‘The Other Bennet Sister’: the expansion of the Austen universe
After a whirlwind anniversary year in 2025, 2026 has marked the onset of a multitude of Austen adaptations and Austen-inspired drama across television and streaming services. We will be covering all of these in future ‘Musings’ , but this month Dr Gabrielle Malcolm is all about The Other Bennet Sister.
Based on Janice Hadlow’s 2020 novel of the same name, the BBC have really pushed the boat out on this one, extending the drama to ten parts – that outruns all other Austen-based series and adaptations to date.
The BBC are definitely onto something with an appeal to the fan base for some properly extended bingeworthy viewing in future. Hadlow was formerly head of programming for BBC2, so she had a concept, the connections and the execution skills for a landmark TV series. Going forward, I predict that The Other Bennet Sister will enter the canon for Austen fans.
While the story is certainly engaging and apt as a historic costume drama derived from Austen’s satire, the main reason why this series will last and be consistently appreciated by Austen fans and readers is down to the casting and performances.
Hadlow’s derivation of Austen’s characters don’t spark off the page like the originals – which is fine – no one can equal Austen. What has been achieved is a sense of drama and humanity about them that makes for great material for actors. That’s where the spark happens, in the script adaptation, the performances and the locations.
The Gardiners for example, an enduringly popular couple from Austen’s original, have been fleshed out and given more action. Indira Varma is subtle, subversive and sympathetic as Aunt Gardiner and even more of a fixer for the middle Bennet sister than she was for Elizabeth. The Gardiners’ London home operates as a haven for Mary.
There’s also Ruth Jones as Mrs Bennet, a credible ‘beauty’, a needy matriarch and someone whose insecurities threaten to eat up Mary’s future. Richard E Grant, as Mr Bennet, is an Austen veteran, as is Varma, and upends the family’s future by dying. This in turn allows the Collins to inherit Longbourn. This permits the drama to thrust Collins and Charlotte’s unhappy marriage into Mary’s life, creating another role for her – as helpmate to the once potential suitor who preferred to look outside of the Bennet family after Elizabeth’s rejection.
All the confusion and heartache that afflicted Mary in the original novel returns a hundred-fold in this sequel. So, Mary is permitted some development and change. From being the somewhat priggish, disconnected studious daughter, aligned with the Reverend Fordyce’s advice to young women in his dull sermons, she has moved on to Wordsworth (William and Dorothy) and the other Lake poets.
Moving further beyond her home boundaries than even Elizabeth achieved, Mary makes it to the Lake District, and straight into a two-way rivalry for her affections. Mr Hayward (Donal Finn) and Mr Ryder (Laurie Davidson) offer multiple charm offensives – physical, marital, financial and intellectual – to gain Mary’s affections.
Central to the success of the dramatisation is the casting of Mary Bennet, and in this role Ella Bruccoleri shines. She fully embodies Mary in this coming of age and agency story with grace and passion. In contrast to the original Mary Bennet, this is a Mary who has embraced poetic and philosophical thinking with gusto, enough to be able to advise and teach others. With Aunt Gardiner’s patronage she comes out of her shell and defies her background as an embarrassing and gauche social innocent.
Bruccoleri endows Mary with immense dignity and helps her to travel into the Regency period with a mission and the ability to say ‘No’. She does this a lot, while wearing outfits that flatter and introduce colour and elegance. She even goes head-to-head with Caroline Bingley (Tanya Reynolds) against a stormy backdrop in the Lake District.
I had the opportunity to send some questions to Ella and asked her about how she approached the role – with the weight of so much popular culture significance attached. She admitted that it was daunting, but that the quality of what Austen established as a foundation which enabled Hadlow to expand on the character and gave her a lot to work with. What was also helpful, she told me, was the presence of Lucy Briers as Mrs Hill on set. Lucy, of course, played Mary Bennet in the 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Ella felt the baton passed on from a previous generation of Austen actors.
Another, worthy, expansion to the Austen universe then. Fans of the fate of the neglected middle child in drama and fiction will love this. Hadlow has followed a well-researched nineteenth-century trajectory of the spinster sister with no income. She sets Mary up on a determined pathway of reading, study, and teaching. This is amusing, because of course Austen was a middle-class daughter with no income who had to either marry well or pursue a low-paid role as a teacher or governess. While Mary welcomes the chance to teach, Austen rejected that situation in no uncertain terms. It’s no secret that teaching was a subject of contention between Austen and her father George. He had dedicated his life and training to teaching and tutoring; his daughter had other ideas!
Writers and directors continue to mine the fertile ground of Jane Austen’s novels for expansions and continuations of the stories and characters’ lives. They are answering the call for new narratives and feeding the hunger of fans for more action, more stories.
These are certainly tributes to Austen. The historical settings and romantic storylines set them apart from Austen’s contemporary social satire, but they still teach us a great deal about our times and how we live our lives and relate to others. We are in for an exciting period of Austen dramas and adaptations. It will be very interesting to see which ones stand the test of time!
