Doctor Who’s Varada Sethu is currently filming BBC One Pride and Prejudice sequel The Other Bennet Sister
Varada Sethu’s next post-Doctor Who project has been announced. This month she began filming new BBC drama The Other Bennet Sister. Bad Wolf, the production company behind Doctor Who, are working on the ten episode series which adapts the 2020 novel by Janice Hadlow. The story overlaps with the plot of enduring classic Pride and Prejudice. However, from there it launches beyond it into a sequel exploring one of Jane Austen’s most overlooked characters.
Ella Bruccoleri (Call the Midwife) plays Mary Bennet. Mary’s neither as conventionally pretty as eldest sister Jane (Maddie Close), nor as witty and quick as next in line Lizzie (Poppy Gilbert, Stay Close). She doesn’t even have the gift of younger sisters Lydia (Grace Hogg-Robinson, The Coroner) and Kitty (Molly Wright, The A Word) for getting into exciting trouble. Instead, Mary’s bookish, introverted, and perhaps a little too pious. Even pathological match-maker Mrs. Bennet (Ruth Jones, Torchwood) makes little effort to find her middle daughter a man.
Mary falls for visiting Mr. Collins (Ryan Sampson, The Sontaran Stratagem) but is stung by the injustice of him proposing to Lizzie (who doesn’t even want him!) instead. But everything changes when her father (Richard E Grant, Scream of the Shalka) dies. The Collinses at last take possession of the only home she’s ever known, and none of her sisters, much less their husbands, are keen for her to live with them.
It all forces Mary to finally become the heroine of her own story. She moves to London, determined to reinvent herself among new people. But can she find happiness while remaining true to herself?
Varada Sethu’s Ann is among the original characters created for the sequel
Varada Sethu plays the original character of Ann Baxter, one of the new friends Mary makes in London. Meanwhile, Indira Varma (Doctor Who: Rogue, Torchwood) plays the Bennets’ aunt Mrs. Gardiner, who takes Mary under her wing.
Filming is currently underway in Bath and around the UK. There’s no word yet on when to expect The Other Bennet Sister on television. However, it will likely be on BBC One sometime next year.
You can also catch the former Doctor Who star soon in 100 Nights of Hero. The upcoming movie tells the story of a young wife and her handmaiden, left alone in a castle for 100 nights.
