Welcome back to Regency England. In Britbox’s new series The Other Bennet Sister, viewers return to Jane Austen‘s romance era, but not with Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy’s love story. Instead, we follow the independent Mary Bennet and how she grapples with societal pressures by growing into her own person. So, how exactly does the show pay homage to the late, great Jane and one of the most acclaimed literary works in history?
Below, News47.us breaks down the main differences between Pride and Prejudice and The Other Bennet Sister.
The Other Bennet Sister follows Mary Bennet’s perspective as the most “plain” sibling among her sisters. Based on Janice Hadlow’s book of the same title, the Britbox series reintroduces us to Mary, who, as the synopsis reads, is “the oft-overlooked middle sister in Pride and Prejudice.”
The show begins with the five unmarried daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet: Jane, Elizabeth “Lizzy,” Mary, Kitty, and Lydia. As women in 19th century Regency England, they must navigate the societal pressures of marrying men as the only ticket to living any kind of life in that era. But while Mary’s sisters pursue marriage, she goes down another path — one that was considered living the life of an “old maid.”
“Leaving Longbourn behind, she travels to London to live with her aunt and uncle, Mr and Mrs Gardiner, in their elegant home on Gracechurch Street,” the show’s premise reads. “There, Mary begins a journey of self-discovery, stepping out of the shadows and into her own story.”
The first two episodes of The Other Bennet Sister sum up the events from Pride and Prejudice, but from Mary’s POV instead of Elizabeth Bennet’s. Rather than focusing on the unexpected love story between Lizzy and Mr. Darcy, the episodes provide viewers with the perspective of what it felt like to be Elizabeth’s overlooked sister.
The main difference between the novel and the screen tribute is that Lizzy’s life isn’t the central plot in the show, though she and Mary still showcase their musical abilities and independent thinking.
