First Look At The BBC’s New Austen Drama, The Other Bennet Sister

If you loved the BBC’s recent regency drama Miss Austen and you can’t wait for Netflix’s new adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, we come bearing good news: another Jane Austen drama is in the works.

With fans celebrating the 250th anniversary of the beloved author’s birth on 16 December, the BBC has revealed our first glimpse of the series across a selection of images. Here’s everything you need to know about The Other Bennet Sister.

Maddie Close as Jane, Poppy Gilbert as Lizzie, Ella Bruccoleri as Mary, Molly Wright as Kitty & Grace Hogg-Robinson as Lydia Bennet in The Other Bennet Sister, coming to BBC One in 2026. (BBC/Bad Wolf)

The Other Bennet Sister: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

It’s a star-studded British affair. The Other Bennet Sister expands the universe of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to tell a story through the often-overlooked perspective of Mary Bennet (Ella Bruccoleri), the middle Bennet sister (younger than Jane and Elizabeth, and older than Kitty and Lydia). This is with the help of plenty of famous faces, from Richard E Grant and Ruth Jones to Indira Varma and Richard Coyle.

Richard E Grant and Ruth Jones as Mr and Mrs Bennet. (BBC/Bad Wolf)

What Will Happen?

The Other Bennet Sister will open with the bustling Bennet household we know and love. Ruled by Mr (Grant) and Mrs Bennet (Jones), five spirited, unmarried daughters – Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty and Lydia – find themselves under growing pressure to wed. Not just an aspiration but a necessity, in order to secure their marriages the girls must navigate the glittering yet precarious world of Regency England.

But the BBC’s series shines a new spotlight on Mary Bennet, the oft-forgotten middle sister. In The Other Bennet Sister, she is taken under the wing of her aunt and uncle, Mr (Coyle) and Mrs Gardiner (Varma). She acts as the governess to their three children: Marianne (Roisin Bhalla), George (Reggie Absolom) and Rebecca (Jasmine Sharp). This introduces Mary to a whole new social world that includes Mr Hayward (Dónal Finn), Mr Ryder (Laurie Davidson) and Ann Baxter (Varada Sethu).

Laurie Davidson as Mr Ryder and Ella Bruccoleri as Mary Bennet. (BBC/Bad Wolf)

Like Miss Austen, which was based on Gill Hornby’s 2020 novel of the same name, The Other Bennet Sister is not based on the work of Jane Austen, but instead draws on Janice Hadlow’s novel of the same name, also published in 2020, which is a spin off from Pride and Prejudice (1813). The author tells the BBC ‘it’s very exciting to think that Mary Bennet will soon be coming to our screens, taking centre stage at last in the story Jane Austen never gave her, played with such feeling by the wonderful Ella Bruccoleri, in the company of a brilliantly empathic cast who bring the whole drama gloriously and poignantly to life’.

Sarah Quintrell has adapted Janice’s novel for the screen, having previously worked on The Power and Ella. She says: ‘Exploring Jane Austen’s world through the eyes of Mary Bennet for the first time has been a joyful experience – and our incredible cast have added a whole new layer of life to these characters.

Indira Varma and Richard Coyle as Mr and Mrs Gardiner. (BBC/Bad Wolf)

‘Our story is set in a familiar and much-loved world, but we’re coming at it from a completely new angle,’ Sarah adds. ‘Mary’s story is about coming of age when you’re the odd one out – how do you find your place in the world? As a young girl growing up in Croydon, my world could not have been more different to Jane Austen’s – but there is a universality in her work that reaches across generations and class boundaries, and we cannot wait to bring the Bennet family to a new audience. The Other Bennet Sister is true to the spirit of Pride and Prejudice but I hope it will also surprise and delight fans both old and new.’

‘We have been working behind the scenes on The Other Bennet Sister for many years now,’ executive producer Jane Tranter shared in June when the BBC revealed filming had commenced in Wales. ‘Janice’s brilliantly observed characters have lived and grown in our imaginations throughout that time as Sarah has been working on the scripts. So, our actors had a lot to live up to – and I can honestly say that this is the ensemble cast of our dreams. Each one brings something new and exciting to the world of Austen. And all of us at Bad Wolf are delighted to be making a drama that brings such joy.’

Along with The Other Bennet Sister and Netflix’s Pride and Prejudice, a new adaptation of Sense and Sensibility is in the works, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and George MacKay. All of this is to say it’s a great time to be an Austen fan.

Tanya Reynolds as Caroline Bingley. (BBC/Bad Wolf)

The Trailer

No trailer just yet, but the BBC has released a first-look clip taken from a family lunch in The Other Bennet Sister. Watch it below for a taste of what we can expect.

The Cast

Ella Bruccoleri, Richard E. Grant, Ruth Jones, Indira Varma and more are set to star in the BBC’s adaptation of The Other Bennet Sister. They’ll be joined by Richard Coyle, Laurie Davidson and Dónal Finn, with filming officially wrapped up in Wales.

The full cast we know so far is as follows:

• Ella Bruccoleri as Mary Bennet
• Richard E. Grant as Mr Bennet
• Ruth Jones as Mrs Bennet
• Indira Varma as Mrs Gardiner
• Richard Coyle as Mr Gardiner
• Laurie Davidson as Mr Ryder
• Dónal Finn as Mr Hayward
• Roisin Bhalla as Marianne Gardiner
• Reggie Absolom as George Gardiner
• Jasmine Sharp as Rebecca Gardiner
• Varada Sethu as Ann Baxter
• Aaron Gill as John Sparrow
• Maddie Close as Jane Bennet
• Poppy Gilbert as Lizzie Bennet
• Molly Wright as Kitty Bennet
• Grace Hogg-Robinson as Lydia Bennet
• Tanya Reynolds as Caroline Bingley
• Anna Fenton-Garvey as Charlotte Lucas
• Ryan Sampson as Mr Collins

Dónal Finn as Mr Hayward and Ella Bruccoleri as Mary Bennet. (BBC/Bad Wolf)

Release Date

The Other Bennet Sister will air on BBC One and iPlayer in 2026, though no specific date is confirmed just yet. The series will be made up of 10 30-minute-long episodes.

Overseas, The Other Bennet Sister will launch on BritBox – at a later date than its UK premiere, but still in 2026.

‘It’s a joy to see cameras rolling on our vibrant, witty and clever new take on Jane Austen’s beloved world,’ says the BBC’s director of drama, Lindsay Salt. ‘With a pitch perfect cast led by Ella, Ruth and Richard, The Other Bennet Sister will be an irresistible treat for viewers when it launches on the BBC next year.’

In the meantime, the BBC’s seminal 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle is available to stream in full on BBC iPlayer.

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