Why Jane Austen's characters are still so relatable

If you're a Jane Austen fan, then Lizzy, Jane, Kitty and Lydia are likely to be the Bennet sisters you remember from Pride and Prejudice.

But in a new follow-on to the story, it's their anxious and awkward sister Mary who takes centre stage.

"I came to [Jane] Austen as a kid from Croydon, in my teens, thinking that she couldn't possibly have anything to say to me," says Sarah Quintrell, screenwriter for the upcoming BBC drama The Other Bennet Sister.

However, after reading the author's works, she couldn't believe how connected she felt to Austen's characters. It was as though she "knew everybody" in the 19th century novels, she says.

The new TV series, based on the novel of the same name by Janice Hadlow, centres on the Bennet family's middle sister, Mary, as she becomes a governess to the Gardiner family.

It continues on from Austen's Pride and Prejudice - a story that centres on the relationship of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, in which Mary's most memorable scene is her awkwardly playing piano at a ball.

Actress Ella Bruccoleri, who plays the teenage Mary, says she was drawn to the character because she's an "atypical period drama heroine" who is anxious, awkward and possesses none of the poise other Regency period protagonists hold.

Quintrell adds: "She's the odd one out. It's really hard for her to find her place in the world. And I think that that will really resonate with a modern audience."

The screenwriter encourages young people to engage with Austen's fictional worlds, as she has. "You will find so much that's recognisable."

On Tuesday, it is Austen's 250th birthday. With Pride and Prejudice published in 1813, why do the cast and crew of this new drama think her work continues to speak to people?

Maddie Close, who plays Jane Bennet in the upcoming series, says Mary's coming-of-age story and journey to self-acceptance is more relevant than ever.

"It is just so beautiful to watch her blossom and find herself," she says, adding that stories like Mary's are especially needed for teenagers trying to navigate the world and social media.

Grace Hogg-Robinson, who plays Mary's sister Lydia Bennet, agrees, and adds that Austen's characters stand the test of time because people often meet them at important junctures in their life - for example, when studying Pride and Prejudice at GCSE.

The actress believes Mary is "much more relatable" to a modern audience than some of the more iconic Austen characters, explaining that "so many people feel like the person that no-one ever quite remembers".

"It's really nice to tell that story," she adds.

Poppy Gilbert, who plays Lizzy Bennet, says Mary is the sister she relates to the most and says others will too, thanks to her experiences of feeling "constantly compared" to others.

Costume designer Sian Jenkins tried to demonstrate Mary's journey to finding herself through her wardrobe, which throughout the series transitions from creams and beiges to bold greens and reds, despite her mother, the infamous Mrs Bennet, berating her at every turn.

Bruccoleri adds that the biggest journey her character goes on in the show is trying to find a way to remove herself emotionally from her overbearing mother.

In order to do this, she has to learn to live without her "approval or validation" and give this to herself instead.

Bruccoleri says Austen's dry, funny writing provides sharp societal commentary without shoving its message "down your throat".

"Mrs Bennet just doesn't value Mary in the way that she values the other sisters, because she sees their values as so closely linked to their marriageability," she says.

Molly Wright, who plays Kitty adds that Austen is "so ahead of her time" in her views on "marriage and feminism" in Pride and Prejudice.

Hogg-Robinson, who plays Lydia, says that it took her time to realise "how accurate and insightful" Austen's works were after skim-reading them for her GCSEs and then picking them up later as an adult.

She says that Austen's perspective on love and relationships continue to resonate, and points to a TikTok trend which centres on how Mr Darcy changes his behaviour to win over Lizzy in the original novel.

"Everyone was doing that [trend] 'Well, if he wanted to, he would', and Jane Austen got that 250 years ago," she explains.

Screenwriter Quintrell feels very lucky to have contributed to a follow-on story in the world of Pride and Prejudice.

While two centuries may have elapsed, "the characters and the emotional journeys that they go on really feel like they haven't aged at all," she says.

This, she feels, is why people like her and novelist Hadlow want to continue to extend the Bennets' story.

Gilbert says the new series feels like a "behind-the-scenes" Pride and Prejudice, and that viewers can expect to see the siblings not just interact in ballrooms but "yapping in the bathroom" and looking after the family dog.

Ultimately, Quintrell says it's really important to open the story of Pride and Prejudice out, because growing up, she felt the works belonged to scholars and academics and that she was not allowed to "own" the texts.

"Wherever you're from, wherever you grow up, you'll find something to connect to in Austen's work, and hopefully in The Other Bennet Sister," she says.

The Other Bennet Sister is coming soon to the BBC.

Additional reporting by Samuel Spencer.