Preview

“What can you do if you’re the odd one out? Is it possible you’ll ever find a way to fit in?” So says the instantly lovable Miss Mary Bennet about her predicament in the premiere of Sarah Quintrell’s engaging and delightful The Other Bennet Sister. It’s adapted from a 2020 hit novel by Janice Hadlow about the neglected and bespectacled sister in Jane Austen‘s 19th-Century classic Pride and Prejudice.

As we’ve learned from P&P‘s myriad adaptations, in Regency-era England, the only currency a woman has is her looks. Early in this 10-part series, Mary, sensitively and smartly played by Ella Bruccoleri in her first leading role — she was mousy-turned-mighty Sister Frances in Call the Midwife and an insecure debutante in Bridgerton — is not considered beautiful enough to get a life. What’s worse, she’s told her options are “marriage or misery.”

Mary’s plainness draws the ire of her unhappily married mother, the vain Mrs. Bennet (Ruth Jones), whose unending cruelty to Mary we’d now call emotional abuse. The matriarch is desperate to marry off her daughters so they won’t be destitute. Because that’s a simpler task with her four pretty sisters, Mary becomes isolated from her siblings.
 

BBC / Bad Wolf / James Pardon

“No one asks her what she wants out of life, so she has to figure it out for herself and stand on her own two feet,” Bruccoleri tells TV Guide Magazine while filming at one of the series’ many gorgeous shooting locations, a massive English estate. It stands in for Pemberley, the home to Mary’s sister Lizzie and Mr. Darcy (Victor Pilard), main characters in P&P but minor in this fresh retelling. Bruccoleri is shooting a scene from the sixth episode, an elegant family dinner where Mary’s friend, the handsome and charming Lord Byron-esque Mr. William Ryder (Laurie Davidson), is flirting with her, to the surprise of her family.

Read on for details on the series’ characters.

The Other Bennet Sister, May 6, BritBox

James Pardon/Bad Wolf/Sony Pictures Television

Mrs. Bennet (Ruth Jones)

A coquettish great beauty, she’s ruthlessly matching rich men to her daughters, who will inherit nothing when their father dies.

James Pardon/Bad Wolf/Sony Pictures Television

Mr. Bennet (Richard E. Grant)

Unhappy in his marriage, he much prefers the company of books and stays out of his wife’s schemes as much as possible.

James Pardon/Bad Wolf/Sony Pictures Television

Jane (Maddie Close)

The eldest’s loveliness and amiability attract the wealthy Mr. Bingley (Aled Owen), whose sister Caroline (Tanya Reynolds) torments Mary.

James Pardon/Bad Wolf/Sony Pictures Television

Lizzie (Poppy Gilbert)

She’s witty and defiant, with sympathy for Mary, and her love affair with snobby Mr. Darcy was the center of P&P.

James Pardon/Bad Wolf/Sony Pictures Television

Kitty (Molly Wright)

Inseparable from her younger sister, Lydia, her priorities are pretty dresses, men in uniform,and gossip.

James Pardon/Bad Wolf/Sony Pictures Television

Lydia  (Grace Hogg-Robinson)

Most like her mother, the flirtatious baby of the family has a full dance card and a love for mirrors.