EXCLUSIVE: “Follow what makes you happy.”
These are the simple but touching words of life advice English actress Bessie Carter received from her parents, entertainment industry stalwarts Imelda Staunton and Jim Carter, over the years.
It wasn’t of course “specific to acting,” but Bessie has taken on that advice on her own terms.
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“They always just said, ‘Follow what makes you happy’, and I do think that’s where abundance lies,” Bessie tells 9honey Celebrity over Zoom as we discuss her gripping new period drama from BritBox, Outrageous.
“When you follow what makes you happy and what lights you up, and they’ve led by example with that.”
“I do think that’s where abundance lies, when you follow what makes you happy.”
Despite having two acting greats as her parents – Staunton is known for her work in the Harry Potter franchise and The Crown, while Carter, 76, plays the beloved Mr. Carson in Downton Abbey – Bessie’s sure made a name for herself.
Bessie, 33, is known for her portrayal of Prudence Featherington in the hit series Bridgerton and for the TV shows Beecham House and Howards End.
But she’s loved acting since the age of five, loved telling stories, and even once played Henry VIII in a school production.
She lights up when I ask about her passion for acting.
“When I think about it, most children played … make-believe games,” she says.
“I was lucky enough to have a garden and me and my two friends from up the road would dress up and play in the garden. We would be sisters in a desert island and make potions.
“I think every child over the world does that, no matter where you live or are from. So for me, [acting] honestly just felt like an expansion of that.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I get to do that in drama class’. I did national youth theatre and it felt like an extension of playing.
“To me, that is the biggest privilege in the world. I get to do a job that I enjoy and I know other people enjoy and get something out of.
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“Drama, acting and storytelling has been around since the beginning of time and it will be around to the end of time, because we need stories; we need to believe and to hope and dream and be allowed to feel things through the vessel of something else.”
Bessie’s latest role sees her portray the late Nancy Mitford, an English author and journalist who was part of the aristocratic Mitford family.
She showed her parents the first two episodes in secret – “when I wasn’t meant to!” – and recalls their sweet reactions to when she told them she got the part.
“I remember calling them when I got it, and they were, like, [cheering].”
The show, also starring Joshua Sasse, Anna Chancellor and Joanna Vanderham, follows the often-scandalous and controversial lives of the Mitford sisters. Diana Mitford, for instance, was reportedly a fascist.
“To me, that is the biggest privilege in the world. I get to do a job that I enjoy and I know other people enjoy”
The show is set in the 1930s, with World War II looming and the sisters going on their own different life paths.
For Bessie, the script of the show, written by Sarah Williams, drew her in.
The show is almost a quirky retelling of a dark story. It is based on Mary Lovell’s biography, The Mitford Girls.
”I think they’ve told the story in the way that the girls thought,” Bessie says.
“The girls were all incredibly intelligent, energetic, rebellious, notorious, scandalous, they had this energy and momentum to them and I think the show is filmed in that way and it’s really clever, because it’s a dark story.
“I thought they had managed to get the feeling of the sisters and the time really well told, which is really watchable for a 21st century audience.”
“She’s an interestingly complex person,” she says of her character, Nancy.
“The way her sisters start to spread, you see her go on an interesting journey of maturing … coming of age, stepping into her grown-up shoes of being the elder sister who has to take a stance. That was really beautiful to have a proper [story] arc.”
The role is almost full-circle for Bessie, in a way, as she once narrated one of Nancy’s books, The Pursuit of Love, for an audio book years before the role came up.
“[It was] weirdly by chance,” she remarks.
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“It was one of my first audio books and the producer Matthew was listening to it when they cast me, but he didn’t realise, he didn’t connect it was me!” she adds with a laugh.
The costuming is another striking element of the series, and it meant Bessie had some fun on set as she got into character.
One outfit she wears in the first few episodes is a fancy feathered shawl over her shoulders, teamed with a tangerine dress.
“We called [the feather boa] Eric. I felt so sexy in Eric, but it was a nightmare for continuity, so we had to pin Eric so that Eric stayed still!” she laughs.
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