The 'small cups' series that introverts have been waiting for

BarcelonaIn Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, Mary Bennet is the overlooked and often ridiculed sister of the main protagonist, Elizabeth. In fact, Mary is a minor character who, in the book, does not have a plot of her own with substance, beyond being the butt of jokes when she decides to sing at social gatherings. But in The Other Bennet Sister, the miniseries that Movistar Plus + premieres this Tuesday, the introverted girl becomes the protagonist of the story: tired of being her mother's whipping boy, who always finds an excuse to belittle her, she decides to forge her own path and make decisions for herself. When all her sisters get married, she leaves the family home and moves to London to live with her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner.

The new series is an adaptation of a novel by Janice Hadlow, who, from the universe created by Jane Austen, has imagined the experiences of the most forgotten sister of the Bennet family. The miniseries, produced by the BBC, has been very well received in the United Kingdom, where it has become the best dramatic premiere since May 2025. The production is structured in ten half-hour episodes.

The star of this tea cup series –a label used to refer to period productions that are often adaptations of English classics– is actress Ella Bruccoleri. Accustomed to playing supporting characters in series like Bridgerton, Ludwigor Down Cemetery Road, she takes on her first leading role and manages to make Mary a relatable person with whom many viewers can identify. "It might sound a bit cheesy, but I would love for people to watch the series and think: «I am also incredible and deserve to be loved like anyone else». If Mary can go on that journey, trying to accept who she truly is, then anyone can do it," explained Bruccoleri on the occasion of the miniseries premiere.

An unusual heroine

For the actress, Mary "is not the typical heroine of a historical drama". "She lives in a world where, especially for women, appearance is everything, and she doesn't understand this value system at all. Instead, she turns to literature, which offers a different point of view. Her favorite book is Sermons to young women, by James Fordyce, because it argues that women should not be beautiful, but intelligent and pious", the interpreter explained to the BBC.

Although the fiction is primarily a story of self-discovery, it also has a romantic side, as is usual in "tea series". Although her mother considers her destined to be single, Mary will have several suitors, the most important being Mr. Ryder (Laurie Davidson), a man "very modern and direct" but also "impulsive and easily distracted", and Mr. Hayward (Dónal Finn), a "rather unconventional" lawyer.

The other Bennet sister is not the only production with Austenian links to be released this year. In the coming months, new adaptations of two of the English author's most famous novels will arrive. On the one hand, Netflix plans to release a series version of Pride and Prejudice". The production, scripted by Dolly Alderton, will star Emma Corrin (Princess Diana in The Crown) and Jack Lowden (Slow horses). Austen's other novel to get a new adaptation will be Sense and Sensibility", which will arrive in film format with Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal people) in the role of Elinor Dashwood, the character played by Emma Thompson in the 1995 film adaptation which the actress herself scripted.