Ella Bruccoleri, the star of the BBC's record-breaking Pride and Prejudice spin-off The Other Bennet Sister, has admitted she initially feared the show would flop, thinking the broadcaster had 'f***ed it' by not advertising it.
The 10-part drama, which aired in March, focused on the previously sidelined middle sibling Mary Bennet. It also starred Ruth Jones as Mrs Bennet, Richard E. Grant as Mr Bennet, and Dónal Finn and Laurie Davidson as Mary's potential suitors. The show was a massive hit, shifting preferences in the Austen fanbase.
A Fear of Failure
Bruccoleri, who has been working professionally since 2018 with roles in Polite Society, Paddington in Peru, Wicker, Bridgerton, Down Cemetery Road, and Sister Frances on Call the Midwife, said this was her first named lead role. It has led to her inclusion in the 2026 Bafta Breakthrough UK cohort, the organisation's flagship new talent programme supported by Netflix.
She admitted she initially feared the adaptation of Janice Hadlow's novel would flop. 'I remember, even like a week before it came out there hadn't really been any marketing about it. I was like, "Well, the BBC has f**ked it, they haven't even advertised it. Obviously no-one's going to watch it!",' she laughed before adding, 'but they played it so well.'
The BBC dropped the trailer 10 days before its broadcast premiere, with buzz quickly building. After it first aired, on a 20-minute stroll she was stopped by three people wanting to talk about the show, which she affectionately calls 'TOBS'. That was the first moment she realised its impact, but she did not 'in any way, shape or form' anticipate the phenomenon it would become.
Underestimating the Show
'It's going to sound like I'm trying to be overly self-effacing, but I tend to set the bar really low for how I think something's going to do,' she said. 'I've been part of things in the past that I've loved and thought were really good, but they just didn't get the ratings and hardly anyone saw them. So you just have to be prepared for that. I really thought it would go under the radar, especially because there's other things coming out, like the other [Netflix] Pride and Prejudice. I just kind of thought people will watch those ones, and they won't watch ours because it was just a little low-budget BBC show.'
The reception was so rapturous that a three-part Christmas special was rushed into production, continuing the story of Mary and Tom as they adjust to the idea of marriage, giving fans more episodes less than a year later.
'I'm just hoping that we can match the expectation, because the commission came in really late and then it had to come together so quickly for it to be out for Christmas,' Bruccoleri said, pointing to the immediate availability headache. 'We've got this amazing ensemble, they're all brilliant actors, and most of them were booked on other jobs. So it was kind of like, how? But the beauty of it was that they all were desperate to do it, no one didn't want to do it.'
That included Dónal Finn being committed to shooting Young Sherlock for Prime Video, but managing to wrangle seven days off. Eventually, 'the maddest schedule of all time' worked out. 'I just hope that none of that is seen when you're watching it, that you don't experience the chaos of how it all came together,' she confessed.
Expanding the Franchise
Bruccoleri is also hopeful that, given it goes beyond the scope of Hadlow's original novel, it 'feels authentic to the story'. 'Because it was suddenly all up for grabs really, as to what we could do with it.' With the cast back, alongside screenwriter Sarah Quintrell – who penned nine of the original 10 episodes – and Hadlow providing storylines, it seems a guaranteed smash.
The BBC has expanded the franchise with the newly announced The Other Elliot Sister, this time following the eldest sister, Elizabeth, of Austen's Persuasion. That won't have any more of Mary and Tom, but Bruccoleri picks her words carefully over the possibility of their future specifically. 'There is a world in which we remain within this kind of Christmas special world. I don't know yet, nothing's been confirmed. Things have been floated, nothing's been tied down,' she revealed, before adding: 'I think it's an interesting way of carrying on the story in these mini segments and feeding little morsels without making a full series. So we'll see what happens.'
TOBS and Netflix's star-studded Pride and Prejudice adaptation, led by Emma Corrin, Jack Lowden and Olivia Colman, will be sharing screens come December, meaning two versions of Mary onscreen, as Hopey Parish makes her professional debut in the role. Bruccoleri hasn't crossed paths with her yet. 'I don't have a way of contacting her and I wouldn't want to be like, "let me tell you…" But I would love to meet her, if the opportunity ever came up that we could chat about our experiences, that would be really nice.'
Jamie Demetriou, who's Mr Collins in the Netflix version, has told her he deliberately avoided TOBS before filming, to avoid any unwanted influence. 'But because we've done our one, it means I just get to watch that one over Christmas,' she added brightly. 'I think it'll be tonally so different.'
Bruccoleri will also be continuing her quest to become a Jane Austen completist, having previously admitted she hadn't read any of the novels before being cast as Mary. 'I read and watched Sense and Sensibility when I finished, now I've got Emma waiting for me – so I'm just going to work my way through the catalogue. I mean, there's not that many, so it's quite achievable!' she laughed. 'But Emma is the one I think I'm really going to like.'
The Other Bennet Sister is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now. It will return for a three-part Christmas special on BBC One over the festive period.
