Bessie Carter, the 31-year-old actress, is back in the period drama world, but this time, it's in a role that feels very serendipitous in her life. She tells PEOPLE that she's felt "connected" to Nancy Mitford, the famed British novelist and socialite, for her whole life.

In an exclusive interview, Carter shares that she knew a "weird amount" about Nancy Mitford even before getting the role. "Throughout my life, I've been connected to Nancy Mitford," she explains. "I went to the same school as her. I was born in the hospital she worked at during the war, and I narrated her audiobook four years before getting the part. So I knew a lot about her."

When the opportunity to bring Nancy to life on screen with Outrageous, a new BritBox series, Carter says it felt "weirdly meant to be." "It was one of those scripts that I read and I knew exactly how to do it — without sounding arrogant. I was like, 'I know her mind,'" she recalls. "So it felt weirdly kismet."

From Prudence to Nancy

Trying to compare Prudence Featherington, the jealous and spoiled sister of Penelope Featherington in Bridgerton, to Nancy Mitford is a weird task for Carter.

"I mean, they're so different. They're completely different characters," she says. "They're both really fun to play for different reasons."

"The Prudence snobbery, I suppose, is fun to play because you are never like that. So you get a chance to be. 'Imagine if I got to say stuff like this,'" she says.

"But then Nancy was actually quite an interesting challenge because I felt quite close to her in many ways. The way that she reacts to things and the way that her heart — she's sort of romantic."

A Different Period Drama

This isn't Carter's first period drama, but she says Outrageous feels like completely different from Bridgerton. "It's so punky and fast-paced and funny," Carter says of the series. "And there's an energy to the way it's shot, which I think is our tempo, which was their tempo. I mean, they were eccentric."

The details in the series, too, like in the costumes, "make it very real."

"It sort of veers away from the Bridgerton larger-than-life period drama thing," Carter, who is the only daughter of Imelda Staunton and Downton Abbey star Jim Carter, adds. "It's very authentic to the time."

Outrageous is now streaming on BritBox.

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