There have been many, many Jane Austen adaptations, but there hasn’t been one quite like The Other Bennet Sister. BBC’s hit series reinvents Pride and Prejudice by focusing on long-overlooked, bookish middle sister Mary Bennet (Ella Bruccoleri), moving her to center stage out of her more boisterous sisters’ shadows. The 10-episode series, based on the book by Janice Hadlow, follows Mary as she searches for her own place in the world and even manages to find love along the way.
“I think a lot of people feel lost in a similar way and feel represented by seeing someone like her on screen,” Bruccoleri tells Gold Derby, explaining the show’s success. The limited series caught on so much that BBC ordered a three-part Christmas special, set to be released next month.
Here, the actress shares why she relates to Mary, how she fell in love with Austen after making the show, and what we can expect to see in those upcoming episodes (the wedding, perhaps?).
Gold Derby: Why do you think the show has been such a success? Why has it resonated so much?
Ella Bruccoleri: It’s a very good question, and one I’m constantly trying to puzzle my way through. My expectations were much more grounded than the reality of how it’s been received. I think a lot of people feel seen by it. People tell me they’re used to seeing characters who are introverted, fumbling their way through life, and don’t have all the answers or look like supermodels. Mary is desperately trying to carve out an identity for herself, and she doesn’t have a strong one at the start of the series. I think a lot of people feel lost in a similar way and feel represented by seeing someone like her on screen.
What interested you in telling her side of the story and bringing this character to life?
Bruccoleri: I related to many aspects of who she is. I’m interested in playing characters who are trying to figure things out as they go. When I got Sarah Quintrell’s scripts, I felt I was reading a coming-of-age story for a woman. It happened to be set in Regency England, but it could have been set anywhere, at any time—even 2026. It’s about a young woman who has had all these things projected onto her by her family, society and the outside world: This is how you should look, behave and be. None of it sits naturally with her, so she has to figure out another way of being. I found that fascinating to explore.
How did you approach humanizing her? You mentioned that she didn’t have an identity. How did you go about helping her find one?
I liked that she was someone I know a lot of people like — and I feel I’m one of them. Many days, I think, “I don’t really know what my identity is,” because I’m a different person depending on who I’m with and what I have to do to get through the day. I think that’s adaptability. Lots of people adapt to their situation. The only time you really know who you are is when you’re with your most treasured person, alone in a room, and you think, “OK, that’s me.” The rest of the day, you’re performing or masking — being whatever is required of you.
I saw Mary as one of those people. If she has to go to a ball, she won’t be herself; she’ll put on a character. In front of her family, she puts on another character. Even the persona she creates for herself as a scorned intellectual woman is a kind of character. She is intelligent, but she’s choosing to play that part.
I tried to humanize her by imagining all these different characters, and by asking what she’s like behind closed doors, when she’s alone in a room. I worked with a wonderful movement choreographer, Lucy Pankhurst, who spent a whole day with me, allowing me to exist in Mary’s world. We developed how Mary moved and held herself—how she moved when she was being herself, and how she moved when she was putting on different personas. That really helped.
I read that you weren’t necessarily a Jane Austen fan before this. Did the show change how you feel about Austen?
Very much so. It wasn’t that I disliked her; I was just ignorant. I hadn’t read her work or seen much of it. I had unfairly put it into a genre category in my mind and thought, “That’s probably not for me.” I think a lot of people do that with Austen. They think of her work as being on the soppy end of the romantic scale, but it really isn’t. It’s acerbic, witty, sarcastic and sharp. I was surprised when I started reading her. I loved the way she writes, and I kept reading Austen after we finished filming. It completely changed my mind.
Was there anything you wanted to bring to Mary beyond what was in the book?
Yes, I read the book as part of my preparation. I felt there were differences between the way Sarah wrote Mary for the screen and the way she was written in the book. Sarah’s Mary felt slightly more modern — not as prim, perhaps, and with a bit more bite.
That gave me some freedom to make Mary feel more relatable to people now. When you film a period drama, there are rules: how a woman should sit, that you can’t point your finger, and how you have to hold your posture. Those rules were real, but Mary feels like an alien in her time. She doesn’t understand the rules or why she should follow them. Some people were probably more relaxed about those conventions because they didn’t understand the game or why they were expected to play it. Mary has no interest in doing it to attract men. I felt we could break some of those rules with her and make her freer. That’s different from how she’s written in Janice Hadlow’s novel. I think modern audiences can be sympathetic to her struggles. She’s surrounded by sharp, identifiable, loud sisters.
Let’s talk about her search for love. That’s a big part of Austen’s novels, but Mary seems thwarted at every turn. Does she want love, or doesn’t she?
It’s a complicated and really interesting question. For someone who has never received validation, love could be an easy way to feel affirmed: “Someone has fallen in love with me. I am worth something. My mother was wrong; I do have something to offer.” I think a small part of Mary wants to feel validated and worthy.
But I don’t think she’s initially attracted to the same things as other people. She isn’t interested in wealthy or particularly handsome men. She wants a companion who makes her feel seen and with whom she can talk about books. That person could be a friend or a lover. She just wants to feel seen.
When she meets the two men who become her main love interests [Mr. Ryder and Mr. Hayward], I don’t think she’s initially serious about courting either of them. They’re men in her life who offer her very different things. Then she falls very hard for one of them.
Where does she find the inner strength to resist the bad boy—to say, “I’m not going to run away with you to Italy”?
It’s funny, because he is a bad boy, but also not in the way you expect. People expect him to be a bit of a cad. He’s not quite that. He’s very naive, easily distracted and wants everything right now. I think he genuinely cares about Mary. His offer is reasonable, though incredibly naive in its short-sightedness: running away would be scandalous and potentially ruinous for a woman. But I can imagine Mary, in another life, going off to live a bohemian intellectual life in Italy, reading books and drinking wine.
I think things could have played out completely differently if she hadn’t met Tom. At that point, she doesn’t think they’ll end up together, but she has met someone who has shown her what real love and affection feel like, and what they could be. Once you’ve experienced that, it’s difficult to settle for something that isn’t quite the same. I think that’s where her strength comes from: She knows there’s someone out there who makes her feel even more understood.
When he returns with a legitimate proposal, and she’s also facing pressure from her mother, it’s even more impressive that she can say no.
That decision could completely change her life. He’s about to be one of the wealthiest men around; she likes him and has fun with him. Saying no feels instinctive for Mary. I can almost imagine another part of her saying yes, and then something in her gut telling her it isn’t right. I’m a bit soppy about this sort of thing; I believe in sliding-doors moments and fate. If it were me, I’d like to think that instinct came from some part of me knowing, on a molecular level, that someone else was around the corner. Obviously, Mary doesn’t know that at the time, but I feel like fate steps in a little bit.
She changes so much over the course of the series. With the support of her friends, she finds herself and her voice.
Yes, and that’s key to the whole thing. Sarah Quintrell has spoken in the press about wanting to show how transformative kindness can be in a young person’s life. There’s such a fine line between caring for a young person so much that you push them onto a path that isn’t right for them, and allowing them to grow and blossom — shepherding them, rather than telling them who they should be. That’s what the Gardiners and the other people Mary meets in London do. They give her space to understand who she really is. I think that’s a central message of the show.
It almost feels as if she’s suffocating at home. Mary is surrounded by sisters with very clear identities and an overbearing mother.
Exactly. It’s a subtle, simple message. While we were making it, I wondered whether anyone would watch because it isn’t glamorous or particularly action-packed. It’s a simple story about allowing a young woman to find her voice and authenticity. I worried it might be too wholesome for people to embrace, so the power of simple storytelling is important.
Mary gets her happy ending, but we don’t get to see the wedding. What did that mean to you?
I don’t know how much I can tease about the episodes we’ve just filmed, but seeing a little of that may be on the cards. It was part of the thinking for the first series. If it had ended with Mary and Tom’s wedding — with confetti raining down — it might have felt too much like Pride and Prejudice’s 1995 adaptation, and as if marriage were the message of our story. I don’t think it was.
For me, it had to feel almost incidental that she ended up with the love of her life. The moments before that are more important: She reaches a place of contentment within herself. If Tom had never reappeared, she might always have loved and pined for him, but she would have been OK. She has found empowerment. I think she would have gone on to become a teacher, and potentially a writer. Ending on their wedding wouldn’t have felt right to me.
What do you want to see for Mary in the future?
It’s hard to say because we’ve filmed some of their future. I’m torn between what will be interesting for an audience to watch and what I want this character to experience. I’d love for her to empower other young women, whether through teaching or writing. She gets to do a little of that in what we’ve just made, which is lovely.
I want her and Tom to have their happily ever after, too. But relationships are difficult and not linear. Even when you’re completely in love with someone, there are days when you think, “I don’t know if I can do this. Sharing your life with another person is really difficult.” I’d like to explore the tricky parts while also holding on to the love they share.
Is that the Christmas episodes, a second season, or both?
There won’t be a second season of The Other Bennet Sister. Bad Wolf and the BBC are making The Other Elliot Sister, a spin-off of Persuasion. But we have filmed the Christmas episodes, and people will like them.
Can you give me a tease of what’s coming?
It’s Mary and Tom a year into their marriage, working out what marriage looks like for them as adults. Mary, in particular, has to run a household. That means putting on a domestic persona, which doesn’t come naturally to her. The story looks at marriage as a bit of an assault on a woman’s identity: How do you remain completely in love with someone and want to share your life with them, while still holding on to yourself?
She goes into trad-wife territory because she thinks that’s the only way to do it. She starts pickling walnuts every day and jarring fruit, even though you don’t need to jar fruit every day of the week. She goes a bit mad with it, loses herself and has to find her way back. It’s an interesting topic, but it’s also really fun, with lots of levity. It’s lovely to see Tom and Mary happy, too.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
