The Other Bennet Sister Christmas Special First Look
BritBox has revealed a first look at the three-part The Other Bennet Sister Christmas special, which continues the story of Mary Bennet following the events of the first 10 episodes. Produced by Bad Wolf for the BBC and BritBox North America, production recently wrapped in Wales.
Ella Bruccoleri returns (Down Cemetery Road, Wicker) as Mary, as well as Dónal Finn (Young Sherlock, SAS Rogue Heroes) as her husband Tom Hayward. The tenth episode of the series saw Mary agreeing to wed Tom – but with marriage comes a new identity and the question remains: who will Mary become as Mrs. Hayward?
Returning for The Other Bennet Sister Christmas special are Ruth Jones (Gavin & Stacey, Stella) as Mrs. Bennet, Tanya Reynolds (Ted Lasso, Sex Education) as Caroline Bingley, Laurie Davidson (A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story, The Girlfriend) as Mr. Ryder, Varada Sethu (Doctor Who, Andor) as Ann Baxter, and Poppy Gilbert (My Oxford Year, Chloe) as Lizzie Darcy.
There’s also Maddie Close (Sunflower Child) as Jane Bingley, Grace Hogg-Robinson (The Coroner, COBRA) as Lydia Wickham, Molly Wright (The A Word, APOSTASY) as Kitty Buncock, and Anna Fenton-Garvey (The Nevers) as Charlotte Collins. Nerys Amber Stocks (Out There, Mammoth) joins the cast as Mary’s housemaid Lucy.
Screenwriter Sarah Quintrell (The Power, Ellen), who wrote nine of the ten episodes of the series, has written all three additional episodes based on storylines by author Janice Hadlow. Asim Abbasi (Cake) has returned to direct The Other Bennet Sister Christmas special.
Based on Janice Hadlow’s acclaimed novel, The Other Bennet Sister followed Mary Bennet, the oft-overlooked middle sister in Pride & Prejudice, as she navigated the societal pressures of Regency England, where marriage is both aspiration and necessity.
In its first 90 days on BritBox in North America, The Other Bennet Sister delivered a record-breaking performance, driving five times as many new subscribers as any previous launch and achieving the highest streaming rate of any title launch on the service. Nearly half (47%) of BritBox’s active subscribers have watched the series in that timeframe, which also helped drive the strongest quarter of subscriber growth in BritBox history and the service’s highest-ever week of signups.
The Other Bennet Sister Christmas special (3×30’) is commissioned by Jon Farrar, Chief Content Officer, Direct to Consumer, BBC Studios, for BritBox North America and Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, for BBC iPlayer and BBC One.
The executive producers are Kate Crowther, Becca Kinder and Jane Tranter for Bad Wolf; Rebecca Ferguson for the BBC; Robert Schildhouse, Jon Farrar and Jess O’Riordan for BritBox; and Sarah Quintrell and Janice Hadlow. The special has been developed and overseen by Bad Wolf’s Managing Director, Dan McCulloch, and Chief Creative Officer, Ryan Rasmussen.
Produced by Bad Wolf (His Dark Materials, Industry), the three-part special will air exclusively in the US and Canada on BritBox and exclusively in the UK on BBC iPlayer and BBC One. Bad Wolf is supported by the Welsh Government via Creative Wales. Sony Pictures Television distributes The Other Bennet Sister internationally.
