Jane Austen’s stories are timeless and continue to have plenty to tell, especially when it comes to rediscovering the heroines who linger in the shadows of her novels. Riding the wave of the success of The Other Bennet Sister (in Italy available exclusively on Sky and streaming only on NOW), the series devoted to Mary Bennet from Pride and Prejudice, BritBox has announced Austen Untold, a new anthology project designed to illuminate the lives of secondary and less explored characters within the author’s literary world.
Following The Other Bennet Sister, The Other Elliot Sister arrives: First details
The initiative stems from a collaboration between BritBox, the BBC Studios streaming platform, and Bad Wolf, the production company behind The Other Bennet Sister. The aim is to finally give space to figures who in the original novels remained in the background, imagining for them personal journeys, feelings, and viewpoints that have not yet received equivalent attention in television adaptations. The first project to inaugurate this new path will be The Other Elliot Sister, a ten-episode series centered on Elizabeth Elliot, Anne’s elder sister in the novel Persuasion.
The new series will be drawn from the forthcoming novel of the same title by Janice Hadlow and adapted by Sarah Quintrell, who previously wrote The Other Bennet Sister. Production is expected to begin in 2027 and will consist of ten episodes. At the heart of the story is therefore Anne Elliot’s elder sister, a figure who in Austen’s novel is known mainly through her relationships with other characters, but whose thoughts, motivations, and fragilities remain to be explored. As explained by Jane Tranter, CEO of Bad Wolf, Elizabeth is a particularly intriguing character precisely because she occupies a marginal position in Persuasion: we know enough about her to want to uncover what truly lies behind her personality.
Austen Untold, the project that reshapes the stories of secondary characters
The Other Elliot Sister will not be a standalone production, but the first title in Austen Untold, a true anthology franchise aimed at exploring new perspectives within Jane Austen’s works. The idea is to return to the worlds created by the author, without limiting itself to rehashing the romantic plots of the best-known protagonists. The characters who, while having a role in the novels, have never had the chance to tell their own version of events, will become central rather than peripheral. Jon Farrar, head of direct-to-consumer content at BBC Studios, emphasized: “The extraordinary response to The Other Bennet Sister has confirmed what we’ve known for a long time: audiences hold a deep love for Jane Austen’s worlds and an insatiable hunger for stories that reveal new perspectives.”
The success of The Other Bennet Sister and the Christmas return
The feasibility of this new project was largely driven by the results achieved with The Other Bennet Sister, featuring Ella Bruccoleri as Mary Bennet and also starring Ruth Jones, Richard E. Grant, Dónal Finn, and Laurie Davidson. The BBC and BritBox production posted notably strong results: in the United Kingdom it became the biggest debut of a new drama series of the year across all platforms and streaming services. The May BritBox launch also set a platform record, drawing in a number of new subscribers five times higher than any prior debut. Given this success, The Other Bennet Sister will also return with a three-episode Christmas special scheduled for December.
Watch The Other Bennet Sister on NOW!
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