The Other Bennet Sister, the BBC’s most-watched show since May last year, has also proven to be quite a hit on Britbox in the US, and the show’s success has surprised its star Ella Bruccolelli, she told Variety at the Monte Carlo Television Festival.
“Everyone who worked on this film said, ‘I think this will be very well received,’ but I always set my standards pretty low because it depends on timing and all sorts of other factors. So I thought, ‘I don’t really care about the reach of this film. I just want people to feel like it’s being noticed.'”
Since the show aired, she has received “messages from people of all genders and ages who feel like they’re a bit of an outsider, or on the fringes of things they don’t have access to” — much like the show’s Mary Bennett, who doesn’t fit in with her family and colleagues in Regency England.
“She always sees sisters like Elizabeth who effortlessly charm people, but Mary finds it really difficult to have a basic conversation with someone,” Bruccolelli says.
“We’ve had letters come in from people like Mary who have difficult relationships with their mothers and women who feel like their appearance is highly monitored and have felt that way for a long time. They feel so seen by having someone who doesn’t look like a supermodel on screen as the lead in a show, which is more unusual than it needs to be.”
Bruccolelli is in Monte Carlo because “The Other Bennett Sister” is competing in a fiction program competition. Although it hasn’t premiered in Europe yet, she’s getting first-hand feedback on its success in the United States. “I think it’s hard to gauge the influence over there because America is so big, but when I went to New York or Texas for reporting, journalists tended to get really excited about it. Some even showed me bird tattoos, similar to the one Mr. Hayward (Donal Finn) drew so badly in the series.”
The Other Bennet Sister, based on the book by Janice Hadlow, is a retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice from the perspective of the overlooked Mary. Surprisingly, Ella had never read any of Austen’s novels before taking on the role. “Isn’t that funny?” she laughs. “But I’m from North Yorkshire, and I didn’t think Jane Austen was a writer for me. She was more for a genteel southerner. I used to read a lot of Brontë, because that was the world I came from.”
The actress has now realized that she was wrong. “Her social commentary is very good and she talks about class a lot, which of course is universal no matter where you live. She skewers people who are obsessed with wealth and materialism, and I actually feel like she’s on my side.”
