The Other Bennet Sister gets her due in a sparkling new adaptation

Sarah Quintrell's miniseries is a classic historical swoonfest, but the central romance is the one Mary has with herself.

By Jenna Scherer | May 7, 2026 | 11:00am

TV Reviews The Other Bennet Sister

The Other Bennet Sister gets her due in a sparkling new adaptation

It is a truth universally acknowledged that everyone is head over heels for Elizabeth Bennet. She’s one of the most appealing protagonists in literature—charismatic, intelligent, and relatably flawed. It’s no wonder that, in the more than two centuries since the publication of Pride and Prejudice, there have been countless adaptations and spin-offs of Jane Austen’s masterpiece, from the iconic 1995 BBC miniseries to Joe Wright’s lush 2005 film to Bollywood’s Bride & Prejudice. And that isn’t even to mention the spinoffs, sequels, and reimaginings: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Death Comes To Pemberly, Longbourne, plus modern updates like Bridget Jones’s Diary and Fire Island.

As wide-ranging as these adaptations are, there are two things that never change: Elizabeth is always lovable, and her younger sister Mary is always insufferable. Sour, dull, and incurious about the world around her, Mary’s sole purpose in the story is to stand in contrast to Lizzie. Basically, she’s the Meg Griffin of Regency England. But what if Mary is much more than meets the eye? What if, beneath the awkwardness and snobbery beats the heart of a smart, passionate woman struggling toward the light, but hemmed in by the expectations of her judgmental family? That’s the premise of BBC One’s The Other Bennet Sister (coming to the States via BritBox), which trains the spotlight on a character who’s been dismissed ever since Austen first put pen to parchment.

Based on Janice Hadlow’s 2020 novel of the same name, Sarah Quintrell’s miniseries begins with the events of the story we all know and love, then quickly moves beyond it. Lizzie (Poppy Gilbert) and Jane (Maddie Close)—and to a lesser extent, Lydia (Grace Hogg-Robinson) and Kitty (Molly Wright)—have already gotten their happy endings, but Mary’s (Ella Bruccoleri) journey is just getting started. After the rest of her sibs fly the coop, she’s left alone at Longbourn with her distant father (Richard E. Grant) and overbearing mother (Ruth Jones). Mrs. Bennet is a hilarious nightmare in the original novel; but when it comes to her middle daughter, she’s just plain cruel. To her, Mary’s lack of grace and conventional beauty are unpardonable sins; she throws a tantrum when her daughter dares to start wearing spectacles. Women don’t need to see, after all—they merely need to be seen.

She thinks she’s punishing Mary when she sends her away to work as a governess for her aunt (Indira Varma) and uncle (Richard Coyle) in London, but it turns out to be anything but. Encouraged by the Gardiners’ easy kindness, Mary slowly comes out of her shell. She starts wearing bold, colorful gowns, reading the books she likes to read (about, she says at one point, “types of rocks”) with impunity. She even attracts the attention of not one, but two eligible bachelors: the sweet, poetry-loving Mr. Hayward (Dónal Finn), and the impulsive, adventurous Mr. Ryder (Laurie Davidson).

This love triangle is much less black-and-white than the one between Lizzie, the honorable Darcy, and the dastardly Wickham. Though they’re very different men, Hayward and Ryder both help Mary see the world in a new light, and admire her for the clever weirdo she is. To them, being a black sheep is a feature, not a bug. Quintrell has as much fun with this three-sided courtship as you’d hope. In a hilarious nod to an iconic scene from the ’90s BBC Pride And Prejudice, not one, but two, Regency hunks emerge from a lake with water-logged billowy shirts clinging to their luscious pecs.

The Other Bennet Sister is equal parts character study, swoony love story, bubbly rom-com, and family drama. Bruccoleri holds her own at the center of the whirlwind, keeping us rooting for Mary every step of the way as she slowly peels herself away from the proverbial ballroom wall. The tension between Mary and her hellacious mother is particularly potent, and that’s largely down to Bruccoleri and Jones’ performances. Each time Mrs. Bennet pulls her daughter back into her orbit, Mary has grown and changed, while her mother has remained stubbornly the same. It’s a dynamic that will be relatable to anyone who grew up in the shadow of a difficult mom: the more her daughter flourishes, the more Mrs. Bennet resents her. Equally compelling is a charged scene in which Mary takes Elizabeth to task for failing to support her in the face of their family’s bullying. Amid the many iconic actors who have played the role over the years, Gilbert manages to show us a new facet of Lizzie—one who’s willing to admit when she’s wrong, and not just about Mr. Darcy’s pride.

The series gives us the kind of slow-burn romance that Austenheads adore. But since this is Mary we’re talking about, it has very little to do with smolder. The chemistry between Bruccoleri and Finn is one between two earnest, fumbling oddballs who find common ground in their obscure interests and quirky senses of humor. With the long, adoring gazes Heyward throws Mary’s way, Finn establishes himself as a yearning leading man worthy of a thousand Tumblr GIFs. In contrast, Davidson’s Mr. Ryder is all energy and charisma. He’s a manic pixie dream boy who nonetheless proves himself to be more complicated than meets the eye.

The Other Bennet Sister also finds the humanity in Pride And Prejudice‘s most laughed-at character, the fawning Mr. Collins. Ryan Sampson brings all the cringiness we’ve come to expect, but later exposes the fragile soul beneath the obnoxious exterior. Unfortunately, the show fails to extend the same grace to OG mean girl Caroline Bingley (Tanya Reynolds); she appears throughout the series to bully Mary without ever evolving beyond the nasty piece of work she is in Austen’s novel.

The show flounders a bit in its final act, repeating too many beats and adding melodrama to the proceedings that feels forced. But like Mary herself, The Other Bennet Sister‘s flaws are outweighed by its better qualities. It’s a classic historical swoonfest where the girl gets swept off her feet by her handsome dreamboat, yes. But the central romance isn’t with Heyward or Ryder—it’s the one Mary has with herself.

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