Just ahead of Jane Austin’s 250th birthday on Dec, 16, the first look photos from “The Other Bennet Sister” — about the oft-overlooked middle sister in “Pride and Prejudice” — have been unveiled.
Resplendent in Regency era fashions are Ella Bruccoleri (“Call the Midwife,” “Bridgerton”), who leads the cast as Mary Bennet, alongside Richard E. Grant (“Withnail & I,” “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”) and Ruth Jones (“Gavin & Stacey,” “Stella”) as Mr and Mrs Bennet. Meanwhile, Indira Varma (“Obi-Wan Kenobi,” “The Night Manager”) and Richard Coyle (“Heads of State,” “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”) are playing Mr and Mrs Gardiner, and Laurie Davidson (“A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story,” “The Girlfriend”) and Dónal Finn (“The Wheel of Time,” “SAS Rogue Heroes”) are potential suitors Mr. Ryder and Mr. Hayward, respectively.
Based on Janice Hadlow’s novel of the same name, “The Other Bennet Sister” is being produced by Bad Wolf (“His Dark Materials,” “Industry”). The series will air on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in 2026, in a co-production with BritBox, which will also premiere the series in 2026.
Sarah Quintrell (“The Power,” “Ellen”) wrote nine of the ten half-hour episodes, with Maddie Dai (“We Were Dangerous”) writing one. The series, which was filmed in Wales, is directed by Jennifer Sheridan (“Extraordinary”) and Asim Abbasi (“Cake”).
Jane Bennet (Maddie Close), Lizzie Bennet (Poppy Gilbert), Mary Bennet (Ella Bruccoleri), Kitty Bennet (Molly Wright), Lydia Bennet (Grace Hogg-Robinson). Credit: BBC/Bad Wolf
“The Other Bennet Sister” begins at Longbourn, the Bennet family home, where Mr. and Mrs. Bennet preside over a lively household of five unmarried daughters: Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia. As society’s pressures mount, the Bennet sisters navigate the glittering yet precarious world of Regency England, where marriage is both aspiration and necessity.
While her sisters pursue romance and social triumph, Mary embarks on a very different path. Leaving Longbourn behind, she travels to London to live with her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, in their elegant home on Gracechurch Street. There, Mary begins a journey of self-discovery, stepping out of the shadows and into her own story.
“It’s very exciting to think that Mary Bennet will soon be coming to our screens, taking centre stage at last in the story Jane Austen never gave her, played with such feeling by the wonderful Ella Bruccoleri, in the company of a brilliantly empathic cast who bring the whole drama gloriously and poignantly to life,” said Hadlow
“Exploring Jane Austen’s world through the eyes of Mary Bennet for the first time has been a joyful experience — and our incredible cast have added a whole new layer of life to these characters. Our story is set in a familiar and much-loved world, but we’re coming at it from a completely new angle,” said Quintrell.
Ella Bruccoleri as Mary Bennet. Credit: BBC/Bad Wolf
“Mary’s story is about coming of age when you’re the odd one out — how do you find your place in the world? As a young girl growing up in Croydon my world could not have been more different to Jane Austen’s — but there is a universality in her work that reaches across generations and class boundaries, and we cannot wait to bring the Bennet family to a new audience. ‘The Other Bennet Sister’ is true to the spirit of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ but I hope it will also surprise and delight fans both old and new.”
“The Other Bennet Sister” was commissioned by Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, for BBC iPlayer and BBC One. The executive producers are Kate Crowther, Becca Kinder and Jane Tranter for Bad Wolf, Rebecca Ferguson for the BBC, Jess O’Riordan, Robert Schildhouse and Stephen Nye for BritBox, Quintrell, and Hadlow. The series has been developed and overseen by Bad Wolf’s managing director, Dan McCulloch and chief creative officer, Ryan Rasmussen.
The series will premiere on BBC iPlayer and BBC One, and in the U.S. and Canada it will be available on BritBox. Bad Wolf is supported by the Welsh Government via Creative Wales. Sony Pictures Television will distribute “The Other Bennet Sister” internationally.
