‘The Other Bennet Sister’ Is Fanfic Television Done Right

Jane Austen is one of my favorite writers, due in no small part to how many screen adaptations her work has inspired. There’s so many! There’re masterpieces like the 1995 Pride and Prejudice miniseries and the Persuasion film adaptation of the same year. There’s utter drek like the 2022 Persuasion, that completely fumbles its attempt to update the material. Sanditon is a great example of Austen pastiche that uses an unfinished Austen novel as a jumping off point, and heavily references Austen’s work and style. Then there’s BritBox’s The Other Bennet Sister, a wonderful adaptation of the novel of the same name, that revisits Pride and Prejudice to focus on the oft-mocked and overlooked character of Mary Bennet. What seems at first to be a fanfiction cupcake unfolds into a deeply emotional and refreshingly clear-eyed story about finding yourself and standing up for what you want.

The series begins with a remarkably efficient retelling of Pride and Prejudice, but from the perspective of Mary (Ella Bruccoleri). She witnesses the important events like Lizzie (Poppy Gilbert) falling for Darcy (Victor Pilard), and Jane (Maddie Close) marrying Charles Bingley (Aled Owen), but she’s got her own action too. While Mary’s accomplished emotional terrorist of a mother (Ruth Jones) harangues her into being a combination punching bag/servant, she finds kindness in the maid Mrs. Hill (Lucy Briers, who played Mary in the ‘95 Pride and Prejudice). There’s also her father (Richard E. Grant), who admires Mary’s spectacles when others jeer at her. Mary contends with the fork-tongued Caroline Bingley (Tanya Reynolds), who develops into Mary’s primary rival. Rounding out the supporting cast are Indira Varna and Richard Coyle as the Gardiners, relatives that makes Mary feel loved and allows her to flourish.

The series’ fanfiction shape tricked me into expecting a sweet, but shallow confection of easy villains and superficial empowerment, and then blew me away with its nuance. Nothing is quite what it seems to be at first. There’s a love triangle with Mary torn between Mr. Hayward (Dónal Finn) and Mr. Ryder (Laurie Davidson), but it’s so gently done that usual melodrama evaporates into a story about what Mary really wants from life. The introduction of Hayward’s fiancé Ann Baxter (Varada Sethu) isn’t the soapy twist it seems at first because she and Mary hit it off wonderfully.

If The Other Bennet Sister has any villains, they are definitely Mrs. Bennet and Caroline Bingley, but even then they’re given shading that humanizes their actions. The series doesn’t excuse what they’ve done, but consistently gestures to the greater social forces at play. Mrs. Bennet emotionally abuses Mary and is keen to keep her locked down as a dogsbody, but this behavior comes from the utterly toxic culture the characters were raised in. Caroline is a viper, but her venom is portrayed as a defensive mechanism. She comes across as Mary’s dark mirror, as both women felt ignored, and reacted very differently. This clear-eyed view is a really refreshing touch, one that I wish was used more often in costume dramas. These stories are so much more interesting when they include the textures and wrinkles that complicate and humanize their characters.

The Other Bennet Sister is a wonder. It not only effectively builds on Pride and Prejudice, but expands and deepens our understanding of that world. The series remains gentle and sweet without becoming saccharine, and makes plenty of room for well-written and emotional drama to unfold. It’s a comfort-watch with more to say than its fanfiction shape might suggest.