‘The Other Bennet Sister’: ‘Pride & Prejudice’s Mary Bennet, Lucy Biers, to Play Mary’s Confidante

Kelli Boyle March 6, 2026, 9:10 am

Lucy Biers as Mrs. Hill in 'The Other Bennet Sister' — BBC / Bad Wolf / James Pardon

What To Know

BritBox’s new series The Other Bennet Sister centers on Mary Bennet’s journey to independence and self-discovery, with Ella Bruccoleri in the lead role.
Lucy Briers, who played Mary Bennet in the 1995 BBC adaptation, returns to the Austen universe as Mrs. Hill, Mary’s confidante, offering a unique perspective on the character she once portrayed.
Briers opens up about what it was like to advise her former character.

Lucy Biers played Mary Bennet in BBC’s Pride & Prejudice series, which aired on PBS in the United States. Now, she’s playing Mary Bennet’s confidante in The Other Bennet Sister, TV Insider can exclusively announce. The Other Bennet Sister is a new BritBox series premiering in May that centers on the overlooked middle sister of the five Bennet daughters. Mary is played by Bridgerton‘s Ella Bruccoleri. Get a first look at Briers as Mrs. Hill in the photo above.

Premiering on Wednesday, May 6, on BritBox, The Other Bennet Sister follows Mary as she steps out of her sisters’ shadows in search of her own identity and purpose – finding herself in the middle of an epic love story along the way. Her journey will see her leave her family home in Meryton for the soirees of Regency London and the peaks and vales of the Lake District, all in search of independence, self-love, and reinvention. The Other Bennet Sister is based on Janice Hadlow’s acclaimed novel of the same name.

Briers originated the role of Mary Bennet in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, and returns to the Austen world in The Other Bennet Sister as Mrs. Hill, the Bennet family maid and confidante for Mary amongst her family’s larger characters. In an exclusive interview, she tells TV Insider what it was like to be the confidante of the character she once played.

Ella Bruccoleri as Mary Bennet in ‘The Other Bennet Sister’ (BritBox)

“It was actually a really emotional experience, because time travels faster and faster the older one gets, and it was so lovely being able to give Mary the advice I wish someone had given her in Pride & Prejudice!” Briers says. “I’d always felt very protective of Mary Bennet when I was playing her, and proud that she was authentically herself even if it didn’t always serve her well.”

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“Playing Mrs. Hill gave me the chance to see Mary Bennet come truly into her own, especially through Ella’s beautiful performance,” she continues. “Mrs. Hill has known all the Bennet girls since birth, and my history with Jane Austen‘s novel meant that connection was really easy to access. I do hope that will come through in the scenes between Mary and Mrs. Hill. The whole process, under the lead director Jennifer Sheridan, was a complete pleasure and a real privilege.”

How will this new version of Mary differ from the BBC adaptation? Briers says that it’s the same Mary you know, but finally, with the time and space given to the main character.

“I guess ‘my’ Mary Bennet is very much founded from what Jane Austen gave me in Pride & Prejudice,” Briers explains. “As an actor, one takes all the information one can gather from the source material and the adaptation to create a fully rounded character. I could see in Janice Hadlow’s wonderful novel that she had ‘repotted’ Mary Bennet, and Sarah Quintrell’s screen adaptation embraces this fully. The character is completely who Jane Austen created, but she is being given a bigger space to grow and develop in. So it was utterly delightful for me to see so much of the character I had played 30 years ago while also watching her full inner life come on to the screen. Ella Bruccoleri’s Mary Bennet is glorious, and I can’t wait to watch every episode!”

Polly Maberly, Lucy Briers, Susannah Harker, Jennifer Ehle, Julia Sawalha; back from left: Benjamin Whitrow, Alison Steadman in 'Pride & Prejudice' (1995)

L-R: Polly Maberly, Lucy Briers, Susannah Harker, Jennifer Ehle, Julia Sawalha; back from left: Benjamin Whitrow, Alison Steadman in ‘Pride & Prejudice’ (Everett Collection)

The Other Bennet Sister also stars Indira Varma (Mrs. Gardiner), Richard Coyle (Mr. Gardiner), Varada Sethu (Baxter), Richard E. Grant (Mr. Bennet), Ruth Jones (Mrs. Bennet), Tanya Reynolds (Caroline Bingley), Ryan Sampson (Mr. Collins), Donal Finn (Mr. Hayward), Poppy Gilbert (Lizzie), Laurie Davidson (Mr. Ryder), Grace Hogg-Robinson (Lydia), Maddie Close (Jane), Molly Wright (Kitty), Anna Fenton-Garvey (Charlotte Lucas), Reggie Absolom (George), Aaron Gill (John Sparrow), Roisin Bhalla (Marianne), and Jasmine Sharp (Rebecca).