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Mr Hayward plays an important role in The Other Bennet Sister

The Other Bennet Sister fans are only just realising where they have seen the poetry-loving lawyer.

The Other Bennet Sister is back on BBC One and the delightful period drama stars Call the Midwife’s Ella Bruccoleri as Mary Bennet.

The series, which stars plenty of familiar faces, follows on from the events of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and it tracks the overlooked Bennet sister as she travels to London following a tragic death in the family.

One of the characters she comes across is Tom Hayward, a friend of the Gardiners, with whom Mary is staying as she works as a governess. Mr Hayward is played by Dónal Finn, a 30-year-old Irish actor who was raised in Dromina, County Cork, and is one of eight children from a farming family.

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Opening up about what drew him to the role, he said: “I come from a big family with lots of sisters. Many people watch Pride and Prejudice and want to be Elizabeth, but I identify much more with Mary.

“She represents how people often feel internally constrained by expectations and circumstance. The story shows how someone can change when they’re removed from an environment where they can’t flourish.”

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Dónal Finn attends the Young Sherlock World Premiere

Finn graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in acting from LAMDA in 2018 and his first notable role was in an episode of The Witcher as a peasant named Nettly.

In 2022, he was cast as the soldier Eoin McGonigal in the first series of the BBC drama SAS: Rogue Heroes. Fans may also recognise him as Mat Cauthon in the second season of The Wheel of Time.

Named one of the ‘Rising Stars of Ireland’ by Screen Ireland, he played Orpheus in the West End production of Hadestown.

Most recently, fans will see him in the Prime Video series Young Sherlock, in which he plays James Moriarty.

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Mr Hayward is played by Dónal Finn and Mary Bennet is played by Ella Bruccoleri

When it comes to film, he played Karl Boden in How to Build a Girl, Albert in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore and Sean Gore in Four Letters of Love.

He does not only appear on screen, as the star has just leant his voice to a new historical audio drama, Turpin.

He plays the lead role of Richard Turpin, who abandons his stable life as a butcher to become a violent outlaw.

The Irish actor is also a talented singer and as he was raised around music, he took up singing himself when he was a boy.

Speaking to The Rake magazine, he said: “For family gatherings, as the night rolls on, people do start to sing. So the notion of singing in front of other people, I always saw as a kid.”

The Other Bennet sister airs on BBC One on Sundays, the series is also available on BBC iPlayer