The BBC’s new series The Other Bennet Sister, all about Pride and Prejudice’s most overlooked character, Mary Bennet, is finally here. But has it won fans over?
The 10-episode show, each one 30 minutes, released the first five for fans to feast on on Sunday, and it has already made quite the impression.
We join the Bennet family at the start of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice novel, this time seeing events unfold from the perspective of the shy and downtrodden Mary (Ella Bruccoleri).
The four other sisters – Jane (Maddie Close), Lizzie (Poppy Gilbert), Kitty (Molly Wright) and Lydia (Grace Hogg-Robinson) – fade into the background as we witness the toxic dynamic between Mary and her parents, Mrs and Mr Bennet (Ruth Jones and Richard E. Grant).
Dubbed the ‘unmarriageable one’, Mary embarks on an unexpected journey of self-empowerment beyond the bounds of societal expectation… and she may just find love along the way.
Based on Janice Hadlow’s 2020 novel of the same name, it has been adapted to the screen by writer Sarah Quintrell and director Jennifer Sheridan.
Given how loved the original novel and its many adaptations have been – introducing devout fans to Pride and Prejudice with rather a big twist is no easy feat.
What are fans and critics saying about The Other Bennet Sister?
From the looks of it, our cast and crew have pulled it off – with perhaps one or two caveats.
‘Loved it! Read the book years ago and loved it too. They’ve taken out quite a chunk in the middle, but I remember that part being quite depressing, so perhaps that was on purpose.
‘I love everything about it – the casting, the production design, the score, the subtle and evocative storytelling,’ thecoolestfreak wrote on Reddit.
‘I’m really enjoying it so far. I watched the first five episodes, and I was really disappointed to note that the next five don’t come out for another two weeks!!’ itstimegeez lamented.
Extension cash called it ‘an absolute delight’, and kitten1985 declared ‘Mary is so precious’.
Over on X Jayce wrote: ‘I loved the novel and I’m loving the new series. So good to see Jane Austen-inspired dramas back on the BBC schedules.’
What does Metro think of The Other Bennet Sister?
Senior TV Reporter Asyia Iftikhar shares her four-star review…
The Other Bennet Sister tears up the manual and runs riot in the world Austen has created to take the scant parts we’re told about Mary to paint a much bigger picture – and give her a moment in the sun.
Now, for the Austen purists out there, you’re going to have to push through the creative liberties taken, or this show will fall flat for you.
Ella’s delicate disposition, opposite Ruth Jones’ monstrous turn as Mrs Bennet, truly creates the perfect storm. There’s a brilliant comedic energy between the duo that will have you both cackling and grimacing in sympathy in equal measure.
By the time the first episode is out, you want to swaddle Mary in bubble wrap and shun the naysayers.
If there’s one thing the show executes with near-perfection, it’s creating an Austen heroine you truly want to root for.
‘Marvellous! Or should I say ‘Capital!’ ‘Capital!’ The fact that the Lucy Briers [Mary in the 1995 adaptation] has a role as well. Welling up here,’ Rockmyheart echoed.
Although some complained of Mrs Bennet being mischaracterised.
‘I hate that they made her seem cruel and disinterested, she has none of her boisterous energy either,’ as iamnotfromthis shared.
And others that the Pride and Prejudice plot (which is wrapped up by episode two) was ‘rushed’.
As for critics, The Independent called it an ‘utterly charming Austen spin-off [that] gives new life to classic characters’.
The Guardian’s more middling three-star review concluded: ‘The growing charm and heft – not to mention the lovely central performance from Bruccoleri – make it one worth sticking with. Sorry, Mary – one with which it is worth sticking.’
And The Telegraph’s standout five-star review praised Ella as ‘the perfect as bookish, bespectacled Mary, forever trailing unnoticed after her more sparkling sisters.’
Discussing her approach to bringing this underdeveloped literary character to life, Ella said: ‘‘…Mary is a comically sanctimonious figure, who’s a bit preachy and a bit pious, and that’s what you see.
‘You don’t see why she’s like that. You don’t see the other sides to her. So it was difficult for me because I just wanted to start from a place that isn’t an archetype; this is a human being.’
‘I almost feel like there’s a little bit of self-hatred in the way that she’s written [from Austen]. She’s not written super empathetically, just to point and laugh at her a little bit. But our show is the opposite of that,’ she added.
The first five episodes of The Other Bennet Sister are available to stream on BBC iPlayer now. Episodes six to 10 will land on Sunday, March 29.
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