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!

Here are some good accounts on Insta to follow. The official “The Other Bennet Sister” account has some funny vids of the cast mucking about (otherbennetsistertv)

There’s also a comedian who has always done little videos about her obsession with the P&P 1995 series and has been sharing her love for TOBS (Sheyimartinsallen)

A favourite: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWrVcxuDIiO/?igsh=bmV6MW5vNnVmaWh0

Just musing.

If one of the Bennet girls had married Mr Collins, would Mrs Bennet have expected to stay at Longbourn & still act as mistress of it?

Would Mr Collins have been expected to leave his living when he inherited?

yes to both, I think. Well definitely yes to the second, as it would be too far to commute, and living as a gentleman would always be seen as superior to working for a living. Plus off screen once Ryder inherited from L. CdB the 'living' was his to bestow - he could technically have chucked the Collinses' off it if they hadn't already gone.

re: the first Mrs B would probably have kept Longbourne as her home base but enjoyed going to visit her better situated daughters for long holidays!

I think Mary and Mr C might have suited one another well enough but she would have stayed quite stunted and never really had the chance to develop in the same way as she did moving away. She might still have been happy but just not in the same way.

It's amazing how unattractive they made OG Mary look in the 1995 series compared to contemporary photos of her in real life! I saw another thing where New Mary was asked about what it feels like to be cast as the 'ugly' character - there is a whole page on this on TV tropes 'Hollywood Homely' where actually the unattractive characters are perfectly nice looking in real life! Make up and unflattering costumes can make such a huge difference. It's the same as the actor who played Lady Edith on Downton, although they did allow her to blossom in the later series!

Well definitely yes to the second, as it would be too far to commute, and living as a gentleman would always be seen as superior to working for a living.

I was thinking more of renting out Longbourn if he kept the living.

But yes living as a gentleman would be preferable plus of course if the living was no longer needed then you would hope it would be given up so that someone who needed it could have it!

Very nicely-shaped legs, Mr. Hayward.

I’m going to miss this. So glad we got a happy ending though.

I felt the same. I’d love to see a sequel of Mary and Tom’s life together and how they do/don’t interact with the rest of the Bennets.

I feel the same. Such a wonderful ending. I loved how annoyed Mary was at Hayward when he returned and how she hit him. I've watched it a couple of times already and could easily watch it again.

Sad ‘The Other Bennet Sister’ series has finished. It was so good and great to watch on a Sunday evening. So glad it was a happy ending for Mary and Mr Hayward. ❤️

Last year it was the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth. The BBC showed all of her adaptations in one way or another, I understood, but they did things like putting 3 episodes of the 1995 P and P on BBC 4, starting at 9 or 10 in the evening and then going on into the small hours.
I know everyone can see these again through DVDs and BBC I Player et cetera, but suppose the Beeb brought back the P and P and gave us viewers one episode every Sunday evening for six weeks, starting at 8 or 9. Would you watch it?

To be honest I don't see the BBC doing this. Sunday evening is prime viewing slot, and used for big new dramas etc. As you say, the entire series of Pride and Prejudice is available on iPlayer and can be watched at any time. In fact, I have just watched the whole thing over the weekend!

It has been such a joy from start to finish, me and DH loved it. I’d read the book so knew that Mary and Tom ended up together but it was still lovely to see it played out on the screen. We enjoyed seeing Mary really come into her own, especially when she tackled Tom about where he’d disappeared to. DH said that it was the perfect Sunday night viewing and I agreed. Just wonderful.

perhaps they could put it on i player or bbc2 @upinaballoon

i dont think i would watch it as good as it was

I think P and P is on I Player. It's just not quite the same as the week-at-a-time the first time round! I know I could watch it one episode at a time. BBC2 is a good suggestion.

Another podcast recommendation for those suffering from withdrawal symptoms. https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-other-bennet-sister-pt1-project-hail-mary-bennet/id1839855919?i=1000756582714

The actress who played Caroline Bingley is very attractive in real life but she was made into a snipe nosed horror for this and she played it well too.

Returning to this thread as I have now watched it all and loved it! Yes the dresses were weirdly badly fitting, but the acting was great, the production didn't take itself to seriously but didn't descend into farce, and it was a very easy and enjoyable watch.

Returning to the diversity discussion upthread, I felt that Miss Baxter, Mr Sparrow etc were (eg) 'a south Asian actor playing a white role' rather than 'playing the role of an Asian optician in a Hertfordshire town'. It didn't jar for me just as I don't see the issue with (eg) a black stage actor playing a historical role I know to be white (Henry V, for example).

It is difficult for the BBC to get everything right all at once here. There are a number of different ways of doing things and they all have pros and cons. Non-exhaustive list below:

1. Historically accurate, which means in terms of mainstream history or fiction set in the UK, all white unless stated otherwise. 'Mainstream' appeal, little visual diversity of representation and no diversity of culture.
2. 'Colour-blind' as we have here - the casting of minor (culturally white British) characters with people of colour. Doesn't give cultural diversity and unlikely to have a major character cast as anything other than white, because rightly or wrongly, the casting of, for example, Mrs Bennet as black (with white daughters) would have been seen as wanting to make some sort of point. Pros - you can achieve a range of diversity of representation.
3. Importing a diversity story into a historical setting, either with an original made for screen production, or with the adaptation of a pre-existing work. Eg 'Murder Made Easy'. Pros - it had a black actor in a major role, and it allows for some representation of cultural diversity. Cons - this is generally done by making the 'good' white characters non-racist and the 'bad' white characters racist - which massively misrepresents the actual treatment of the relevant group of people at the time. Also, as mentioned in the BBC report I linked to above, the BBC has a tendency to think of diversity in terms of 'mainstream; and 'diverse' - meaning that it thinks a diversity box has been completely ticked by, for example, the casting of a black actor in a major role, ignoring the facts that this doesn't give diversity of representation to South Asians, East Asians etc.
4. Historically accurate fiction with a non-British setting. Pros - for one race/culture - great representation in terms of roles and presentation of culture. Cons - Hard to achieve diversity across the spectrum in a short space of time. Much more risky for the BBC in terms of appealing to a 'core' audience and in terms of having a wide pool of actors to draw on.

Interesting post @DuchessofReality thank you.

Returning to the diversity discussion upthread, I felt that Miss Baxter, Mr Sparrow etc were (eg) 'a south Asian actor playing a white role' rather than 'playing the role of an Asian optician in a Hertfordshire town'. It didn't jar for me just as I don't see the issue with (eg) a black stage actor playing a historical role I know to be white (Henry V, for example).

I agree with this. I also like it. It doesn't affect anything in terms of storyline but means roles aren't only open to white actors.

I often wonder how people would react if the adaptations were more accurately cast according to age?

Might be a bit uncomfortable watching a 15yo Lydia with a late-20s Wickham, rather than (as was) 27 year old Julia Sawalha and 38 year old Adrian Lukis. I guess they at least had the age gap about right!

Goodness that's an interesting point @CaveMum

I always think this too. And with things like Romeo and Juliet or Othello, where the female lead would have been about 14.

The age gap between Emma and Mr Knightley would be a tad awkward too, not to mention more than a bit creepy!

And let’s not forget Marianne and Col Brandon!

@DuchessofReality , when you say the dresses were weirdly badly fitting, can you give an example? You are not the only person who has said this. I can see that some dresses were very unbecoming because of the style but I haven't really seen badly-fitting, unless it's something like too tight because the character wants it to be. Do you mean anyone's dresses or Mary's in particular?