The Other Bennet Sister is a British period drama television series produced by Bad Wolf for BBC One. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Janice Hadlow, a continuation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and follows Ella Bruccoleri as Mary Bennet, Dónal Finn as Mr Hayward and Laurie Davidson as Mr Ryder. Other cast members include Ruth Jones and Richard E. Grant as Mrs and Mr Bennet. The series premiered on 15 March 2026. In June 2026, a three-part Christmas special was announced.
Premise The first two episodes of the series detail the events of Pride and Prejudice from the point of view of Mary Bennet, the overlooked sister from the large Bennet family. The rest of the story follows Mary as she travels to London and the Lake District on a journey of self-discovery and romance.
Cast and characters Main
Ella Bruccoleri as Mary Bennet Ruth Jones as Mrs Bennet Richard E. Grant as Mr Bennet Maddie Close as Jane Bingley (née Bennet) Poppy Gilbert as Elizabeth Darcy (née Bennet) Grace Hogg-Robinson as Lydia Wickham (née Bennet) Molly Wright as Kitty Buncock (née Bennet) Indira Varma as Mrs Gardiner Richard Coyle as Mr Gardiner Dónal Finn as Thomas Hayward Laurie Davidson as William Ryder Lucy Briers as Mrs Hill Tanya Reynolds as Caroline Bingley Varada Sethu as Ann Baxter
Recurring Victor Pilard as Fitzwilliam Darcy Aled Owens as Charles Bingley Aaron Gill as John Sparrow Ryan Sampson as Mr Collins Anna Fenton-Garvey as Charlotte Collins (née Lucas) Lucinda Dryzek as Louisa Hurst (née Bingley) Róisín Bhalla as Marianne Gardiner Reggie Absolom as George Gardiner Jasmine Sharp as Rebecca Gardiner Fergus Craig as Mr Hurst Seán Carlsen as Sir William Lucas Jethro Weyman as Gardiner Servant
Production Development The ten-part series is adapted by Sarah Quintrell 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, with Maddie Dai also writing an episode. It is lead directed by Jennifer Sheridan.
It is produced by Bad Wolf, for whom Dan McCulloch developed the project. Quintrell and Hadlow are executive producers with Kate Crowther, Becca Kinder and Jane Tranter as executive producers for Bad Wolf, and Rebecca Ferguson as executive producer for the BBC. Sony Pictures Television has global rights. In May 2025, BritBox was announced as co-producer, with broadcasting rights in the U.S. and Canada.
On 24 June 2026, the BBC announced that a three-part Christmas special had been commissioned.
Casting In May 2025, Ella Bruccoleri was announced as leading the cast in the role of Mary Bennet. The following month, Ruth Jones, Richard E. Grant, Richard Coyle and Indira Varma joined the cast, as well as Roisin Bhalla, Reggie Absolom and Jasmine Sharp, Laurie Davidson, Dónal Finn and Varada Sethu with Aaron Gill, Maddie Close, Poppy Gilbert, Molly Wright, Grace Hogg-Robinson, Tanya Reynolds, Anna Fenton-Garvey and Ryan Sampson. The cast also includes Lucy Briers, who had played Mary Bennet in the 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
Filming Principal photography took place in Bristol and Wales in June 2025. Newport, particularly its Market Arcade, was used to film several London scenes. The outdoors Lake District scenes were instead filmed in Brecon Beacons and the Black Mountains. Other filming locations included Dyffryn House and Gardens and St Fagans Folk Museum in Wales and Berkeley Square, Brandon Hill, Orchard Street and Frog Lane in Bristol. The Pemberley scenes were filmed at Badminton House.
Filming for the three-part Christmas special took place in the summer of 2026, primarily in Wales, and was completed by the start of September.
Episodes
Broadcast The first five episodes premiered on 15 March 2026 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The remaining five episodes premiered on 29 March 2026. In the United States, the show premiered on 6 May 2026 on BritBox.
Reception The series became a ratings hit, with episode one drawing in a consolidated 28 days figure of 7.3 million viewers. It also marks the BBC's biggest drama launch since May 2025.
Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 80 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
In a five-star review for The Telegraph, Anita Singh described it as "a thing of pure delight". In a three-star review for The Guardian, Lucy Mangan found it "too slight a thing even for the pre-watershed Sunday evening slot", but concluded that "the growing charm and heft ... make it one worth sticking with". Impact The BBC reported that tourism to historic sites related to Jane Austen, particularly in Bath, had increased following the release of the series.
Accolades The series was nominated in the New Drama category at the 31st National Television Awards, with Bruccoleri nominated for Drama Performance.
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