Three stars out of four
Paging all Jane Austen fans!
The latest dreamy adaptation of the literary classic has nothing to do with Mr. Darcy. In The Other Bennet Sister, it’s the occasionally drippy, often forgotten Mary Bennet (played by a delightful Ella Bruccoleri) who finally takes center stage.
The 10-part series (which premiered May 6 on BritBox) is based on Janice Hadlow’s 2020 bestseller and adapted by Sarah Quintrell. The fluffy series is not nearly as heavy as its source material, which goes deeper into the day-to-day realities of spinsterhood in that time period. It centers on the Pride and Prejudice sibling who’s gotten the least consideration over the centuries of spinoffs, fanfic and other reimaginings of Austen’s 19th-century classic.
Studious and overlooked for plain appearance, in this incarnation Mary transforms out of her sisters’ shadows and into a new world as a London governess, with friends and romance all her own. Yes, there are love stories — the series is Austen-inspired, after all.
While it takes a beat to get going — did viewers really need so much over-the-top chatter about how undesirable Mary is? — the show and our heroine improve in short order. Moments you’ll recall from P&P — like the exhausting Mr. Collins coming to dinner with the Bennet family — get reworked, but soon the show gets rid of anyone you might want to forget (like the pushy parents, played by Ruth Jones and Richard E. Grant). Instead, it just lets Mary soar.
Bruccoleri (Call the Midwife) is a thrill to watch bloom, and her men (including Young Sherlock’s Dónal Finn) hold their own, too. The show is already a silly TikTok phenom following its U.K. premiere earlier this year and it’s easy to see why.
We know that a man in possession of a good fortune may want a wife. Viewers in possession of a TV remote could do far worse.
Below, read what other critics are saying about the show.
Collider: “From the get-go, it’s clear that the main strength of The Other Bennet Sister is its outstanding cast. At the center of it all is an incandescent Bruccoleri as Mary, a remarkable period heroine and a true breath of fresh air. In many ways, Mary is less a reinvention of the classic Austen heroine and more of a logical progression of the archetype. She is shy, clumsy, and more than a little awkward, the type of character that many would consider “autistic-coded,” yet she’s also bold and, in her way, adventurous. While Mary is afraid to open herself up to new possibilities, she does so nonetheless — not because others compel her to, but because she wants to.”
ScreenRant: “Soon enough, Mary breaks out of her shell, meeting new friends, discovering poetry, and unwittingly charming not one, but two handsome, eligible bachelors. The result is a moving, heartfelt, and surprisingly funny character study, told over 10 well-written and enjoyable 30-minute episodes.”
The Guardian: “The Other Bennet Sister feels too slight a thing even for the pre-watershed Sunday evening slot it is designed for (insofar as time slots mean anything to us in these crazy digital streaming days). But the growing charm and heft – not to mention the lovely central performance from Bruccoleri – make it one worth sticking with. Sorry, Mary – one with which it is worth sticking.”
