Reach at Outrageous' London premiere, Purefoy admitted: 'I think, because of the times we live in, I'm not sure how outrageous it is.
'Because I think everybody's quite used to what's going on in terms of very polarised politics, populist leaders doing unbelievably outrageous things.
'So, it's outrageous in the sense of, that's kind of where it started.'
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Written by Sarah Williams, Outrageous marks itself out from other period dramas from the first episode as it's not afraid to delve into the seedier corners of aristocratic life in the 20th Century.
While Nancy hones her talents as a writer, her sisters Diana (Joanna Vanderham) and Unity (Shannon Watson) became more involved in the rise of fascism in the UK, much in the same way families have been splintered by politics in recent years.
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'Sometimes it takes a show to come along to show us where we are now by looking through the lens of us now from 1933,' Purefoy continued.
'And I think people are going to find that fascinating, they're going to go 'Oh my God, this really is like where we are now'.
'What's, for me, outrageous, is that those people then didn't have the benefit of hindsight. Fascism, the logical conclusion, the only way it ends up, is with the industrial slaughter of millions of people.
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'They didn't know that then. But those who flirt with fascism, the iconography, the language, the words of fascism now, they know where it ends up. And they should be very careful playing with that fire.'
The actor concluded by issuing a warning to those planning on watching the series that they might have their viewpoints challenged.
'Perhaps, hopefully it will wake people up to go, 'Woah, that's not a road we want to go down again!'' he says.
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Touching on his role within the series, Purefoy explained that much of his character was lifted from Uncle Matthew, a prominent figure in Nancy Mitford's works believed to be heavily based on her own father.
'He's an interesting story, Farve,' Purefoy says. 'Uncle Matthew is a very boisterous, slightly cartoonish figure who's brutal with his children.
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'And, yes, Farve is pretty brutal with his children but I find him quite a sad figure. Because he pretty much loses everything as the show goes on.
'And he's just not equipped for the modern world at all. He's lost a lot of money [during] the Wall Street Crash and that's not coming back fast enough.
'I find him a really, deeply upsetting man in a lot of ways because he's someone who's quite lost in the modern world. He's just not equipped for it.'
U's latest venture is an essential watch for fans of Downton Abbey and other period dramas, so make sure this scandalous and gripping new series is on your radar this week.
Outrageous premieres Thursday, 19th June on U, U&Drama and BritBox.