Mary Bennet finally got her happy ending in The Other Bennet Sister, but her story isn’t over just yet.
The BBC has announced that the hit comedy-drama, based on Janice Hadlow’s 2020 novel of the same name, will return for a three-part Christmas special this year.
The show takes a look at the events of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice from the perspective of Elizabeth Bennet’s pedantic, bookish middle sister Mary (played by Ella Bruccoleri) – a character who is often overlooked in the original 1813 novel. As all her sisters are married off, Mary heads to London in search of a community that understands her.
The Other Bennet Sister’s screenwriter Sarah Quintrell will return to write the new episodes alongside author Hadlow, with filming set to begin in Wales this summer.
Speaking to Variety before the news broke, star Bruccoleri admitted that she was nervous about the prospect of the show returning.
“When something has felt really perfect and is being received in a lovely way, I’m a bit scared of touching it again,” she told the publication.
While the BBC is yet to reveal what’s in store for Mary in the Christmas episodes, Bruccoleri said that she could see Mary and Thomas Hayward (Dónal Finn), whom she agreed to marry in the final episode, living a “kind of bohemian London life”. She added that she wasn’t sure if they would have children.
“Mary is not naturally very maternal,” she said. “She develops friendships with the kids once she lets her guard down a bit, but I think it would be like a big decision for her. I can see them having this beautiful, equitable, quite progressive relationship for the time, where they both make decisions equally, and prioritise each other’s happiness.”
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She went on to say that she was “sad“ to see that the show didn’t include more scenes between Mary and her father, played by Richard E Grant.
“There’s some heartbreaking moments where Mary’s trying so hard to please him. She compiles this little book of quotes of his favourite authors, then realises that is kind of mocking a lot of those authors, and she didn’t know and so she rips it up,” she told the publication.
“There’s always more stuff that you would like to explore, but I think there just wasn’t a place for the way the show was written it.”
The Other Bennet Sister proved to be the biggest launch of a new drama for the BBC since May 2025, with 7.3 million viewers tuning in to watch the series in the first 28 days.
While it was hugely popular among viewers, Jane Austen academics weren’t so convinced – with some hoping that it would encourage those watching to go back to the source material.
“On the whole, I am not the audience for fan fiction and spin-offs simply because I do love the books and I actually find that I can read them over and over again – and I’d rather do that,” Cambridge professor Janet Todd OBE told The Independent in March.
The Other Bennet Sister is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.