The Other Bennet Sister

Aveline

I quite enjoyed it. Mary was excellent casting. As usual there was the anachronistic insertion of various characters of obvious asian origin.

Oh not again! This is happening far too much.

Sorry, I misunderstood!

shysal

I am a huge fan of the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth, so am finding it difficult to come to terms with the new actors. However, I think the actress who plays Mary gives a good performance so I shall stick with it.

That was the best adaptation wasn’t it 😊

Allira

Sorry, I misunderstood!

You’re forgiven, just don’t do it again😁

Visgir1

Loved it.. And Lucy Briers who play "Hill" was in the Colin Firth one as Mary, clever casting.
Not going to binge, this is a lovely gentle Sunday watch.

Yes, I spotted Lucy straight away.
The daughter of Richard Briers.

tanith

Nannee49

I'm not a fan so far, Mrs Bennett and the girls are too arch and nasty to her, I've not warmed to them at all.
It's also driving me mad that whenever Mary's on screen all I can see is Sam from Corrie.

I had the exact same thought! I wonder ic they are related? I enjoyed it so far but I won't binge watch either.

Just checked out some pictures and I thought that Mary (Ella Bruccoleri) looks very much like Mrs Bennet (Ruth Jones).

Sparklefizz

Oreo

I didn’t realise it had started either, which channel is it on?

It's on BBC1 and you can binge watch it on iPlayer.

☺️ thanks

I enjoyed it and will watch further episodes. I’d like to know what Jane Austen would have made of it though.

I've binge watched five episodes. I wonder when the next lot will be available

Aveline

I've binge watched five episodes. I wonder when the next lot will be available

29th March, apparently. Can’t wait.

Allira

tanith

Nannee49

I'm not a fan so far, Mrs Bennett and the girls are too arch and nasty to her, I've not warmed to them at all.
It's also driving me mad that whenever Mary's on screen all I can see is Sam from Corrie.

I had the exact same thought! I wonder ic they are related? I enjoyed it so far but I won't binge watch either.

Just checked out some pictures and I thought that Mary (Ella Bruccoleri) looks very much like Mrs Bennet (Ruth Jones).

I agree, Allira. Mary and Mrs. Bennet actually looked like daughter and mother. Which makes it all the more sad that the latter was so spiteful and unsympathetic.

Ella Bruccoleri was on The One Show this evening, but they hardly gave her any time to talk about her role which was a shame.

Asian actors in English stories?
Didn't Jean Simmons play Kanchi in Black Narcissus?

Maremia

Asian actors in English stories?
Didn't Jean Simmons play Kanchi in Black Narcissus?

Sure. However Jean Simmons was intended to portray a brown person. The nice optician was not meant to portray a brown person but was meant to portray a lower class person-------My guess is the obvious 'asian' appearance of the nice optician was intended to show us that modern racism is akin to eighteenth -nineteenth century class snobbery.

Do you know Caleo, I wondered about that particular casting.

I thought he would actually be quite a "catch"!

Keep watching. There are many more Asian faces and even a few afro caribbean ones. I know it's not a popular opinion but this just highlights how superficial the production is. It's a good book and is otherwise well televised.

Maremia

Asian actors in English stories?
Didn't Jean Simmons play Kanchi in Black Narcissus?

That was 1947, nearly 80 years England was the norm then. We are more aware now, it would not happen, in fact it has gone the other way to become questionable whether or not the right actor is picked for a specific role to portray someone of that era, or to fill a quota.

In 1947 India was in turmoil and Black Narcissus was filmed in England.

Those are some of the reasons why Jean Simmon, a rising star, was picked for the part.

nearly 80 years England was the norm then
Sorry - gobbledegook, I changed something and autocorrect took over! Not sure how it happened.

That was 1947, nearly 80 years ago, and was the norm then in the film industry.

Yes 'blackface' was deemed acceptable then.

Yes Martav/Taurus.
I loved the way Darcy was made to look other than handsome.

I binge watched it and was very disappointed that it stopped at the end of episode 5 when there are apparently 10 episodes - frustration!

Not sure how using a mixed race cast makes a production 'superficial'.

Aveline

Keep watching. There are many more Asian faces and even a few afro caribbean ones. I know it's not a popular opinion but this just highlights how superficial the production is. It's a good book and is otherwise well televised.

No, Aveline* it’s not the production that is superficial
Did that make Laurence Olivier superficial for blacking up for Othello? Natalie Wood for playing Maria in West Side Story , who was meant to be Puerto Rican? Or indeed Julie Andrews who was not exactly an 20 year old Austrian nun?
It’s called acting.
Hard as it may be for some, I think we have to look beyond skin colour unless it significantly impacts the plot - or if a real ie historical figure is being depicted.

Maremia

Yes Martav/Taurus.
I loved the way Darcy was made to look other than handsome.

That was the one thing I didn’t like, Darcy lives in my head as very handsome indeed.
Otherwise I’m enjoying it so far, I think it gets into what Mary’s thoughts might have been quite well. In the original book everybody was very dismissive of her, so I can see that from her perspective her parents in particular would come over as they do in this version.