Latest news with #MitfordSisters
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Nazi-obsessed Mitford sisters ‘were modern and progressive'
The Mitford sisters have been described as 'modern and progressive women' by an actress playing one of them in an upcoming series. Bessie Carter, who has appeared in Bridgerton, plays Nancy, the eldest Mitford sister, in the historical drama Outrageous, which airs next week. She said the sisters – two of whom had a fascination with Nazism – 'refused to conform'. She told the Radio Times: 'They were definitely women who didn't want to just do the debutante balls. They wanted to work and to exercise their brains. 'The Mitfords were modern women, they were really progressive. They always asked, 'Why can't I do that?'' The six sisters – Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica and Deborah – were born to Lord and Lady Redesdale and experienced an upbringing steeped in eccentricity. They were constantly in the headlines, and Unity in particular scandalised British society by her closeness with Adolf Hitler. She was known as the 'English girlfriend' of the Fuhrer and fawned over the man who threatened her country's liberty. In January, the discovery of the 1930s socialite's long-lost diaries revealed the extent of her infatuation. The diaries appear to show that Unity, whose father was a first cousin of Sir Winston Churchill's wife Clementine, met Hitler almost 140 times – sometimes alone, raising the prospect of a sexual relationship between the pair. Diana also scandalised society when she left her husband, the Guinness heir, to marry Sir Oswald Mosley, the British fascist leader with whom she had been having an affair. Threat to national security She was imprisoned at Holloway prison during the Second World War for being considered a danger to national security. The family's exploits have inspired books and films and will now be depicted in Outrageous. Carter added of the six women who will be portrayed: 'What we do in the show is look at those early years when they're about to step out into the world and make their mark. 'They're refusing to conform to what was expected of them at the time, which was to be wives and mothers.' She explained: 'Outrageous is looking at these six sisters and wondering how long a family will hold together. And at what point do you have to confront hard truths and face your differences? 'That's relevant today, isn't it? We probably all have a family member who politically is in a different place. How do we deal with that?' Joanna Vanderham, who plays Diana in the new show, added: 'Nancy told on Diana. She informed Churchill that Diana was a threat to national security and had her imprisoned. Who does that to their own sister?' She said: 'The Mitfords were mad! I feel that people will go, 'That wouldn't have happened.' Then they'll Google it and realise it did. The Mitfords were outrageous. The title is absolutely justified.'
BBC News
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Squid Game to The Bear: 10 of the best TV shows to watch this June
From the final series of Netflix's gruesome dystopian thriller to the return of the Emmy-winning series set in a Chicago restaurant – and Owen Wilson in a golf comedy. 1. Stick Golf has been the source of some goofy, wildly popular films, with Bill Murray in Caddyshack, and Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore and next month's Happy Gilmore 2. But Owen Wilson veers toward the sincere, feel-good route in this comic series, as a one-time professional golfer nicknamed Stick, who has since been divorced by his wife and lost his job at a sporting goods store. When he spots a talented 17-year-old golfer, he decides to mentor the boy and give his life new meaning. "The game takes and it takes. The game's finally giving me something back," he says in the trailer. Marc Maron, Judy Greer and Timothy Olyphant have supporting roles, and real-life pro golfers will make cameo appearances, although you'll probably have to be a serious fan to recognise them (no Tiger Woods announced). Whatever your taste for warm, fuzzy sports stories, Wilson, recently seen as an agent of the Time Variance Authority in the Marvel spinoff series Loki, is always fun to watch. Stick premieres 4 June on Apple TV+ internationally 2. Outrageous Scandalous aristocratic British siblings the Mitford sisters are endlessly fascinating, offering something for everyone: Nancy the witty novelist of manners; Diana the great beauty who married the fascist leader Oswald Mosely; Unity, who became Hitler's pet; Jessica the Communist. Emily Mortimer's recent The Pursuit of Love offered a fictional version based on Nancy's best-known novel. Outrageous focuses on the late 1930s leading up to World War Two. You can imagine the family tensions. Bessie Carter (Prudence Featherington in Bridgerton) is perfectly cast as Nancy, the central character and narrator. Joanna Vanderham is Diana, with Anna Chancellor as their mother – Muv in Mitford-speak – and James Purefoy as their father, Farve. The glamour of the Bright Young Things years still glitters, especially in the wealthy Diana's fabulous dresses and jewels, even as the world spirals toward war and the sisters find themselves on opposite sides of the moral battle. Through it all, Nancy's piercing observations hold this engaging show together. Outrageous premieres 18 June on BritBox in the US and UKTV in the UK, and later this year on BritBox in Australia 3. We Were Liars In this thriller based on the 2014 bestselling YA novel by E Lockhart, a group of great-looking, mostly privileged teenagers gathers every summer on a private island owned by the wealthy Sinclair family. The setting alone is a recipe for trouble. The show starts with Sinclair grandchild Cadence (Emily Alyn Lind) left for dead on the beach. Her voiceover explains that she has no memory of that traumatic night and no one will tell her what happened, but that she is determined to find out. The story then flashes back to follow Cadence, her two cousins Mirren and Johnny and family friend Gat (Esther McGregor, Shubham Maheshwari and Joseph Zada), a mischievous bunch the family calls the Liars, as they flirt, swim and head toward disaster. The grown-up actors include David Morse as Cadence's grandfather, Mamie Gummer and Caitlin Fitzgerald. We Were Liars premieres 18 June on Prime Video internationally 4. The Buccaneers The fizzy series about young 19th-Century Americans searching for aristocratic British husbands is back, in all its candy-coloured, pop-music-infused style. Nan St George, now the Duchess of Tintagel, schemes to arrange matches for other American girls, even though her own marriage has its issues. She is married to Theo, but is in love with his best friend, Guy. Her sister Jinny, a pregnant and abused wife, tries to flee her husband and the country. And their mother (Christina Hendricks) is ready to divorce their father, whatever the scandalous consequences. The show may be set in the 1870s but its spirit of female friendship and empowerment is as contemporary as its music (Taylor Swift songs bookended last season). Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester will appear in a yet-to-be revealed role. Could it possibly be a coincidence that at the end of season one we learned that Nan's long-gone birth mother has popped up in town? The show is based on an unfinished Edith Wharton novel, so there is plenty of room for it to invent the future. The Buccaneers premieres 18 June on Apple TV+ internationally 5. The Waterfront Kevin Williamson, the creator of Dawson's Creek, returns to North Carolina, where that series was shot, with another scenic waterside drama. Now he has created the fictional town of Haverford, where the powerful Buckley family is seeing their fishing empire fall apart. Holt McCallany (the controlling father in the film The Iron Claw), plays the patriarch, Harlan Buckley, who has recently suffered two heart attacks. His wife, Belle (Maria Bello), and their son, Cane (Jake Weary) step in to try to save the business. Melissa Benoist (Supergirl) plays Harlan and Belle's daughter, Bree, a recovering addict in a relationship that threatens the family even more. "They've pulled themselves up from nothing and they've built this mini fishing empire in their little small town," Williamson has said of his characters. "They'll do anything to hold onto it, because it represents their family." That "anything" will drive the plot. Topher Grace has a guest role as a would-be business partner. The Waterfront premieres 19 June on Netflix internationally 6. The Gilded Age Julian Fellowes' (Downton Abbey) opulent, class-conscious series about New York society in the age of robber barons picks up after the reversal of fortune that ended the last season. Imperious old-guard Agnes Van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) has lost all her money, but luckily her meek, quickly-widowed sister, Ada (Cynthia Nixon) has inherited a fortune. In the nouveau riche Russell mansion across the street, Bertha (Carrie Coon) is not satisfied with just having entered society. She is determined to arrange a marriage between her daughter, Gladys (Taissa Farmiga) and the Duke of Buckingham, whether Gladys likes it or not (she definitely doesn't). And the character of Peggy (Denée Benton), Agnes's secretary and an aspiring writer, continues the show's depiction of the era's educated, middle-class black society. Like Law and Order, The Gilded Age is shot in New York, and takes advantage by casting plenty of great theatre actors, including Baranski, Audra McDonald as Peggy's mother and Donna Murphy as Mrs Astor. The Gilded Age premieres 22 June on HBO and Max in the US, and Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK 7. Ironheart In an especially lively scene in Black Panther: Wakanda, the brilliant young inventor Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) helps the warrior-princess Shuri out of a mess. Ironheart gives Riri her own series, revealing more about her genius as the creator of a tool to detect the all-important metal vibranium. She returns to her hometown of Chicago, where she becomes entangled with the mysterious Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos), known as The Hood, who is an expert in the dark arts. They meet when, as a test of her ability, he traps her in an elevator and gives her minutes to break into a device on the floor before she suffocates. Nice guy. She is tempted to partner with him anyway in order to build a suit even better than Iron Man's. Black Panther director Ryan Coogler is an executive producer, and the show's creator, Chinaka Hodge, is a poet and playwright, which suggests a freshness in line with Coogler's high Black Panther standards. Ironheart premieres 24 June on Disney+ internationally 8. The Bear The show is now in season four, and you know what you'll get, maybe. That is to say, its creators and publicists haven't revealed much about the storyline, except to say that Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and his team will try to raise the quality of his high-end restaurant even further. The professional pressures and family dynamics are sure to be intense. Carmy's mother (Jamie Lee Curtis) turns up in the trailer, and so does his investor, Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt), warning that money is running out. Last season leaned into episodes focusing on single characters, to good effect. The top-flight cast returns, including Ayo Edebiri as Sydney, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Cousin Richie, Abby Elliott as Sugar, Liza Colón-Zayas as Tina and Lionel Boyce as Marcus. White and Edebiri have both launched successful movie careers, with White playing Bruce Springsteen in the forthcoming Deliver Me From Nowhere, so it seems we should enjoy The Bear while we still can. The Bear premieres 25 June on Hulu in the US and 26 June on Disney+ in the UK and internationally 9. Smoke Taron Egerton and crime writer Dennis Lehane, who together had a success with the Apple series Black Bird, team up again for this drama about the search for not one but two serial arsonists in the Pacific Northwest. Egerton plays the fictional arson investigator Dave Gudsen, who reluctantly partners with police detective Michelle Calderone, played by Jurnee Smollett. According to Apple, he is enigmatic and she is troubled. Aren't they all? But that may be what makes a drama work. Never underestimate the power of an intense glare from Egerton. Rafe Spall, Anna Chlumsky, Greg Kinnear and John Leguizamo are also in the cast. Lehane, whose novels have been the basis for terrific films including Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone, created and wrote the show, which is inspired by the true-crime podcast Firebug (the previous title of the series). Smoke premieres 27 June on Apple TV+ internationally 10. Squid Game Last chance to see the most sinister version of Red Light, Green Light ever played, as Squid Game returns for its third and final season. Al Pacino's iconic line from The Godfather Part III – "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in" – is just as true for this series' hero, Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) who gives the game one more try as he attempts to sabotage it from the inside. Last season he was duped by the sinister Front Man, the one controlling the lethal game, who masqueraded as Gi-hun's ally. In announcing the new season, the series' writer and director, Hwang Dong-hyuk, said "The fierce clash between [Gi-hun and Front Man's] two worlds will continue into the series finale". Meanwhile, detective Jun-ho continues to search for his lost brother in the show that popularised South Korean television globally and that Netflix says is its top non-English-language series of all time. Squid Game premieres 27 June on Netflix internationally -- For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
New York Times
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The 6 Mitford Sisters, Their Jewelry and a New TV Series
The Mitford sisters, known for their 20th-century aristocratic glamour and political scandal, were not among England's most gem-laden women. But jewelry did play a role in their outsize public profiles. 'Diana the fascist, Jessica the communist, Unity the Hitler-lover, Nancy the novelist, Deborah the duchess and Pamela the unobtrusive poultry connoisseur' is how Ben Macintyre, a writer for The Times of London, once described the six women. Now they are the subjects of 'Outrageous,' a six-part series scheduled to debut June 18 on BritBox in the United States and Canada and June 19 on U and U&Drama in Britain. The series is set in the 1930s, the era in which they became famous — and infamous — and arrives on the heels of the discovery of a diary kept by Unity, who was obsessed with Hitler and, by her own account, was his lover. Excerpts were published this year by The Daily Mail. A childish prank involving Unity and Jessica was most likely one of the sisters' earliest jewelry episodes. 'A diamond ring was used to etch both the image of a hammer and sickle and swastika on a window in their childhood home,' Sarah Williams, the writer of 'Outrageous,' said in a recent video interview. 'They had such a young bond as kids, but they were both rebels, and that bond of rebellion was stronger than their political beliefs. They were absolute extremes.' The sisters — there also was one brother, Thomas, who was killed in World War II — were the children of David Freeman-Mitford, the second Baron Redesdale, and his wife, Sydney Bowles. While the family was not particularly wealthy, the sisters were schooled at home and then entered society. 'As part of our research, we specifically collected images of jewelry pieces worn by the Mitford girls,' Claire Collins, the costume designer for 'Outrageous,' said by email, 'and although we couldn't replicate certain pieces, we were able to use them as a guide.' She added: 'For example, we decided to incorporate more bohemian pieces for Nancy as we were keen to express her ties with the creative types of the time, such as the Bloomsbury group.' Ms. Williams said she found dozens of references to jewelry in her research, which included Jessica's 1960 memoir, 'Hons and Rebels,' and 'The Mitford Girls' by Mary S. Lovell, the 2001 biography that was the basis for 'Outrageous.' Diana, for example, wore a tiara of diamonds and rubies at her 1929 wedding to Bryan Guinness, heir to the brewery fortune. She reportedly returned the tiara to him when they divorced four years later, but kept several other pieces. (Later she married Sir Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British fascist movement.) 'The Mitford sisters came from impeccably aristocratic stock, but growing up, money was tight,' Ms. Williams said. 'Nevertheless, I think jewelry was highly significant in their lives, as it often came in the form of gifts from the men they loved, but it could also be exchanged for hard cash and might help them out of a tight spot.' That idea plays out in 'Outrageous,' in a sequence portraying Nancy as a celebrated but not always financially secure novelist. 'Nancy is forced to sell all her jewelry to pay her rent, but we retained one small pinkie ring that was our nod to her connection with her family,' Ms. Collins wrote. 'It's small and unnoticeable to most, but it grounds her character and gives her heart.' One anecdote from 'The Mitford Girls' describes Nancy seeing Pamela's 17th-century enamel and gold wedding ring — from a suitor who ended the engagement shortly before the ceremony — and commenting that it looked like 'a chicken's mess.' The scenario was fictionalized in Nancy's novel 'The Pursuit of Love,' and the real ring was said to be given to Unity, who reportedly regifted it to Hitler. Of the sisters, the youngest, Deborah, also known as Debo, probably had the most jewelry. She married Andrew Cavendish, who was later the 11th Duke of Devonshire, and eventually became the chatelaine of the Devonshire stately home, Chatsworth. Much of her personal jewelry — including a heart-shape brooch pavéd with brilliant-cut diamonds and a curb link chain bracelet with white sapphires forming the letters to spell Teapot Row, the name of one of the duke's racehorses — along with paintings, furniture and household goods were auctioned in 2016 by Sotheby's. The auction also listed several brooches, such as a citrine, onyx and diamond caterpillar, that were gifts from her husband. 'It was rumored that every time he had a fling, he would feel guilty and would buy her an insect or animal brooch,' said Adrian Dickens, a jeweler in Australia and a recognized expert on the Mitfords. 'There is one photo of the duchess wearing 30 to 40 of them.' The Devonshire jewels belonged to the family, although Deborah wore them as duchess. 'She had nine major pieces,' Mr. Dickens said, 'including the Devonshire parure, a collection of seven matching items — bandeau, bracelet, coronet, diadem, necklace, stomacher and comb — commissioned by the sixth Duke of Devonshire for his nephew's wife to wear to Czar Alexander II's coronation in 1856.' The collection also included two diamond tiaras: the Devonshire tiara, sometimes referred to as the Palmette tiara, with 1,881 diamonds in palm leaf and lotus motifs, which, like many tiaras, could be divided into several brooches; and the honeysuckle tiara, which could be dismantled into as many as seven brooches, Mr. Dickens said. 'Deborah wore the Devonshire parure but not often because it must have been very heavy and uncomfortable,' he said. 'A portrait of her in front of her Lucian Freud portrait does show at least three of the pieces being worn quite casually.' Her jewelry could be seen as the final, glamorous chapter in the saga of the Mitford sisters. 'The family was torn apart by politics, but the sisterhood remained intact,' Ms. Williams said. 'They had a yearning for diamonds and fine jewelry as the era of aristocracy was ending. There was a lot of good breeding, but not much cash.'
