The Other Bennet Sister starts tonight on BBC1 8pm

[IwantToRetire]

Seemingly unremarkable and often overlooked, Mary Bennet longs to win her family’s approval.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002qkp3

Is this going to be a spoof or some sort of spin off ?

2nd episode tonight at 8:30

Couldn't see a thread so hope this isn't a duplicate!

It's when the guide starts to take them up Scafell Pike, very funny.

I love your active anger over Wordsworth, @upinaballoon!😄

I put Mr Ryder in the Willoughby mould rather than Wickham - I think Ryder did love, or think himself in love, with Mary in much the same way Willoughby did love Marianne, but circumstances meant it wouldn’t work out.

Wickham did not love Lydia one bit, he wanted some fun and then move on, but was caught out and backed into a corner, only agreeing to do the right thing after a pile of money was sent his way.

Basically I don’t think Ryder had bad intentions, but he didn’t think things through properly and was obviously quite self interested.

Just to remind anyone who hasn’t seen it, that Lost in Austen is fun. And rewrites Wickham as fairly sensible and sane.

She does say that, in episode 3 or 4.

That's the next been period drama spinoff that needs to be made. "The Wordsworths": himself, possible scoundrel and possibly plagarist, sister Dorothy doing all the work bloody typical and gets none of the credit. Cue her screaming at the top of scarfell into the winds in frustration

I just want to say I have so enjoyed this programme and Ella Bruccoleri is just a joy.

Oh! Richard Coyle was the lead in Going Postal! Been racking my brains trying to think what I'd seen him in.

That would be amazing! And muttering darkly about "effing daffodils".

@BlossomBlossomBlossom, @Needlenardlenoo, @Unnomdeplume , I have a tape of poems(the kind you put in a tape recorder) which was produced many years ago by BBC Woman's Hour. One of the poems in that is Dorothy Wordsworth talking to us and we get the feeling that she was the one who really wrote the poems attributed to her brother, at least certainly 'Daffodils'. Whoever wrote that is the person behind my rebellious suggestion. Dorothy wrote some poems herself. I have a little book with a few of her poems and diary entries, bought some years ago on a trip up there.

So delighted to find a photo of Ella Bruccoleri in good clothes:

https://www.tatler.com/article/ella-bruccoleri-is-the-actress-giving-mary-bennet-her-moment-in-the-spotlight

She looks amazing! I also saw her in modern clothes in, I think, an episode of The Chelsea Detective.

That was my favourite dress of the series, apart from the lovely white one she wore at that first ball.

The actresses playing Mary, and Caroline Bingley, made me think of Pauline McLynn (Mrs Doyle in 'Father Ted') who is also perfectly nice looking but through a combination of awful clothes, body language, etc (I loved all Mary's hmms and hahs) managed to do such an amazing character job.

I've never seen anything as funny in a period drama as the Scafell warm up in the formal garden.

It made me incredibly grateful for Gortex, fleece, etc too. Imagine hiking in a voluminous skirt and a wool jacket. Bleurgh!

I was thinking the same! Imagine doing any trek climbing in a floor length cotton dress and short woollen jacket!

@Mildorado - sorry, I didn’t mean the headline photo of her in costume! There’s a wonderful photo in the article of EB in modern dress.

I must say, all through the show I was itching to drag Mary to a decent outfitters. I genuinely don’t believe Mrs Gardiner would have left her to bumble about in those ghastly frocks.

Oh right, sorry! I didn't realise she was in Bridgerton as well.

Imagine how much water they'd hold, and the smell!

Actually I don't need to imagine as my secondary school uniform was a woollen skirt and blazer. Yeuch, the smell in assembly when we'd all got rained on travelling to school.

Awful! ☹️

Mrs Bennet was 99% total bitch in this one (I found Alison Steadman's version more sympathetic) but I liked the scene with Mary where she said "no-one helped me" (with getting her daughters married) and Mary tried to sympathise. It was interesting to watch the family trying to deal with her: Jane and Elizabeth's wordless communication when they're getting chucked out of Longbourn "you offer to have her", "no, you!" and the Gardiners' eye-rolling.

The governess scenes were also excellent. Mary was reading The Origin of Species to the kids. How modern!

Hmm maybe not Darwin - too early.

Lyell?

Jane Austen and the Jurassic » JASNA https://share.google/8qFdtbMOenNZkUe96

This is really interesting if anyone fancies a long read!

The more I’ve pondered on P&P over the years the more I’ve thought Mr Bennett is more the villain and Mrs Bennett deserving of more sympathy. Getting 5 daughters married well - simply to provide them with security, not for social climbing interests - would have been a huge task. Aiming for 1 very good marriage would have offered a bit of breathing space, in the hope that if the worst comes to the worst they might take in the unmarried sisters, but Mrs B would have had no option but to be sharp elbowed and self interested when Mr B did nothing but make snarky remarks and hide in his Library all day!

Of course there’s no excuse for being actively mean to Mary, but I do think Mrs B gets a raw deal a lot of the time.

I was very much of that view but she was SO horrible to Mary in this version. Shoving her out of the way!

Even Lydia said "good luck with mother" and when your most selfish sibling says that...

Just binge-watched in two days. Absolutely adored it. ❤️