Outlander isn’t a show that can be described in a nutshell. Is it a period drama? Sci-fi? Action? Romance? Caitríona Balfe, who has been the show’s star for eight years, still doesn’t know. “God, yeah,” she puffs. “It sort of defies definition, but that’s part of the appeal.” One thing agreed upon among fans is that, against a dedicated attention to historical detail and endless panoramic shots of Scotland, Balfe’s raunchy relationship with co-star Sam Heughan is the beating heart of the story. Heughan, however, insists it’s not just constant shagging: “When it’s written off as a ‘bodice-ripping drama’ I think, ‘But there’s so much more to it.’”
The adaptation of Diana Gabaldon’s novel series follows the story of second world war nurse Claire, played by Balfe, who is honeymooning with her husband, Frank, when she touches a stone in the Highlands and falls back in time to 18th-century Scotland. There, she falls in love with clansman Jamie, played by Heughan. He affectionately calls her “sassenach” – Gaelic for “English outlander”. Together, they travel around the world, encountering and often disrupting historical events, moving back and forth between centuries (only Claire has the gift of time travel), going into battle, saving lives, dealing with witchcraft trials, becoming a power couple and having a lot of sex.
Claire is gutsy, liberated and, rather conveniently for the risky situations she constantly finds herself in, has an encyclopaedic knowledge. One day she is showing Jamie the marvels of bikini waxing, the next she is casually inventing penicillin. Jamie, meanwhile, becomes the surprise feminist ally we never knew existed in 1743 – a true leader on the battlefield, he is proud and stubborn but kind-hearted, and often assumes the beta role in his marriage.
After a two-year “droughtlander” (that’s what fans call the excruciating time between seasons) the sixth season starts this week. Claire and Jamie are settling into life at Fraser Ridge in North Carolina with their grownup daughter Brianna and her family, as the Revolutionary war looms. It opens with a flashback to Ardsmuir Prison in 1753, where Jamie was imprisoned after the Battle of Culloden, and we are introduced to his nemesis Tom Christie. Fast forward to life at the ridge, and Christie arrives with his son and daughter, armed with memories of their time in prison and bound to cause more trouble than the war.
There’s a lot of doom and gloom, with the leads reaching their 60s somewhat unconvincingly – the makeup department give Balfe exactly three grey hairs, while wardrobe hand Heughan a pair of reading glasses to pop on now and again. But sex is still the driving force of the show, and libidos are as high as a tossed caber. “Nobody takes their clothes off and has sex after 40?” laughs Balfe. “That’s just not the case. I love the letters I’ve got from fans in their 70s and 80s who talk about their vibrant sex lives. Brilliant – I’m glad I’ve got that to look forward to. It’s important that we honour the core sexual connection between Jamie and Claire and continue to have it.”
Heughan agrees: “I want to believe that people can still be in love after being married for 20 or 30 years. They are ageing, it’s not quite as intense as when they first met, but the spark is still there.”
There is, however, a more troubling side to Outlander’s use of sex. The show has always garnered attention – and criticism – for its repeated use of sexual assault; every member of the Fraser family has been brutally raped, as have other supporting characters including Fergus – who was a child. The last time we saw Claire and Jamie on screen was the controversial season five finale, in which Claire was raped by kidnappers. Throughout the divisive episode, we saw her dissociate from what was happening by escaping in dreamlike sequences with her loved ones. “We didn’t give power or weight to the attackers so you never see their faces,” says Balfe. “I thought we handled it respectfully and showed the dissociation a lot of people experience.”
Even as a superfan, this sits uncomfortably. Is this gratuitous, or lazy writing? Or is it important to acknowledge the times they were in? “We have to listen to the criticism and we maybe haven’t always gotten it right,” says Balfe. “We do try to handle it as sensitively as possible. I don’t think you can pretend these things don’t happen, especially when you go back to the not-too-distant past.” Rape, she says, “was used as a weapon against women and people without a voice. In the UK today, the instances of rape prosecutions have dropped significantly. It’s disgusting. If our show can bring a conversation about them, that’s a good thing.”
Heughan, whose character was tortured and raped at the end of season one, sees the feedback as an observation rather than a criticism. Referring to a scene in the early days, where Jamie thinks it’s normal to punish Claire with a few belt lashes during a fight, he says: “Outlander has never looked away from these things – we’ve always explored it. It is a pretty tough show to watch sometimes, and to act in, but we’ve always tried to be very careful to protect our fellow cast members and understand the issues involved.”
Outside Outlander, Balfe recently missed out on an Oscar nomination for her performance in Kenneth Brannagh’s Belfast, while Heughan appeared alongside Keeley Hawes in last year’s Roald Dahl biopic To Olivia. After working on the show together for so long, and with the end nowhere in sight (Gabaldon has just released the 9th book) how do both actors feel about continuing to film on location in Scotland for up to 17 months a season?
Heughan thinks this day job gives perspective when it comes to other projects, but the experience is perhaps different for Balfe, who became a mother last year: “Now that I’m responsible for somebody, it is nice to know that I have this amazing day job. As a new mum I don’t know how I’m going to do it but there are working mums all over so I’ll figure it out. But it is a challenge. It’s a beast of a show.”
When the end does finally come, Heughan will feel “bereft”, while Balfe explains that 70% of the cast and crew have been there since the beginning. “Sam and I made a conscious decision at the start, ‘Who knows what this is going to be – but we have to have each other’s back. We’ve remained that way. We are lifelong friends.”
• Outlander is back on Starzplay on Amazon Prime on 6 March.
