Outlander stars show up at BAFTA Tea Party held in Beverly Hills

[BlackTree TV - Beverly Hills, CA]
All of the stars came out for the Annual BAFTA Tea Party held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills and all the buzz was about one star who showed up in a kilt, Sam Haegan.


If, like me, you're already on the Outlander bandwagon, you've no doubt been rejoicing for awhile about the upcoming Starz series based on the novels. The seven-title series of what author Diana Gabaldon calls the "big, enormous books" debuted in 1986 and has become a cult favorite, and an eighth book is scheduled to be released this year. If you've not yet discovered the books, I'm thrilled to introduce you.

The books were initially marketed as romance, and they are romantic, but they're also full of adventure, history and humor. They're the best kind of book genre — un-categorizable, and Outlander has been my desert-island book from the first time I read it (I've gone through entire series 3 times. So far.) I've named two pets named after its characters. I honeymooned in the Scottish Highlands and forced my husband to join me on tours of Culloden battlefield and other Outlander sites. So, yeah, I'm a fan.

As the first book opens, British nurse Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe) and her serviceman husband Frank are finally on a long-delayed honeymoon in Scotland in the mid-1940s, after being separated during World War II. Claire goes through a mysterious circle of stones and finds herself back in 18th-century Scotland (hey, it's happened to all of us at least once), where she initially thinks the men running around fighting are some sort of historic re-enactors. Turns out she's landed plop in the midst of the Jacobite Rebellion. She eventually falls in love with Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), one of the Highlanders fighting on behalf of Bonnie Prince Charlie. And that's all I'm going to tell you, because you just need to go read it. Right. This. Minute.

Segment Host Alex Hudgens


OUTLANDER (published in the UK under the title CROSS STITCH) is the first novel in the Outlander series. Frankly, I've never been able to describe this book in twenty-five words or less, and neither has anyone else in the twenty years since it was first published. I've seen it (and the rest of the series) sold—with evident success—as deep breath Literature, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical NON-fiction (really. Well, they are very accurate), Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Military History (no, honest), Gay and Lesbian Fiction, and...Horror. (Really! One of my books beat both George R.R. Martin and Stephen King for a Quill Award in 2006.) Anyway, the only way I've ever found of describing this book to anyone is to begin telling them the story. So here goes....

In 1946, after WWII, a young Englishwoman named Claire Beauchamp Randall goes to the Scottish Highlands with her husband, Frank. She's an ex-combat nurse, he's been in the army as well, they've been separated for the last six years, and this is a second honeymoon; they're getting re-acquainted with each other, thinking of starting a family. But one day Claire goes out walking by herself, and comes across a circle of standing stones—such circles are in fact common all over northern Britain. She walks through a cleft stone in the circle....and disappears. Back into 1743, where the first person she meets is a gentleman in an 18th-century army officer's uniform. This gentleman, Jack Randall, looks just like her husband Frank—and proves to be Frank's six-times-great-grandfather. Unfortunately, he also proves to be a sadistic bisexual pervert, and while trying to escape from him, Claire falls into the hands of a gang of Highland Scots, who are also trying to get away from Black Jack Randall—though for other reasons.

In order to avoid being handed over to Captain Randall, Claire is obliged to marry one of the young clansmen. So she finds herself trying to escape from Castle Leoch and her Scottish captors, trying to get back to her husband Frank, trying to avoid being recaptured by Captain Randall—and falling in love with Jamie Fraser, the young man she's been forced to marry. The story rolls on from there...

Gabaldon also has confidence (born of a zillion sales and crazy-fervent fans) that you'll love it. Her website promises, "If you've never read any of the series, I'd suggest starting here. If you're unsure about it, open the book anywhere and read three pages; if you can put it down again, I'll give you a dollar."

Watch the trailer above to get an idea of what we have to look forward to this summer. For me, so far it boils down to these five words: Sam Heugan in a kilt.
{Joy Tipping, Dallas News]



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