A flip on Pride and Prejudice that takes time to give one of Jane Austen’s most underappreciated characters a chance in the spotlight, The Other Bennet Sister is a sweet period romance that thrives thanks to its stellar central cast. First and foremost is Ella Bruccoleri, who carves out a sweet, empathic core to Mary Bennet that makes her efforts to stand out all the more endearing.

Alongside Dónal Finn and Laurie Davidson as her potential suitors, Tom Hayward and William Ryder, Bruccoleri is able to mine a timeless story out of the sweet adaptation. During an interview with TVBrittanyF, Ella Bruccoleri, Dónal Finn, and Laurie Davidson sat down to discuss how the time period setting impacted their performances on The Other Bennet Sister, their favorite surprises on set, and the importance of bringing nuance to the standard love triangle trope.

TVBF: There were so many options you could have all looked to for character inspiration — how much were you looking at the original Jane Austen novels, adaptations of those stories, the actual time period, and the source material for the show versus just working off the script as you had it?

Ella Bruccoleri: I think it’s interesting because obviously, you have to take all the social context of the time into account when you’re playing it. You can’t completely forget that. When I first read Sarah’s scripts, she was writing everyone like human beings, so it didn’t really matter when they were. You could flip them out at that time and see them today. [I didn’t see the period], I saw their like motivations and desires, and frustrations. I saw it all so clearly that I found that was my access point. Then, you fill it in with details like ‘This is how people were expected to behave in that time.’ There’s a lot of that that really influences that behavior,

Laurie Davidson: It’s like Ella’s saying, the social constructs are just kind of the blueprint. There’s a lot of pleasure in going off piece from that — deciding when you can and can’t do. I remember talking to [our director, Jennifer Sheridan], and she would give me permission to do that as much as possible, bringing this gravitas to it. That was within the realms of still believability, but that was part of my role. The thing that Mary and Ryder have is that they are drawn to each other. That is part of their connection. So that was a big part of it, finding that shared rebellious streak.

Dónal Finn: I think for me, the social constructs of the time mean that everyone has very limited means of expressing themselves, with far fewer ways than in the ways that we have today. I think it makes you put great meaning into all of the limited words that you have to express yourself. I think it allows all of the conversations to have this great gravitas, as Laurie said earlier. That’s a good word for it, for how we’re expressing ourselves to the other person. That’s what makes period drama so special is that you have to funnel your emotions to seek your heart’s desire. There’s so much smoke and mirrors. What’s nice about these relationships is that they’re able to pierce through that.

What surprised you the most about The Other Bennet Sister?

Ella: Gosh, that’s a good question… You shouldn’t be too fixed in your idea of someone. Acting is reacting; it’s all about what the other people are giving you, and I could have an idea of what Mary’s relationship with Mr. Ryder and Mr. Haywood was like in my head. But then it ultimately depends on the way that these guys play it. I don’t know how they’re going to play it until we get set and start doing it. I’ve just got to be open to that and the feeling that it gives Mary. That was a surprise.

Dónal Finn: Something that I learned while doing the show, especially towards the end of the shoot — Ella sent me the challenge of basically, instead of using any other form of comedy, I had to use absurdist comedy. I was making really stupid jokes, I was making puns. It was fun to find that energy on set. [Laughter]. It ended up informing the performance and the way we interacted in scenes.

Laurie Davidson: For me, I think it was resisting the temptation to make Ryder a cad in any regard. He could have so easily been that. That path is so well trodden. In our heads, it seems almost counterintuitive to have two relatively nice options, these two nice men. That makes it much more Mary’s proper choice in that sense.

We’re so conditioned by what we consume to think that something’s going to go wrong, that one of them is going to be bad. I probably thought of Ryder as a foil to Hayward, so the logical thing would be that at some point, he reveals himself to be a bit of a shit. Actually, it was more nuanced; It ended up being much better than that, where he actually believed himself to be doing what was best for Mary and offering something that he believed Mary would want. That’s much more interesting.

That does feel more reflective of real-life relationships, too, which I think really paid off for the drama instead of making it a much easier pick for her.

Ella: Yeah, that’s really nice. They both genuinely have her best interests at heart, and that’s why it ends up being so effective.

The Other Bennet Sister is now streaming on BritBox