Eagle-eyed viewers of Outrageous, BritBox’s new historical drama about the six real-life Mitford sisters’ wildly diverging political views at the onset of World War II, might pause the closing credits for a quick double take. Does that say…“Mosley”? Executive Producer Matthew Mosley, actually, and yes, he is one of those Mosleys. Matthew is indeed the great-grandson of Sir Oswald Mosley, founder of the British Union of Fascists and once one-half of the most hated couple in England, portrayed in the new series by Joshua Sasse.
Matthew is the great-grandson of Oswald Mosley, from his first marriage to Lady Cynthia Curzon, on whom he cheated with both her younger sister and their stepmother, as well as (the then-married) Diana Mitford, whom he finally wed after Cynthia died in 1933. Adolf Hitler was their guest of honor. Deemed dangerous to national security by MI5, Mosley and his wife spent three years interned in prison before moving abroad in disgrace.
No one would blame Matthew Mosley for staying mum about his notorious surname, but the head of development at Firebird Pictures—by complete fluke, though we’ll get to that later—is instead using his platform to tell his not-so-comfy family story far and wide. Why not pop grandpa’s problematic politics in the vault like the rest of us? Did he find any redeeming qualities in his abhorrent ancestor? And what’s it like to grow up in the shadow of the most hated man in the country? As Outrageous lands on American screens, London-based Matthew Mosley dishes all the dirty familial details.
TIME: First things first, you are indeed a Mosley. Walk me through the family tree?
Mosley: Oswald Mosley was my great-grandfather. I’m descended through his first wife, not through him and Diana Mitford. Oswald Mosley had three children by his first wife, Cynthia—Vivien,…
