{"id":516482,"date":"2026-06-24T20:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T20:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/516482\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T20:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T20:00:17","slug":"brilliant-bbc-period-drama-confirms-return-with-3-part-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/516482\/","title":{"rendered":"“Brilliant” BBC period drama confirms return with 3-part special"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the biggest TV hits of 2026<\/a> is returning for not one, not two, but three new episodes this Christmas. The Other Bennet Sister is shooting in Wales over the summer in preparation for release on BBC One and iPlayer at the end of the year.<\/p>\n

The show, penned by Sarah Quintrell, is based on storylines by author Janice Hadlow and inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Asim Abbasi, who helmed five episodes of series one, is back to direct.<\/p>\n

Back in March, The Other Bennet Sister pulled in a mammoth 7.3 million viewers in its first 28 days. That made it the biggest launch of a new drama across all platforms and streamers in the UK since May 2025, according to the BBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ella<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Related: Best streaming services UK 2026 \u2013 including Disney+, Netflix, iPlayer and Apple TV<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe always hoped audiences would fall in love with Mary Bennet\u2019s story, but the response to The Other Bennet Sister has exceeded even our most optimistic expectations,” executive producer Jane Tranter said.<\/p>\n

“These Christmas specials give us the chance to spend a little more time with characters audiences have taken to their hearts, and to explore what happens after the wedding bells fade and real life begins. <\/p>\n

“Returning to the world of Mary Bennet with our brilliant partners at the BBC and BritBox feels like the perfect way to celebrate the success of the series and give viewers a treat this Christmas.”<\/p>\n

Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, added: “It’s been incredibly exciting to see Mary Bennet cause such a sensation in 2026, and we could not be happier to announce this new three-part Christmas gift to her millions of fans. <\/p>\n

Related: Taskmaster and Celebrity Traitors favourite Nick Mohammed set for exciting new BBC project<\/a><\/p>\n

“Marriage was just the beginning for the no-longer-so-overlooked Bennet sister, and it’s a joy to be working with Sarah, Janice and the Bad Wolf team to let viewers discover what comes next.”<\/p>\n

The first two episodes of the main 10-part series explored the events of Pride and Prejudice from the perspective of lesser-known character Mary Bennet. From there, she was seen traveling to London and the Lake District on her own journey of self discovery.<\/p>\n

Ella Bruccoleri is confirmed to return in the title role, with some other familiar faces set to join her. Who exactly those faces are is yet to be revealed, but co-stars of the main series included Richard E. Grant, Ruth Jones, Indira Varma and Varada Sethu.<\/p>\n

The Other Bennet Sister is available on iPlayer now. The Christmas specials will follow later this year.<\/p>\n

Visit our Streaming Guide<\/a> now to see at a glance where you can view ALL your favourite shows and movies.<\/p>\n

The new edition of Living Legends, celebrating the global phenomenon of BTS, is here! Buy this ultimate fan guide in newsagents or online<\/a>.
<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Shaun is an Evening News Editor at Digital Spy, with over a decade of experience reporting on all things pop culture. He has written for outlets including Metro<\/a>, Attitude<\/a>, Huffington Post, The Mirror<\/a>, Yahoo!, Pink News and Express Online<\/a>, specialising in TV, movies, soaps, music and LGBTQ+ issues. He is also a BAFTA Rocliffe-winning scriptwriter, having written episodes of the soap Hollyoaks, the official Steps musical Here & Now<\/a> and multiple Offie Award-nominated plays. He studied English Literature and Drama at the University of East Anglia, and will happily talk at length about Desperate Housewives to anyone who’ll listen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the biggest TV hits of 2026 is returning for not one, not two, but three new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[143197,131124,1105,220465,1107,93,61,60,184510,1135,220464,282],"class_list":["post-516482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-collection-christmas-tv","tag-collection-latest-news","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-7cdc89d8-26fd-4538-8f54-c968011a6260","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-brilliant-bbc-period-drama-confirms-return-for-specials","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}