(courtesy YouTube (c) BBC)
SNAPSHOT
The first part of the series follows the events from Pride and Prejudice from Mary Bennet’s point of view, before the story departs to follow Mary as she travels to London & the Lake District. The overlooked sister from the big Bennet family has a romantic adventure in Regency-era England. The Other Bennet Sister is a comedy series created and written by Sarah Quintrell, adapted from the 2020 novel of the same name by Janice Hadlow, based around the character Mary Bennet from the Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice (published in 1813). With additional writing by Maddie Dai. All of the episodes are directed by filmmaker Jennifer Sheridan, of the film Rose and series The Snow Spider, Rules of the Game, Extraordinary, Malpractice previously. Made by Bad Wolf and Sony Pictures TV. Executive produced by Janice Hadlow, Sarah Quintrell, Dan McCulloch, Kate Crowther, Becca Kinder, Jane Tranter, Rebecca Ferguson. (courtesy First Showing)
As someone who grew up as a social outlier with my peers, and who didn’t quite fit into the church environment in which I was raised – I asked far too many questions which didn’t go down well and oh, I said the word “damn” once (gasp!) – I find myself identifying more than you might think with Mary Bennet.
Born into a world where beauty and playing the part is the key to success, Mary is a young woman who doesn’t look the part – she looks wonderful but not Regency era-wonderful, alas – and who is awkward in all the settings where she must excel.
I absolutely love the look of The Other Bennet Sister which channels a whole lot of empathy and humour into a show which gets what it is like not to fit seamlessly into an unforgivingly exacting world.
It’s exhausting not being allowed to be yourself and I can’t wait to watch this show when it finally makes it to Australia and see how Mary deals with this impossible situation.
The Other Bennet Sister streams on BBC iPlayer on 15 March 2026.
And an amusing teaser …