All posts tagged: Bennet

‘The Other Bennet Sister’ Is BBC’s Biggest U.K. Drama Launch in a Year

‘The Other Bennet Sister’ Is BBC’s Biggest U.K. Drama Launch in a Year

Published by Daniella Wilson

While audiences in the U.S. keenly wait on The Other Bennet Sister‘s BritBox release, the BBC can boast some fantastic viewership numbers. The first episode of the BBC-BritBox adaptation of Janice Hadlow’s bestseller has captured the hearts of BBC viewers with a consolidated audience of 7.3 million people. Since the show launched on March 15, the 28-day figure makes The Other Bennet Sister the biggest launch of a new drama in the U.K. across all platforms and streamers since May last year, with 4.1 million (56 percent) of the audience viewing through BBC iPlayer. Playing the oft-overlooked middle sister in Pride and Prejudice, Mary Bennet, titular star Ella Bruccoleri caught up with The Hollywood Reporter about fan reaction only last month. “It’s a story about the transformative power of kindness, really,” she said in the sitdown interview. “It’s about realizing that you’re worth more than just your appearance. And it’s about found family. I think it’s quite an affirming watch.” The show is set to drop on BritBox May 6. Lindsay Salt, director of BBC …

Why Jane Austen Readers Should Watch The Other Bennet Sister

Why Jane Austen Readers Should Watch The Other Bennet Sister

Published by Sam Flores

Additional comment from Dr Shelley Galpin, a lecturer in Media, Culture, and Creative Industries at King’s College London. Adapting a book for a TV show or movie means some readers are sure to be disappointed (take, for instance, Emerald Fennell’s controversial Wuthering Heights). The BBC’s The Other Bennet Sister is no exception. Focused on Mary, the largely forgotten sibling in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, the series takes significant enough liberties with the author’s original work for some readers to dub it “fanfic”. Personally, I’ve never seen that as much of an insult (what are Clueless or Bridget Jones if not very well-done Austen fan fictions?). If anything, though it has its flaws, I think The Other Bennet Sister is a fun, highly watchable series that fits as neatly into the book’s premise as a mid-2020s TV show can. It’s not the best screenwriting, I grant you. But the 1940 Pride and Prejudice film adaptation, which included the lines “At this moment, it’s difficult to believe that you’re so proud.” “At this moment, it’s difficult …

Will there be a season 2 of The Other Bennet Sister?

Will there be a season 2 of The Other Bennet Sister?

Published by Daniella Wilson

*Warning – contains spoilers for the first five episodes of The Other Bennet Sister.* Viewers who have been enjoying new period drama and Pride & Prejudice spin-off The Other Bennet Sister sadly have a while to wait for more episodes. The first five were released at once on BBC iPlayer on Sunday 15 March, but episodes 6-10 won’t be on the platform until Sunday 29th March at 6am. As fans wait, they may be wondering whether the series, based on the novel of the same name by Janice Hadlow, will adapt all of its story, or whether there will be more stories to tell with Ella Bruccoleri’s Mary Bennet in a potential second season. Well, we’ve got you covered. Read on for everything we know so far about the potential for The Other Bennet Sister season 2. Will there be The Other Bennet Sister season 2? Ella Bruccoleri as Mary Bennet, Ruth Jones as Mrs Bennet, Richard E Grant as Mr Bennet, Poppy Gilbert as Lizzie Bennet, Molly Wright as Kitty Bennet, Grace Hogg-Robinson as …

Call the Midwife star teases dark shift in The Other Bennet Sister

Call the Midwife star teases dark shift in The Other Bennet Sister

Published by Daniella Wilson

The first five episodes of The Other Bennet Sister are available to watch on BBC iPlayer now, with Jane Austen fans diving into this story of Mary Bennet’s life outside of what we are told in Pride & Prejudice. Unusually for a period drama, the series is made up of 10 half-hour episodes, with writer Sarah Quintrell having told The Radio Times Writers’ Room that this immediately lightens the tone. However, Mary star Ella Bruccoleri (Call the Midwife) and Mrs Bennet star Ruth Jones (Gavin & Stacey) have teased that fans should expect that to change slightly, with the series featuring a “darker” second half. “For me, it really shifts in the second block,” Bruccoleri said when asked about the show’s tone, in an exclusive interview with Radio Times. “The tone really shifts. It feels darker, slightly. I think you’ve still got all the light, comedic, beautiful repartee, but then it feels a bit more meaty, a bit gristlier, I think.” Meanwhile, Jones added: “What I love though about Sarah’s script and the way that …

Viewers hail new Jane Austen series The Other Bennet Sister as ‘best period drama’

Viewers hail new Jane Austen series The Other Bennet Sister as ‘best period drama’

Published by Daniella Wilson

The BBC’s latest Jane Austen drama, The Other Bennet Sister, has had viewers glued to their screens since it premiered on Sunday night.  An adaptation of Janice Hadlow’s 2020 novel, the ten-part series reimagines the world of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and stars Ella Bruccoleri (Call the Midwife) as Mary Bennet, the often forgotten middle sister. © BBC/Bad WolfThe series follows Mary Bennet as she embarks on a journey of self-discovery The story follows Mary as she leaves her family home in Meryton for London in search of independence, self-love, and reinvention. Sarah Quintrell, who has writing credits on The Power and His Dark Materials, penned nine of the episodes, while Maddie Dai (We Were Dangerous) wrote one episode.  WATCH: The trailer for The Other Bennet Sister As a huge period drama and Jane Austen fan, I’ve been counting down the days until the release of The Other Bennet Sister, and this charming reimagining of Austen’s beloved classic featuring stellar performances is a must-watch for Pride & Prejudice fans.  Keep reading to find out what viewers have said about the …

The Other Bennet Sister review – Utterly charming Austen spin-off gives new life to classic characters

The Other Bennet Sister review – Utterly charming Austen spin-off gives new life to classic characters

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Period literary adaptations have all got a little, well, sexy of late, haven’t they? Bridgerton is, of course, the pinnacle of this trend, an erotic female fantasy brought to life and clad in wigs and elaborate corsetry. Emerald Fennell’s controversial “Wuthering Heights” was essentially an aesthetically exquisite vehicle for Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie to rut against each other across a variety of al fresco locations. And then there’s the raunchy reboot of A Woman of Substance, described by reviewers as a Riders-style bonk-fest meets Succession. Hurrah, then, for The Other Bennet Sister, the BBC’s latest Jane Austen spin-off, based on the novel by Janice Hadlow. It proves the perfect antidote to all that climbing-the-walls steaminess and uninhibited shagging. The 10-part series stars Call the Midwife’s Ella Bruccoleri as Mary Bennet, the dowdy, bespectacled younger sister of Pride and Prejudice protagonist …

The Other Bennet Sister cast: Who stars in the BBC period drama?

The Other Bennet Sister cast: Who stars in the BBC period drama?

Published by Daniella Wilson

Pride and Prejudice was all about Elizabeth Bennet, but The Other Bennet Sister turns the spotlight on her sister, Mary, who has always existed in the shadow of her siblings. Based on the novel of the same name by Janice Hadlow, the time has come for the middle Bennet sister, played by Ella Bruccoleri, to come into her own by leaving the family home for Regency London and the Lake District. In the midst of her newfound independence, Mary finds herself with suitors to her left and her right, but it’s far from smooth sailing. “Mary’s not your typical period drama heroine,” said Bruccoleri. “She lives in a world where, particularly for women, appearance is everything, and she doesn’t understand that value system at all. “Instead, she turns to literature that offers a different viewpoint. Her favourite book is Fordyce’s Sermons to Young Women, because it argues that women shouldn’t have to be beautiful — they should be intelligent and pious.” Alongside Bruccoleri, a number of familiar faces make up the cast of The Other …

The Other Bennet Sister filming locations

The Other Bennet Sister filming locations

Published by Daniella Wilson

While we’ve got nothing against Elizabeth Bennet personally, she’s enjoyed more than her fair share of time in the spotlight. The same, however, cannot be said for her sister Mary, who takes centre stage in the aptly titled The Other Bennet Sister. The 10-part BBC drama, based on Janice Hadlow’s novel of the same name, stars Ella Bruccoleri (Call the Midwife, Bridgerton) as the “seemingly unremarkable and overlooked” middle Bennet child who leaves her family home for Regency London and the rolling peaks of the Lake District. It’s there where she finally begins to come into her own – and finds herself “in the middle of an epic love story along the way”. “I think Mary has spent her childhood wishing she was Lizzie Bennet and it’s only when she breaks away that she realises she doesn’t have to be,” Bruccoleri told Radio Times magazine. Bruccoleri stars in the series alongside several familiar faces, including Ruth Jones and Richard E Grant as Mrs and Mr Bennet, who all gathered for filming in Wales. But where, …

The Other Bennet Sister centres on Mary Bennet for better and worse

The Other Bennet Sister centres on Mary Bennet for better and worse

Published by Daniella Wilson

The Other Bennet Sister, the BBC adaptation of Janice Hadlow’s novel of the same name, retells and expands upon the events of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice through the narrow perspective of Mary Bennet (Ella Bruccoleri). She is the cloistered and bookish middle sister of the Bennet family; a serial refuser to join in. “I prefer facts to whimsy,” she says with an inflexibility she maintains throughout much of the series, even as the Bingleys move into Netherfield and throw a ball that will introduce Elizabeth (Poppy Gilbert) to Mr Darcy (Victor Pilard). When, however, Mary threatens to open up at Netherfield, Mrs Bennet cruelly admonishes her. She sees little value in her “plain” daughter – cemented by costuming Bruccoleri in drab dresses and spectacles – and is keen she does nothing to impede her sisters; sisters with real marriage prospects. It’s a cruelty that defines The Other Bennet Sister, framing Mary as a victim of Longbourn, her family, and particularly her mother. Read more: It’s a defensible framework; one that lends itself to a …

The Other Bennet Sister’s Ella Bruccoleri on leaving Call the Midwife

The Other Bennet Sister’s Ella Bruccoleri on leaving Call the Midwife

Published by Daniella Wilson

“I love doing something different every few months.” That makes Mary Bennet, lead in the BBC’s 10-part drama The Other Bennet Sister an interesting move for actress Ella Brucolleri. Nebbish, bookish, and, at least outwardly, pious, the middle sister of Pride and Prejudice’s Bennet doesn’t have change in her bones. You’d be forgiven for thinking that piety comes naturally to Brucolleri, who was brought up Roman Catholic but tells Radio Times she’s now agnostic. She’ll be familiar to many as Sister Frances in Call the Midwife, others might have recognised her in a small role as Sister Rosita in Paddington in Peru. Those roles don’t find her because of her upbringing, however. “I just have this kind of nun-like face!” she says. “I maybe find it more difficult to play pious characters than would be expected because I’ve broken away from [Catholicism], and maybe I feel a bit of guilt because my family is still very Catholic,” she continues. “It would feel easier maybe to play a role that’s more cynical of, or being worn …