OTAGO DAILY TIMES – Matt Suddain sits down with Caitriona Balfe, star of epic swords and man-skirts drama Outlander.

This show has a simple concept, really: a married former World War 2 battlefield nurse, Claire Randall, discovers an ancient stone circle and accidentally travels through time, where she becomes embroiled in the Jacobean wars and meets her love-match: a kilted young warrior called Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan).

OK, so the concept doesn’t sound that simple. But the idea is simple.

To transport the audience – mostly women – out of their everyday lives and into an alternate world of fantasy, adventure and generous amounts of sex.

When I met Caitriona Balfe, who plays Claire, in a posh hotel in central London, I asked her if she had any idea why these fantasies about escaping to another time are so popular, and why time travel is such a go-to idea for film and TV.

‘‘Well, I suppose because we have so little control over events in our life. I think people love to fantasise about the ability to go back and do things differently. I’m more of the theory that no matter what has happened, everything brings you to the place you are right now, and so you’ve learned something, or you’ve grown from it.”

I can’t help pointing out that every time travel show or movie has things turning out incredibly badly.

‘‘Exactly! Because things turn out the way they’re supposed to.”
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