October cover star Caitríona Balfe may be stepping into the genteel world of Jane Austen as the doting Mrs Dashwood in next month’s new adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, but it was another, rather more tempestuous period drama that made her a household name. For twelve years, Balfe portrayed the tenacious Claire Randall in the historical-fantasy sensation that is Outlander.
To call it a phenomenon is hardly an overstatement. When the eighth and final season premiered in May, nearly three million viewers tuned in to watch in the first week post-release, marking a four-year high for the series.
From bidding farewell to time-travel smash Outlander to playing a ‘manifesting’ Mrs Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility, actress Caitríona Balfe is a busy woman. So much so that Dora Davies-Evitt had to hunt her down on holiday at an Irish castle…
Outlander has cultivated a fiercely devoted fanbase (Princess Eugenie is a devotee), with the most loyal followers branding themselves ‘Sassenachs’ (a Gaelic term meaning ‘outsider’, used as a term of endearment in the show). But for those who have slipped through the cracks and escaped the Outlander whirlwind, here is a quick history lesson...
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Based on the bestselling novels by Diana Gabaldon, Outlander follows newly married British combat nurse Claire as she is mysteriously transported from the 20th century to the 18th century while on honeymoon in Scotland. There, she finds herself thrust into the throes of clan rivalries, political unrest and a rather complicated social hierarchy. Eventually, she becomes embroiled in the Jacobite uprising.
Much of the show’s triumph is owed to the palpable chemistry between Claire and Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), a rugged Highland warrior who (spoiler alert!) she goes on to marry. Their relationship underpins the series, but it is no straightforward period-drama romance. Over the years, fans have watched the couple weather separation, war, loss and upheaval. In an era of eight-episode series where romances are wrapped up in a matter of hours, Outlander has allowed audiences to invest in one for more than a decade. Little wonder, then, that the series twice took home the fan-voted Critics’ Choice award for Most Bingeworthy Show.
Yet romance is only part of Outlander’s allure. The pair’s love story is threaded through real historical upheaval, from the Jacobite rising to the American Revolution, with the tantalising complication that Claire knows what is supposed to happen next.
Balfe, who won four consecutive Golden Globe nominations for her portrayal as Claire, insists they were ‘lucky’ to have the success that it did. ‘You never know with things how they’re going to go,’ she tells Dora Davies-Evitt in the October cover interview. ‘I think we were very lucky. There was an amazing alchemy from the very beginning with all of us, and obviously Diana’s books already had such a huge following, which I didn’t even realise when I started.’
Although the show has come to an end, Sassenachs needn’t despair just yet. Scotland has turned the series’ filming locations into something of a pilgrimage route, taking in Doune Castle, Midhope Castle (part of the magnificent Hopetoun Estate, the ancestral seat of the Marquesses of Linlithgow) and the historic grounds of Culloden. For something rather grander, there is Drumlanrig Castle, the Dumfriesshire seat of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, where guests can stay in sumptuous cottages across the estate.
Outlander’s enduring appeal lies in the way it threads history and romance together, creating a world that has kept viewers enthralled for over a decade. So whether you come to it as an avid history buff or for the sweeping love story, there is something to beguile even the most reluctant viewer. Twelve years after Claire first tumbled back in time, perhaps the question is no longer why so many people watched Outlander. It is how on earth the rest of us managed not to.
The Caitríona Balfe cover interview first appears in the October issue of Tatler, on sale 3 September.
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