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Wheel of Time's Dónal Finn, Doctor Who's Varada Sethu, 16 Others Board BritBox's Pride & Prejudice Spinoff About Mary Bennet

Wheel of Time's Dónal Finn, Doctor Who's Varada Sethu, 16 Others Board BritBox's Pride & Prejudice Spinoff About Mary Bennet

Yahoo3 days ago

BritBox and BBC's The Other Bennet Sister — a 10-episode series based on the novel of the same name by Janice Hadlow and focused on Mary (played by Call the Midwife's Ella Bruccoleri), the often-overlooked middle sister in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice — has added to its cast Ruth Jones (Gavin & Stacey) and Richard E. Grant (The Outlaws) as Mary's parents.
As for Mary's sisters, Maddie Close, Poppy Gilbert (Stay Close, Chloe), Molly Wright (The A Word) and Grace Hogg-Robinson (Flatmates) will respectively play Jane, Lizzie, Kitty and Lydia.
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Indira Varma and Richard Coyle will play Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, Mary's worldly aunt and uncle. They take Mary under their wing as governess to their three children — Marianne (Roisin Bhalla), George (Reggie Absolom) and Rebecca (Jasmine Sharp) — introducing her to an exciting new social world that includes Mr. Hayward (The Wheel of Time's Dónal Finn), Mr. Ryder (Will's Laurie Davidson) and a yet-to-be-cast Ann Clarke.
Other familiar Austen characters include Caroline Bingley (played by Sex Education's Tanya Reynolds), Charlotte Lucas (Anna Fenton-Garvey) and Mr. Collins (Brassic's Ryan Sampson).
Playing brand-new characters will be Varada Sethu (Doctor Who, Andor) as Ann Baxter, and Aaron Gill as John Sparrow.
Production on The Other Bennet Sister is now underway in Wales; a release date or timetable has not yet been announced. The series will stream on BritBox in North America, and on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK.
Want scoop on , or for any other TV show? Shoot an email to InsideLine@tvline.com, and your question may be answered via Matt's Inside Line!
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'Doctor Who: Pursuit' Review - A Mind-Bending Trip Through Multiversal Horrors
'Doctor Who: Pursuit' Review - A Mind-Bending Trip Through Multiversal Horrors

Geek Vibes Nation

time42 minutes ago

  • Geek Vibes Nation

'Doctor Who: Pursuit' Review - A Mind-Bending Trip Through Multiversal Horrors

Big Finish Productions sends listeners back into the depths of the Time War with Doctor Who: Time War – Uncharted 2: Pursuit . When we last saw the Doctor, Alex, and Cass in last year's Reflections , Alex had just stolen the Doctor's TARDIS and taken Cass alongside him on adventures unknown, determined to prove that he could do a better job saving the universe than the Doctor does. But unknown to Alex, untold horrors await the pair of them as they journey further into the uncharted. Continuing from where the previous Uncharted box set left off, Doctor Who: Pursuit offers an even more mind-bending exploration of the horrors of a Time War through a collection of thrilling and horrific stories that manage to perfectly straddle the line between epic war adventures and intimate character drama. Put simply, it's Doctor Who at its very best. 'Spoil of War' by Mark Wright When Alex (Sonny McGann) and Cass (Emma Campbell-Jones) arrive at a strange manor crewed by a staff that seems to have expected their arrival, they uncover an unusual auction where little is as it seems. Meanwhile, as the Doctor (Paul McGann) and Hieronyma Friend (Niky Wardley) chase after them, they discover they've all fallen into some kind of an alternate universe ruled by Gallifreyan Sontarans. But what exactly is being auctioned at this mysterious manor and can the Doctor and Hieronyma find Alex and Cass before it's too late? Mark Wright's 'Spoil of War' acts as both a continuation of the Eighth Doctor's previous Time War box set, Reflections , and as a pilot for a new kind of Doctor Who adventure. The story itself is a bit lowkey, with Alex and Cass mostly trying to find their footing in their new dynamic. Who are they without the Doctor? Is Alex really so different from his great-grandfather? And how does their relationship change as Alex desperately tries to run away from his great-grandfather while Cass finds herself caught in the middle of this spat? These are the questions at the heart of the story, and Wright delves into them in a wonderfully thorny and vulnerable way. 'Spoils of War' is Alex and Cass's story, even as the Doctor and Hieronyma lurk on the outskirts of the story, trying to break in. It's the kind of story that acts more as a prelude for what's to come rather than a fully formed story in its own right, but it proves quite enticing nonetheless. (8/10) 'The Tale of Alex' by Katharine Armitage Hot on the heels of Alex and Cass, the Doctor and Hieronyma arrive on the planet of Igg—only to find the citizens blame the Doctor for their plight as Tarsin the Bard (Sam Stafford) sings stories of the Doctor's last visit and how he left the population to starve after saving them from a deadly blight. Meanwhile, Alex and Cass arrived a week earlier, hoping to undo that damage. Time, however, always finds a way to reassert itself, and the planet Igg finds itself caught between two warring potential timelines leaving Alex to decide the planet's future. What makes Katharine Armitage's 'The Tale of Alex' so compelling is that it's simultaneously a critique of the Doctor's habit of leaving a world directly after saving it and an exploration of what might happen if someone like the Doctor did stay to help the citizens rebuild. 'The Tale of Alex' is a story of two warring viewpoints—the Doctor's and Alex's. Alex feels the Doctor's approach to the universe is fundamentally flawed and tries to do things differently, to save people regardless of the wider context of the situation surrounding him. And the drama rests in that tug of war between those viewpoints. Sonny McGann shines here in delving into the notion that the harder Alex tries to rebel against the Doctor and his actions, the more Doctor-like he becomes. Armitage does something quite compelling with her script too, playing with the idea of how stories can shift and change, altering your view of who the 'hero' is and who the 'villain' is. 'The Tale of Alex' asks the audience to decide whether Alex is the hero and the Doctor is the villain—or vice versa—and it thrives in those twisty, shifty, murky waters. It's a clever, well-paced little character study that dives deep into both Alex and the Doctor in the most compelling of ways. (9/10) 'See-Saw' by James Moran When Alex and Cass arrive in 1924 London, answering a distress signal of some kind, they find the city freshly abandoned; a place they shouldn't be able to get to as the Earth has been time-locked to protect it from the Time War. And yet, here they are, hot on the trail of a strange little girl singing a haunting nursery rhyme they feel compelled to complete. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Hieronyma Friend (Lizzie Hopley) arrive in 1924 London, answering a distress signal of some kind, and find the city freshly abandoned. They're in the same time and place as Alex and Cass, and yet they can't see them. And Alex and Cass, in turn, can't see the Doctor and Hieronyma. But what could have possibly happened to London? And what role does the strange little girl and her unsettling nursery rhyme play? After the previous, more character-focused, stories, James Moran's 'See-Saw' offers a dose of psychological horror. Building on some of the themes in 'The Tale of Alex', 'See-Saw' furthers the exploration of how Alex's methods differ from those of the Doctor—except this time, it focuses on how well the Doctor and Alex work together nonetheless. It's a very timey-wimey story, perfect for the Time War series, complete with the kind of psychological threat that makes your brain hurt the more you think about it. But Moran's script works exceedingly well, even if it feels very small and contained. Though the box set's overarching story kind of takes a back seat here, it all feels like it's leading somewhere, with 'See-Saw' the opening salvo of a grander battle to come. As it is, 'See-Saw' offers a self-contained dose of psychological horror in a tightly-paced, immensely creepy package. (8.5/10) 'The First Forest' by Tim Foley When the Doctor, Hieronyma (Niky Wardley), Alex, and Cass crash in the most unusual of forests, they find a world besieged by shifting timelines. But with Cass missing, can the Doctor and Alex set aside their differences and come together to find their missing friend? Or will the ever-changing winds of time bring an end to the TARDIS team? All roads lead here, and this uncharted universe is finally beginning to unfold. With 'The First Forest', Tim Foley takes various story threads led across both Uncharted box sets and begins to weave them into some kind of a tapestry. Expect answers to long ruminating questions alongside a bushel of new questions. Naturally, the less you know about 'The First Forest', the better. But Foley delivers the auditory equivalent of a season finale in the best of ways—it's an ending of sorts that also throws open the doors for the next Uncharted box set. At its heart, though, underneath all of the mindbending shifting timelines, 'The First Forest' is a story of forgiveness. It's the culmination of the Doctor and Alex's journey across both Reflections and Pursuit and even if it's perhaps a bit too easy of a culmination, it's no less emotionally satisfying. Put simply, 'The First Forest' does everything a good finale needs to do; it brings Pursuit 's ongoing storylines to some kind of conclusion while leaving you desperate to hear what happens next. (9.5/10) Final Thoughts Doctor Who: Pursuit proves exactly why Big Finish's ongoing Time War series is some of its most experimental and intriguing work. Sure, it's still very Doctor Who-shaped , hardly straying away from the general structure of a Doctor Who story. But it pushes the Doctor Who format down such unusual avenues, often eschewing the kinds of plots Doctor Who often tackles in favor of telling these very introspective stories set against an almost incomprehensible, unknowable conflict. And that dichotomy is exactly what makes these stories so compelling. They're not bogged down by the immense lore that comes with the Time War, instead the freedom of the Time War's strangeness gives them this palpable energy that permeates every single story. It's Doctor Who at its very best and a must-listen for all Whovians. Doctor Who: Time War – Uncharted 2: Pursuit is available now from Big Finish Productions.

‘28 Years Later' Review: Danny Boyle Delivers Severed Heads And Broken Hearts In His Gory Zombie-Horror Threequel
‘28 Years Later' Review: Danny Boyle Delivers Severed Heads And Broken Hearts In His Gory Zombie-Horror Threequel

Yahoo

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‘28 Years Later' Review: Danny Boyle Delivers Severed Heads And Broken Hearts In His Gory Zombie-Horror Threequel

Now/then, now/then… The past and the present exist in perpetual tension in the gory second sequel to Danny Boyle's zombie horror franchise. 'Time didn't heal anything,' goes the tagline, and as we learned from the recent pandemic, mankind isn't always prepared for the worst. By far the most political of the three films, 28 Years Later is particularly scathing about Brexit Britain and its little-islander mentality. But it does have global relevance at a time of rising tensions across the world, bringing to mind the possibly apocryphal quote attributed to famed German physicist Albert Einstein: 'I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.' More from Deadline '28 Years Later' Walking To $56M+ WW Opening, 'Elio' Orbiting $50M+ WW As 'Dragon' Looks To Lord U.S. Box Office – Preview '28 Years Later': Sony's Danny Boyle Pic Is Biggest Advance Ticket Seller For Horror Pic YTD, Eyes $34M+ Opening '28 Years Later' $5.8M, 'Elio' $3M Previews - Friday AM Box Office It's a moot point whether the film is set precisely in the present day, since the original 28 Days Later was made in 2002, which makes this two years early. Intriguingly, it begins with a roomful of children watching Teletubbies, the BBC kids show that first broadcast in 1997, 28 years ago. The peace is shattered by an agitated woman who begs the eldest, a young boy called Jimmy, not to open the door. Nevertheless, the walking dead break in anyway and the boy runs for his life, hiding out in a church where his father is the priest. But sanctuary is short-lived; his father is an end-times Christian who welcomes in his ravenous flock and hands his horrified son a crucifix, telling him to 'have faith.' This opening scene seems more like an overture and, indeed, has very little to do with what follows for most of the film's near-two-hour running time. We then jump forward 28 years to an island community off the northeast coast. By this time, we learn, the Rage virus has been contained to Britain, while European armies patrol the coast to prevent any of its inhabitants from leaving. The island itself is cut off from the mainland via a path that only appears at low tide, and its citizens keep a constant vigil at the ramshackle but heavily fortified entrance. The island is home to 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams), who lives with his father Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and mother Isla (Jodie Comer). Confined to her bed, Isla is given to violent fits and delusional behavior, slipping in and out of rational consciousness. It is during one of these rare moments of clarity that she learns of Jamie's plans to take Spike over to the mainland, which does not go down well. Indeed, the islanders also warn Jamie that Spike is a little on the young side ('14 or 15 is more in keeping'), but off they set anyway, man and boy each armed with a bow and a quiver's supply of arrows. The trip is filmed like a father-son safari, with Spike in awe at the sheer expanse of the mainland. 'It's so big,' he marvels. 'You can go for days and weeks without seeing the coast,' Jamie tells him. The zombie hordes, meanwhile, exist for Spike to make his first kill, starting with the fat, bloated ones that writhe around on the forest floor and seem to survive on worms. 'Head and heart,' his old man reminds him as he lines up the shot. Things have changed a bit since Jamie was last there, however, and the undead have mutated; a new strain has appeared — stronger, faster, more intelligent, more alpha. Back at the island, Spike is welcomed as the returning hero, with Jamie significantly, and drunkenly, embellishing his son's bravery. It also becomes clear that Jamie is cheating on Isla, a betrayal that Spike takes personally. Believing that Jamie is simply waiting for Isla to die so that he can move on with his life and be with his mistress, Spike takes his mother on a perilous journey to the mainland, where he believes a mysterious doctor (Ralph Fiennes), the last physician still alive in the area, will be able to cure her. The first film always seemed a little far-fetched, given the speed with which seemingly rational people took up cross-dressing and cannibalism in the space of less than a month. But nearly 30 years does the trick, and Alex Garland's script makes great play of how life in Britain has become stunted. Flirting with folk horror, he makes the islanders little better than the infected, inviting comparisons with The Wicker Man as they carouse in the community center while a faded portrait of Her Majesty the Queen looks down. Spike, meanwhile, has never heard of smartphones or the internet — both of which are flourishing in the real world beyond Britain's borders — and, ever playful, Boyle often drops the ancient sound of a dial-up modem into the ominous score by Young Fathers. Good horror, though, should always be about something else, and while it takes awhile to emerge, the zombies come to represent mortality, channeling the spirit of Damien Hirst's 1991 shark piece The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living. As Spike goes further upstream in search of the strikingly Colonel Kurtz-like Dr. Kelson, he learns a lot about life and death, witnessing the birth of a baby and seeing a man's head and spine ripped from his shoulders. It's a very violent film in that respect, but the emotion is more affecting than the blood, most of it generated during Fiennes' powerful 30-minute screen time. Most threequels tend to go bigger, but 28 Years Later bucks that trend by going smaller, eventually becoming a chamber piece about a boy trying to hold onto his mother. It still delivers shocks, even if the sometimes over-zealous editing distracts from Anthony Dod Mantle's painterly cinematography, but the biggest of them all is the jaw-dropping final scene, a clapback to the film's beginning and an indication of how crazy Britain has become in its lonely isolation. It's a very specific cultural reference, and seemingly comes from nowhere, but Brits in particular are likely to have a very, very visceral reaction, as it happens. Title: 28 Years LaterDistributor: SonyRelease date: June 20, 2025Director: Danny BoyleScreenwriter: Alex GarlandCast: Alfie Williams, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Edvin Ryding, Ralph FiennesRating: RRunning time: 1 hr 55 mins Best of Deadline Broadway's 2024-2025 Season: All Of Deadline's Reviews Venice Film Festival 2024: All Of Deadline's Movie Reviews Telluride Film Festival 2024: All Of Deadline's Movie Reviews

BBC Content Supremo Latest: Banijay UK Boss Patrick Holland Out, Kate Phillips Person To Beat
BBC Content Supremo Latest: Banijay UK Boss Patrick Holland Out, Kate Phillips Person To Beat

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time3 hours ago

  • Yahoo

BBC Content Supremo Latest: Banijay UK Boss Patrick Holland Out, Kate Phillips Person To Beat

EXCLUSIVE: We have more on the race to replace Charlotte Moore as the BBC's content supremo. After revealing earlier this month that there were three top contenders for the most powerful creative job in British television, audio, and streaming, Deadline hears one of the trio is now not in the running. More from Deadline BBC Unveils 10-Strong Comedy Slate Featuring Diane Morgan, Michael Palin, Mackenzie Crook, Lenny Rush, Rob Brydon, & Guz Khan BBC's Annual Julia Donaldson Christmas Animation Will Be 'The Scarecrows' Wedding'; Rob Brydon, Jessie Buckley & Domhnall Glesson In Voice Cast BBC Drama 'Mr Loverman' Lands U.S. Home At BritBox Industry sources and BBC insiders said Patrick Holland, Banijay UK's executive chairman, is staying put at the French production giant. Holland was considered to be the leading external candidate, even though he told colleagues that he was happy to remain at Banijay UK, where he has been since 2022. BBC sources speculated that salary has been a decisive factor for some external candidates, as the corporation struggles to compete with deep-pocketed commercial counterparts. Moore is paid £468,000 ($628,000). The Holland development, as well Netflix UK chief Anne Mensah ruling herself out, has cemented Kate Phillips' position as the candidate to beat. Phillips, the BBC's unscripted boss and interim chief content officer, has the support of many colleagues at the corporation, while a number of powerful producers are pulling for her to get the job. Sources said Phillips is skillfully caretaking in the content chief role as Moore prepares to leave the BBC's New Broadcasting House headquarters next week. BBC Studios Productions CEO Zai Bennett was thought to be the third strong contender for the job. Others linked include Tom McDonald, the New York-based executive vice president of Nat Geo, and Dan McGolpin, the director of iPlayer and channels. Others have ruled themselves out. This includes Jay Hunt, Apple TV+'s boss in Europe, and Channel 4's content supremo Ian Katz. Sources said Apple executive Alison Kirkham was considered, but is said to be happy in her current role. Liam Keelan, Disney's former EMEA originals chief, is not in the running. Headhunters Grace Blue and Ibison have helped steer the BBC recruitment process, with director general Tim Davie taking a personal interest. Moore is stepping down as chief content officer after four years to join Left Bank Pictures as CEO. She will also oversee international creative output for Sony Pictures Television. Best of Deadline Every 'The Voice' Winner Since Season 1, Including 9 Team Blake Champions Everything We Know About 'Jurassic World: Rebirth' So Far 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out?

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