UKTV free-to-air channel Drama has announced its first original commission, Outrageous, which explores the lives of the famous Mitford sisters.
 

Firebird Pictures is producing the 6 x 60 series, that is written by Sarah Williams (Small Island, Flesh and Blood, The Long Song). Production gets underway next summer.
 

Set in the 1930s, against the backdrop of the run-up to the Second World War, the family saga will tell the story of the Mitford girls: non-conformists who refused to abide by social norms and who regularly caused scandal with their exploits.  
 

Williams said: “I’ve been intrigued by these notorious sisters for many years and am thrilled to finally be bringing their stories to the screen. We’ve seen many fictionalised versions of their lives before, but in this family’s case, the truth really is far stranger and more astonishing than anything you could invent.
 

“These six headstrong women have often been accused of being mad, bad and dangerous to know – and a couple of them were – but what they all had was the absolute courage of their convictions and to hell with the consequences. And that makes for a cracking good story.”
 

Firebird is wholly owned by BBC Studios; the executive producers are Elizabeth Kilgarriff and Matthew Mosley with Philippa Collie Cousins exec-ing for UKTV.
 

Firebird Pictures added: “When Sarah first talked about wanting to write a show about the Mitfords, we thought that we already knew these women and the scandals and extreme politics that shaped them. But what we didn’t know was the real story behind the headlines of six sisters who refused to conform and refused to compromise.

“Even today their stories would be considered extraordinary and we feel incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to get beneath the skin of these fascinating, challenging and complex women by bringing Sarah’s beautiful and gripping family saga to life onscreen.”