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Speaker 1: Hi, Hello, Hello.
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Speaker 2: Have you been a mini drop top day? This is not mini mere No, this is not at all. This is mega mega this is mega mega drop and we are just so humbled and thrilled. We've just finished the interview we have and we're just coming on just to get you straight to the interview. But this is someone who reached out to us on social media doing one of our silly posts about how much we love the other Bedet sister as much as you guys do. She is an incredible she's the lead director of the show. She's directed two seasons of Extraordinary on Disney. Plus she's a Beer Fun nominated director for her film Rose, a Love Story, which she mentions in the interview as well. Jennifer Sheridan is just what a delight.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely amazing, absolutely amazing. But let's not beat around the bush. Is Jennifer.
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Speaker 2: Jennifer. I'm David, this is Lisa, and this is just absolutely mind blowing that you've said yesterday, so huge fan. So we are thrilled, Thank you, thank you.
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Speaker 3: I've been really enjoying your episodes, so it's been brilliant.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, really nice, really, Oh my god, that's amazing. Thank you for listening.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, it's it's it's really rare that you get to do a job that you love this much. So when it goes out into the world, it's really scary because you just don't know how people are going to respond to it, and there's always that risk, you know, that some people just aren't gonna like it. And I think when you fall in love with something this much. I was saying to people that I've spent my whole career building a really thick skin, and this show has like made it paper thin. I just could not handle anyone being mean about Mary. I don't think I'd be able to handle it. So listening to your podcast has just been so nice. And I sent them to Ella as well, did I did?
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Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, Oh, I mean it. I think that that really embodies what the show is, the way that you're feeling about it, because it is that that openness, that kindness that you're putting out into the world, just as Mary is. It was that in your mind when you made.
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Speaker 3: It, Yeah, definitely. I mean when we were casting Mary, it was really hard because we were trying to find someone who could kind of present that prickly sort of you know, water of for ducks back Mary that doesn't you know, seem to rise above it or but really it's obviously a defense mechanism that she's devised to deal with her family and then but it was interesting because some of the scenes are so vulnerable and if you get the wrong actor. Because Ella's amazing because she can play vulnerability, she can play pithiness, she can play comedy, like there's nothing that Ella can't do. She's amazing. But some of the actors when I was watching auditions, they were so vulnerable that I thought, oh my gosh, this this show is going to be really hard to watch because it'll be like watching a puppy get kicked. Like at least the two episodes the first, you know, and I was like, oh gosh. And then when Ella came and just brought Ella, you know, I was like, Okay, we're going to be okay. People are going to be they're going to feel things, but they're not going to be like I can't watch this. This person has enough sort of grit about her that you sort of believe that she would have she would have found her way.
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Speaker 2: Ultimately, it's also interesting for Ella as well, when you go from being in many ensembles and working as an actor to becoming number one on the call sheet and how you then are part of what the set is like as the days go on. So what was it like having someone like Ella have to step up into this role and then you work with her and direct her, and then how everyone responded to that and how she responded to everyone's I guess attention.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I mean I definitely think the number one person on the coll sheet sets a lot of the tone for the set and the kind of atmosphere. And because Ella is so humble and lovely and you just you meet her and you can't help but instantly sort of fall in love with her, and she's just she's she's very marryish in that she's quite clumsy and funny and doesn't take herself very well. Actually I guess Mary does take in some ways. But yeah, it was it just set a really lovely atmosphere. Everyone who came in fell in love with her, fell in love with Mary. I mean, it was there was no other job like it because crewmembers would just walk past the monitor and Ella would be on there and they just go, oh, Mary, And it was just like everyone just couldn't help it. You just could help it. You just went, oh, Mary, oh, you know, and that scene in the Netherfield when she cries to missus Gardner after singing and not going well, we were just in floods of tears. Meet and Sarah quench out the right. We were just stood behind the monitors, just like looking at it. I just couldn't bear to see Ella cry it. Really, I don't know. She cut straight to my heart. I just love her so much. But I'd actually had the pleasure of working with Ella on a show called Extraordinary, which is like a Disney Plus and Hulu kind of superhero show. And she came in and funnily enough, she played like the school bully who'd kind of grown up and tried to change, but ultimately it was still a bit of a bully at heart, like completely different to Mary. But Ella just came in, she was only in for a few days, and she just nailed it, like she's just yeah. I remember, Lucy, you were saying in one of the episodes about how you know you see her blush in scenes in time. I mean, I'm so amazing that you pick up on that, because that was one of the things that really shocked me about working with her is that not only could she blush within a scene, but obviously you're doing multiple takes in multiple angles, and she would the continuity of the blush would stay the same, And I was like, how is she doing there?
00:06:00
Speaker 1: That is athing Santaslavski planned for you? Was trying for the second take.
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Speaker 2: You've got to try for the blushing for sure.
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Speaker 3: But it's so authentic. Yeah, it really is. You just believe everything that she does. I just believe it one hundred percent so special.
00:06:18
Speaker 1: So can we just go back in time to what is your gateway drug into Jane Austin? Was it the nineteen eighty five?
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Speaker 3: It was? Yes, So I was elemon when that came out, And I distinctly remember Sunday night, sitting down with my mum, turn off the main light so it's nice and up, and then you just hear the din and my heart would just lift, like, oh my god, I'm so excited. And I just loved I mean, I loved that music in particular, but I just loved everything about it. For me. It was perfect direction, perfect casting. There's nothing I find fault with in that whole adaptation. I just I love it, and I've since watched it, Like anytime I've got a slight cold, I'll just stick it on. Sometimes I've been known to finish it and then start it again because I just I just love those characters. I love being with them. I'm just one of those people that if I love something, I'll just watch it. Of course, so.
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Speaker 1: You know that people are finding that about the other Bennet's sister too. So I've got a friend who watches it. An episode will come out and she'll watch it multiple times in a row.
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Speaker 2: Or Mickey, Oh yeah, Mickey the Punker, the punk rocker.
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Speaker 1: Do you know Micky the Punk.
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Speaker 3: No, I'd love to know Micky.
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Speaker 2: We're going to speak to her next week.
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Speaker 1: Mickey the Punk is an avid Jane Austen fan, and you can tell from her tattoos and also an actual bona fide punk and.
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Speaker 3: From TikTok Yes, yes, oh yes, yes, I love her, Yes and she she does. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: So the other Ben is just becoming. You know, it's something could never replace Private Bridges nine ninety five, but it's alongside it, and it's good for us to have another five hours.
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Speaker 2: So we're growing up on it and loving it as much as you do. Getting Lucy Bryers to be, you know, in your show is just this wonderful, you know, through line between the two series. How was it when you thought, did you think maybe we could get.
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Speaker 3: Her for Hill? Well, it was Sarah the writer's idea. It was such an inspired and brilliant idea, and we didn't know if she would of course, you know, she could have easily said no. But she's so lovely and she loves the world too, which she just comes across, and she loves Mary and it was just such a wonderful experience having her there. And I have this this booklet you can get on line. It's the Making of Pride and Prejudice ninety five. It's like it's Brilliant's got all the kind of behind the scenes stuff. And I said, I trying to be professional because obviously director is both be very professional. And I said, I said, Lucy, I'm so sorry to ask you this, but do you think you could sign my book the Maker Bridges. She's of course, I'm worried, you know, she said, great, something really lovely. Yeah, she's just wonderful. I really love her portrayal of Hill as well, so funny just her looks between John Sparrow and Mary, which is brilliant. I love those. Yeah, she's great.
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Speaker 1: Are you planning the shots? I mean there's this one shot in particular when Mary goes to London and she and Hill are face to face and their frame within the window, and to me, it was just the most satisfying meta moment to see our Mary, the Mary that we grew up with and the new Mary, this sort of like doctor who is of the different Mary's meeting in a timeline and the beauty of that, the synchronicity. Did you think this is what I'm going to do with this or what was the thought process behind that?
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Speaker 3: That's a really good question, because we did. We shotlisted everything, me and my amazing DP Luke Bryant, and he's so talented, and I can't remember if I felt like it was his idea to put the the what do you call it, the technic crame through the carriage and pull out through the carriage. And I, because I my mind isn't always that technical. I'm kind of a bit more visual, and I just didn't know that you could do that. So he was like, we could put it through the carriage, and put it and I was like, oh, that sounds lovely. Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing that. Then and then he did it, and I was like, I love this, this is amazing, you know. So yeah, so he brought a lot of his creative wonderfulness to it as well.
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Speaker 2: I find a lot of the things that you you doing this and then how it's staged. I mean, there is a wonderful use of just what feels like natural lighting. You know, we just watched episode seven here and with mister Collins almost in the shadows in the library as he's sort of darkened in the shadows, and contrary to that that episode with mister Rider comes to Pemberley, and I was saying to Lisa, did you notice that every time the mister Rider's talking, he's in the light somehow he's in the back lit side lip, He's in the sunlight every time he speaks to and she sees him, he's lit in this certain way that makes him glow. And so I wondered, like, your style is so varied, and your use of lighting, in the use of you know, the depth of what's going on in a scene is so varied. How long does it take to set these things up into rehearse.
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Speaker 3: Oh that's a really good question. I mean, I can't take any credit for those scenes in particular, because that's you're.
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Speaker 2: Going to have to sooner or later Jennifer with no one else her.
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Speaker 3: I actually didn't direct those episodes, so I genuinely can't take credittion trip. But Simona Sisnea was the DP of the second half of the show, and she's very, very talented. I think she does some beautiful things, and it was what was nice about having two directors is that I feel like Asim could take quite a bit of ownership over his episodes because he's he's impimblely, you know. So I had Longbourne and then the Gardener's House, and he goes back to the Gardener's House, of course, but he gets to sort of explore new territory with the legs and everything. I mean, I wasn't at all jealous about any of that. I totally fine with it, actually, but yeah, so yeah, it was a really like collaborative, lovely process, and I think Asim and Simona did such a beautiful job with the second half of the series. And it's excuse me, it is always tricky, isn't it because you have to. When you're setting up a show, you're trying to make something that's distinctive and feels like its own thing. And obviously you know you're going to get compared to Bridgeton, you know you're going to get pared compared to the Joe Wright film. And there were definitely, especially from Joe Wright film, them definitely inspirations I took, you know, the kind of long lensy dance scenes where people in front of the lens passing and it feels messy, and I really liked what he did in the film with that, and I really wanted those dance scenes in particular to feel really lively and rowdy and fun. But yeah, the bridget in this is tricky because they have a very specific color palette and we wanted as to feel fresh and like bright and lovely. We didn't want it to feel too dark. But we really used Mary as our north star because when she's at Longbourn, she's surrounded by all these beautiful sisters and they're all dressed in the colours that had taken inspiration from Flowers, which was done by our incredible costume designers, Sean Jenkins, and she's just a bit more muted, and she's quite often in beige, and she just is sort of trying to sort of blend into the background and distinguish ourselves in herself in her own way. And then when she goes to London and she gets to choose her own colors and be her own person, almost overcorrects because you know, she's like, Oh, I get to choose my colors. Okay, great, I'm going to go for lime green. It's bold, and it's really bold, and it's just about her testing the waters of the edges of who she is and you know, what feels right for her. And I think by the end of the show she feels much more homogenized in her environment. She sort of she's found her place in the world, and I feel like the colors reflect that really beautifully.
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Speaker 1: That's something a theme that runs so beautifully through the whole series is that question of being yourself with your approach to this, What did you bring of yourself into this?
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Speaker 3: If I'm asking about you being you, I mean, I'm from a comedy background, so I've my instincts are very comedy lead and I did bring and I was because I didn't know if the BBC would be happy with how far I was pushing the comedy, so I would sort of get options, like you know the bit where Missus Bennett's like fanning Missus Hill in the head. I thought, okay, well let's get a version where you don't find him at the head, just in case, you know, that's like a step too far. And then when Ryan Sampson turns up to mister Collins, I was like, well, I'm gonna just enjoy him for all that he the comedy genius that he is, and I put all of and I kept all of his little noises that he makes when he birth bows and stuff, and I was like, is someone going to tell me to take any of this down or like tone it down? But thankfully they didn't. They just embrace the fact that it was like funny, And because I don't think it takes away from the emotional moments, I think you earn those because you've it hasn't all just been quite sort of Marry not having a nice time.
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Speaker 1: But absolutely the moment where she blows the candle out and stubs her toe, and thinking about the blowing the candle out that Lizzie does in ninety five, look I can't say enough things without sounding mental.
00:16:09
Speaker 2: Can I ask about then if we go to the parents, if we go to you know, having mister and missus Bennett cast the way of done. I mean, Ruth is sensational, hilarious and frightening in this show, truly, and she really does flip and it's an extraordinary thing to watch because you know, we all know and love her as this sort of comedy grade. And clearly I've been watching the social media of all the behind the scenes and the cast of Door and how naughty she is, which doesn't surprise me, but she does tend to have this sort of like she can turn on a dime with Missus Bennett. I think that's an extraordinary gift that she has. How is it to direct her? Since you both come from comedy, it would be easy to stay on the gags.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, she's so fun. I mean, I loved her and she would say she would say to me, you know, rain me and Jen if you want to rain me, and ask like, oh, I don't really want to read you is you know, we would call to get variations on her performance. But I just enjoyed her so much, and I think, you know, a lot of people have said that they were surprised by how mean Missus Bennett was, and I do get that, but I think we were really going for the idea that every sibling has different experiences of their parents, Like you grew up in the same house, but you don't grow up in the same with the same experience of parents. And quite often, you know, I think any sibling who's had an older sibling, usually the older sibling thinks that the younger siblings got away with murder. And there's all these kind of tropes, and it's just it's just a natural part of parenting. I think that you know, with the first one, it's like, oh my gosh, we've got to keep this one alive by all means, and you know, it's very exciting, and then by the second and third maybe you're a bit more like, yeah, yeah, they're fine, that'd be fine. But I think with Mary, you have to imagine that she's kind of come through puberty that couldn't have been easy for anyone, and she presents as someone whose words do not hurt. You know, she's like water of a duck's back because she's always got this kind of front and she's always got something clever to say, because she thinks that's her thing. It's like, I'm going to be the clever one. I'm going to be the intellectual one, and I'm going to say clever thing. Some people are going to be dazzled by my wit. And obviously it's like a defense mechanism that she's built up because she doesn't fit what her sisters are, which is confident and easy and social and pretty and all of the things that make it very easy to be a woman.
00:18:31
Speaker 2: And smart is smart. It's just smart, and.
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Speaker 3: Smart isn't a character exactly, And she is always looking for the answer in books. She's like, I'm going to find out how to be a human. Someone's going to tell me. Four dice is probably going to tell me, you know. But also, I quite like Rocks, so I'm going to learn about theology at the same time. But where was I going with that threat? Oh yeah, so missus Bennett. So I think family members can be quite cruel, almost without realizing it, especially if they have a sibling that they think the things they say doesn't impact, which is I think how we've got to this position with Mary is that it's been a long time of barbs that just haven't hit and therefore just keep coming because they're like fun to say and they don't seem to hurt her. But we the audience, we get to see those moments of you know, her pulling her skin and picking her nails, because we see that she feels really, really deeply, and that's how I wanted to kind of show the story is the family version, and then we go beyond that. We get to see behind Mary on her own, you know, covering the mirror and those moments of self reflection where you can just see her reeling from some of the things that her family have said to her. It's so heartbreaking her come talking about it. But yeah, so I totally understand why people have felt that Missus Bennett is so mean, But that is Mary's Missus Bennett. That's the Mary version, and unfortunately she is booler she is.
00:20:05
Speaker 2: Can we ask about the structuring of the series compared to what the book is, you know, and how you and Sarah and your team approached that, you know, because we know that people have read the book that it all starts out, it goes a certain way, and she doesn't get to London until about halfway through and mister Collins and everything that happens with her, which are the episodes we just watched happens earlier on. So tell us about like, obviously TV is a different narrative and you were much better at that, But what was the thought process between that with you and Sarah.
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Speaker 3: I mean, I came onto the project once the scripts had already been written, so Sarah. But I know that Sarah and Bad Wolf and Jane Tranter and Kate Crowther and Rebecca have been working on the scripts for years. It's been a long time in the making, and I know that they'd really dug in and done a lot of reworking, and so it was it was great for me because I sort of came in and there were all these great half hour scripts and I was like, oh, great, you know lovely, But I know that they went through a very laborious process. I have to get I'll have to introduce you to Sarah. You should interview Sarah. She's so lovely and she'll be able to tell you, yeah, all of these things because she really went on a journey with Mary wonderful.
00:21:23
Speaker 1: We've got some questions from some listeners.
00:21:26
Speaker 3: Oh exciting.
00:21:27
Speaker 2: One of the first ones is is bring it up here. This is from our listener Cozzy, who is also a massive fan of the show. There's so many questions from Cozzy, but I'm going to do one of the favorite ones that we had. She wanted to know your thoughts on the Gardeners as potentially the most important narrative characters in Pride and Prejudice, So taking Lizzie to the legs and starting her transformation of the feelings from mister Darcy and urging them all to go to Pembley and now in you know Tops as we've named it, helping Mary and actually being Mary's sort of cheerleader.
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Speaker 3: Yes, yes, I mean and India of Varma, who plays Missus Gardner, is just the loveliest person in the world. And she brought so much of that warmth that we needed from Missus Gardner because Mary just needs someone to sort of give her permission to be herself and to just say, you know, what do you think and throw the kind of insecurities away a little bit and sort of give her space to grow. And that's what she provides so beautifully. And I think Missus Gardner in the Pride of Prejudice is so completely key to Lizzie and mister Darcy. I mean, if she doesn't tell Lizzie about the fact that Darcy had paid for Lydia's wedding and said it all up, you know, she never would have known that, and they might never have got together. I mean, she's pivotal, she's a key character and in our show. Yeah, she just gives Mary this wonderful safe space to grow and support and encouragement that she just never had. And it's so lovely. I just, yeah, I love her so much.
00:22:56
Speaker 1: I'm going to cry. I'm going to cry remembering about the fact that no one is required to sparkle.
00:23:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, such a great line.
00:23:05
Speaker 3: And I love heard telling her about the bonnets, and that's something like looking at me Mary and Mary being like, what don't I don't get away some dusky pink.
00:23:17
Speaker 1: It's funny.
00:23:19
Speaker 3: I love it.
00:23:21
Speaker 1: We've got another one. Is there a secondary character from another novel that you think deserves this treatment, that we need to see the book retold through their eyes?
00:23:34
Speaker 3: Well, funny enough, it's funny you should say that because there might be something in the works that's a similar vibe to the other Benets is saying that it takes a character from a beloved Austin novel and places them in their own story. But I can't say what it is. We won't get your job.
00:23:56
Speaker 2: But that's enough to taste us for a couple of months.
00:23:58
Speaker 1: That's enough for me just to talk to you about that for a month.
00:24:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll bring that out. We'll go through every novel. Oh my gosh, So let me ask let me divert your wife from that case you get into trouble. You know what, You've had such an incredible career up until now, The notes love extraordinary, You've got you do your own films as well with Rose, and you've been nominated for awards to that. What does something like this, doing a show of this as someone in the in the industry, what does this do for your career? And where do you think? Like right now, I could think I could do this because of Mary.
00:24:37
Speaker 3: That's a really good question. I mean, I feel like I've been incredibly lucky because I was an editor for twelve years and then I've sort of made a short film with my dog and it won a prize and then they were like, well, now you have to make another short film with the prize money and I was like, I haven't even worked that is yet. And then I did some did some small things with actors that were very low budget, and then I used the prize money to make it sure and I just fell in love with actors and being on set. And it took me a long time after that to sort of break through because I just had I sort of unlocked something in myself that I couldn't put back away. So I just kept making short films. I made too many. I think I made about thirteen union, but it eventually it did lead to opportunities in television. And when I made my very low budget horror film Rose, it came out during Lockdown, which was quite a shame because I didn't get to have any Red Carfit moments. But it was really well received, and I was really toughed because I didn't expect it to do as well as it did. And that sort of opened the door to adult television and drama. And I've been trying really hard to not be locked into one genre because I love comedy, I love horror, I love sci fi, I love periods rather and I've been so lucky. I just think I've been incredibly lucky to get to play in so many different worlds so far. So when the Other Bennett Sister came along, I just thought, gosh, this is my dream job. And I knew that they were making they were remaking Private Prejudice as well. I remember talking to my agent about it and I was like, I really love I said, but I don't know if I could remake it, Like, I just think I just don't think I could improve on the ninety five version. To me, that's perfect perfection. I was like, I just don't know if I could tackle it. Not that they asked me for it, but my agent was then like he was like. He caught me up a week later and he said, so, you know how you said you like Private Prejudice. I was like yes, and I was thinking, oh my god, this Netflix, what's happened. And then he said, well, there's this called the Other Bennett's Sister. They want to meet you. And I was like, oh my goodness, me okay, And then I read the scripts and I was just like, this is a dream. It's a dream job. I just threw everything at it. So when I got it, it was just yeah, it was beyond my wildest dreams and it's really difficult to know where to go from there because obviously see Tobbs is so brilliant and the BBC are definitely keen for more of the same, and that's really exciting because any opportunity to go back and do anything with that cast or with a new cast that's in a similar but different world, I would absolutely relate. But I've just finished I'm just finishing a show called War, which is for HBO and Sky. It's completely different. It's like a courtroom drama starring Dominic West and Sienna Miller, which is completely different from, yeah, from Tobbs. So I'm so happy that I'm able to play in different worlds. So as long as I could keep doing that, I'd be really happy. Yeah, but just as long as all the stories have kind of got really human characters that you can care about and get behind, and yeah, bring them on a journey, That's that's the most important thing for me.
00:27:50
Speaker 1: Oh, Jennifer, thank you so much for your time. We've it's just been it's been an absolute joy to talk to you, and thank you so much for that, but also thank you for what you've made. It's made it's all so incredibly happy.
00:28:03
Speaker 2: I think you can see that with people online. They're just it is really such great viewing. It's not just comfort viewing. It's more than that's elevated. It's like all the bits of comedy you put into it and all the emotion and the heart you put into it takes it to such another level that it makes it imminently rewatchable, and it's it's perfect. It's so great.
00:28:22
Speaker 1: You've made a classic already.
00:28:24
Speaker 3: Oh. I mean that honestly means the world. The fact that other people would find comfort in rewatching something in the way that I did. You know that that really means everything. So thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Hi, Hello, Hello.
00:00:04
Speaker 2: Have you been a mini drop top day? This is not mini mere No, this is not at all. This is mega mega this is mega mega drop and we are just so humbled and thrilled. We've just finished the interview we have and we're just coming on just to get you straight to the interview. But this is someone who reached out to us on social media doing one of our silly posts about how much we love the other Bedet sister as much as you guys do. She is an incredible she's the lead director of the show. She's directed two seasons of Extraordinary on Disney. Plus she's a Beer Fun nominated director for her film Rose, a Love Story, which she mentions in the interview as well. Jennifer Sheridan is just what a delight.
00:00:44
Speaker 1: Absolutely amazing, absolutely amazing. But let's not beat around the bush. Is Jennifer.
00:00:52
Speaker 2: Jennifer. I'm David, this is Lisa, and this is just absolutely mind blowing that you've said yesterday, so huge fan. So we are thrilled, Thank you, thank you.
00:01:03
Speaker 3: I've been really enjoying your episodes, so it's been brilliant.
00:01:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, really nice, really, Oh my god, that's amazing. Thank you for listening.
00:01:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, it's it's it's really rare that you get to do a job that you love this much. So when it goes out into the world, it's really scary because you just don't know how people are going to respond to it, and there's always that risk, you know, that some people just aren't gonna like it. And I think when you fall in love with something this much. I was saying to people that I've spent my whole career building a really thick skin, and this show has like made it paper thin. I just could not handle anyone being mean about Mary. I don't think I'd be able to handle it. So listening to your podcast has just been so nice. And I sent them to Ella as well, did I did?
00:01:50
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, Oh, I mean it. I think that that really embodies what the show is, the way that you're feeling about it, because it is that that openness, that kindness that you're putting out into the world, just as Mary is. It was that in your mind when you made.
00:02:10
Speaker 3: It, Yeah, definitely. I mean when we were casting Mary, it was really hard because we were trying to find someone who could kind of present that prickly sort of you know, water of for ducks back Mary that doesn't you know, seem to rise above it or but really it's obviously a defense mechanism that she's devised to deal with her family and then but it was interesting because some of the scenes are so vulnerable and if you get the wrong actor. Because Ella's amazing because she can play vulnerability, she can play pithiness, she can play comedy, like there's nothing that Ella can't do. She's amazing. But some of the actors when I was watching auditions, they were so vulnerable that I thought, oh my gosh, this this show is going to be really hard to watch because it'll be like watching a puppy get kicked. Like at least the two episodes the first, you know, and I was like, oh gosh. And then when Ella came and just brought Ella, you know, I was like, Okay, we're going to be okay. People are going to be they're going to feel things, but they're not going to be like I can't watch this. This person has enough sort of grit about her that you sort of believe that she would have she would have found her way.
00:03:24
Speaker 2: Ultimately, it's also interesting for Ella as well, when you go from being in many ensembles and working as an actor to becoming number one on the call sheet and how you then are part of what the set is like as the days go on. So what was it like having someone like Ella have to step up into this role and then you work with her and direct her, and then how everyone responded to that and how she responded to everyone's I guess attention.
00:03:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I mean I definitely think the number one person on the coll sheet sets a lot of the tone for the set and the kind of atmosphere. And because Ella is so humble and lovely and you just you meet her and you can't help but instantly sort of fall in love with her, and she's just she's she's very marryish in that she's quite clumsy and funny and doesn't take herself very well. Actually I guess Mary does take in some ways. But yeah, it was it just set a really lovely atmosphere. Everyone who came in fell in love with her, fell in love with Mary. I mean, it was there was no other job like it because crewmembers would just walk past the monitor and Ella would be on there and they just go, oh, Mary, And it was just like everyone just couldn't help it. You just could help it. You just went, oh, Mary, oh, you know, and that scene in the Netherfield when she cries to missus Gardner after singing and not going well, we were just in floods of tears. Meet and Sarah quench out the right. We were just stood behind the monitors, just like looking at it. I just couldn't bear to see Ella cry it. Really, I don't know. She cut straight to my heart. I just love her so much. But I'd actually had the pleasure of working with Ella on a show called Extraordinary, which is like a Disney Plus and Hulu kind of superhero show. And she came in and funnily enough, she played like the school bully who'd kind of grown up and tried to change, but ultimately it was still a bit of a bully at heart, like completely different to Mary. But Ella just came in, she was only in for a few days, and she just nailed it, like she's just yeah. I remember, Lucy, you were saying in one of the episodes about how you know you see her blush in scenes in time. I mean, I'm so amazing that you pick up on that, because that was one of the things that really shocked me about working with her is that not only could she blush within a scene, but obviously you're doing multiple takes in multiple angles, and she would the continuity of the blush would stay the same, And I was like, how is she doing there?
00:06:00
Speaker 1: That is athing Santaslavski planned for you? Was trying for the second take.
00:06:04
Speaker 2: You've got to try for the blushing for sure.
00:06:07
Speaker 3: But it's so authentic. Yeah, it really is. You just believe everything that she does. I just believe it one hundred percent so special.
00:06:18
Speaker 1: So can we just go back in time to what is your gateway drug into Jane Austin? Was it the nineteen eighty five?
00:06:29
Speaker 3: It was? Yes, So I was elemon when that came out, And I distinctly remember Sunday night, sitting down with my mum, turn off the main light so it's nice and up, and then you just hear the din and my heart would just lift, like, oh my god, I'm so excited. And I just loved I mean, I loved that music in particular, but I just loved everything about it. For me. It was perfect direction, perfect casting. There's nothing I find fault with in that whole adaptation. I just I love it, and I've since watched it, Like anytime I've got a slight cold, I'll just stick it on. Sometimes I've been known to finish it and then start it again because I just I just love those characters. I love being with them. I'm just one of those people that if I love something, I'll just watch it. Of course, so.
00:07:23
Speaker 1: You know that people are finding that about the other Bennet's sister too. So I've got a friend who watches it. An episode will come out and she'll watch it multiple times in a row.
00:07:35
Speaker 2: Or Mickey, Oh yeah, Mickey the Punker, the punk rocker.
00:07:38
Speaker 1: Do you know Micky the Punk.
00:07:40
Speaker 3: No, I'd love to know Micky.
00:07:41
Speaker 2: We're going to speak to her next week.
00:07:43
Speaker 1: Mickey the Punk is an avid Jane Austen fan, and you can tell from her tattoos and also an actual bona fide punk and.
00:07:53
Speaker 3: From TikTok Yes, yes, oh yes, yes, I love her, Yes and she she does. Yeah.
00:08:02
Speaker 1: So the other Ben is just becoming. You know, it's something could never replace Private Bridges nine ninety five, but it's alongside it, and it's good for us to have another five hours.
00:08:12
Speaker 2: So we're growing up on it and loving it as much as you do. Getting Lucy Bryers to be, you know, in your show is just this wonderful, you know, through line between the two series. How was it when you thought, did you think maybe we could get.
00:08:28
Speaker 3: Her for Hill? Well, it was Sarah the writer's idea. It was such an inspired and brilliant idea, and we didn't know if she would of course, you know, she could have easily said no. But she's so lovely and she loves the world too, which she just comes across, and she loves Mary and it was just such a wonderful experience having her there. And I have this this booklet you can get on line. It's the Making of Pride and Prejudice ninety five. It's like it's Brilliant's got all the kind of behind the scenes stuff. And I said, I trying to be professional because obviously director is both be very professional. And I said, I said, Lucy, I'm so sorry to ask you this, but do you think you could sign my book the Maker Bridges. She's of course, I'm worried, you know, she said, great, something really lovely. Yeah, she's just wonderful. I really love her portrayal of Hill as well, so funny just her looks between John Sparrow and Mary, which is brilliant. I love those. Yeah, she's great.
00:09:27
Speaker 1: Are you planning the shots? I mean there's this one shot in particular when Mary goes to London and she and Hill are face to face and their frame within the window, and to me, it was just the most satisfying meta moment to see our Mary, the Mary that we grew up with and the new Mary, this sort of like doctor who is of the different Mary's meeting in a timeline and the beauty of that, the synchronicity. Did you think this is what I'm going to do with this or what was the thought process behind that?
00:10:09
Speaker 3: That's a really good question, because we did. We shotlisted everything, me and my amazing DP Luke Bryant, and he's so talented, and I can't remember if I felt like it was his idea to put the the what do you call it, the technic crame through the carriage and pull out through the carriage. And I, because I my mind isn't always that technical. I'm kind of a bit more visual, and I just didn't know that you could do that. So he was like, we could put it through the carriage, and put it and I was like, oh, that sounds lovely. Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing that. Then and then he did it, and I was like, I love this, this is amazing, you know. So yeah, so he brought a lot of his creative wonderfulness to it as well.
00:10:49
Speaker 2: I find a lot of the things that you you doing this and then how it's staged. I mean, there is a wonderful use of just what feels like natural lighting. You know, we just watched episode seven here and with mister Collins almost in the shadows in the library as he's sort of darkened in the shadows, and contrary to that that episode with mister Rider comes to Pemberley, and I was saying to Lisa, did you notice that every time the mister Rider's talking, he's in the light somehow he's in the back lit side lip, He's in the sunlight every time he speaks to and she sees him, he's lit in this certain way that makes him glow. And so I wondered, like, your style is so varied, and your use of lighting, in the use of you know, the depth of what's going on in a scene is so varied. How long does it take to set these things up into rehearse.
00:11:33
Speaker 3: Oh that's a really good question. I mean, I can't take any credit for those scenes in particular, because that's you're.
00:11:39
Speaker 2: Going to have to sooner or later Jennifer with no one else her.
00:11:43
Speaker 3: I actually didn't direct those episodes, so I genuinely can't take credittion trip. But Simona Sisnea was the DP of the second half of the show, and she's very, very talented. I think she does some beautiful things, and it was what was nice about having two directors is that I feel like Asim could take quite a bit of ownership over his episodes because he's he's impimblely, you know. So I had Longbourne and then the Gardener's House, and he goes back to the Gardener's House, of course, but he gets to sort of explore new territory with the legs and everything. I mean, I wasn't at all jealous about any of that. I totally fine with it, actually, but yeah, so yeah, it was a really like collaborative, lovely process, and I think Asim and Simona did such a beautiful job with the second half of the series. And it's excuse me, it is always tricky, isn't it because you have to. When you're setting up a show, you're trying to make something that's distinctive and feels like its own thing. And obviously you know you're going to get compared to Bridgeton, you know you're going to get pared compared to the Joe Wright film. And there were definitely, especially from Joe Wright film, them definitely inspirations I took, you know, the kind of long lensy dance scenes where people in front of the lens passing and it feels messy, and I really liked what he did in the film with that, and I really wanted those dance scenes in particular to feel really lively and rowdy and fun. But yeah, the bridget in this is tricky because they have a very specific color palette and we wanted as to feel fresh and like bright and lovely. We didn't want it to feel too dark. But we really used Mary as our north star because when she's at Longbourn, she's surrounded by all these beautiful sisters and they're all dressed in the colours that had taken inspiration from Flowers, which was done by our incredible costume designers, Sean Jenkins, and she's just a bit more muted, and she's quite often in beige, and she just is sort of trying to sort of blend into the background and distinguish ourselves in herself in her own way. And then when she goes to London and she gets to choose her own colors and be her own person, almost overcorrects because you know, she's like, Oh, I get to choose my colors. Okay, great, I'm going to go for lime green. It's bold, and it's really bold, and it's just about her testing the waters of the edges of who she is and you know, what feels right for her. And I think by the end of the show she feels much more homogenized in her environment. She sort of she's found her place in the world, and I feel like the colors reflect that really beautifully.
00:14:30
Speaker 1: That's something a theme that runs so beautifully through the whole series is that question of being yourself with your approach to this, What did you bring of yourself into this?
00:14:48
Speaker 3: If I'm asking about you being you, I mean, I'm from a comedy background, so I've my instincts are very comedy lead and I did bring and I was because I didn't know if the BBC would be happy with how far I was pushing the comedy, so I would sort of get options, like you know the bit where Missus Bennett's like fanning Missus Hill in the head. I thought, okay, well let's get a version where you don't find him at the head, just in case, you know, that's like a step too far. And then when Ryan Sampson turns up to mister Collins, I was like, well, I'm gonna just enjoy him for all that he the comedy genius that he is, and I put all of and I kept all of his little noises that he makes when he birth bows and stuff, and I was like, is someone going to tell me to take any of this down or like tone it down? But thankfully they didn't. They just embrace the fact that it was like funny, And because I don't think it takes away from the emotional moments, I think you earn those because you've it hasn't all just been quite sort of Marry not having a nice time.
00:15:50
Speaker 1: But absolutely the moment where she blows the candle out and stubs her toe, and thinking about the blowing the candle out that Lizzie does in ninety five, look I can't say enough things without sounding mental.
00:16:09
Speaker 2: Can I ask about then if we go to the parents, if we go to you know, having mister and missus Bennett cast the way of done. I mean, Ruth is sensational, hilarious and frightening in this show, truly, and she really does flip and it's an extraordinary thing to watch because you know, we all know and love her as this sort of comedy grade. And clearly I've been watching the social media of all the behind the scenes and the cast of Door and how naughty she is, which doesn't surprise me, but she does tend to have this sort of like she can turn on a dime with Missus Bennett. I think that's an extraordinary gift that she has. How is it to direct her? Since you both come from comedy, it would be easy to stay on the gags.
00:16:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, she's so fun. I mean, I loved her and she would say she would say to me, you know, rain me and Jen if you want to rain me, and ask like, oh, I don't really want to read you is you know, we would call to get variations on her performance. But I just enjoyed her so much, and I think, you know, a lot of people have said that they were surprised by how mean Missus Bennett was, and I do get that, but I think we were really going for the idea that every sibling has different experiences of their parents, Like you grew up in the same house, but you don't grow up in the same with the same experience of parents. And quite often, you know, I think any sibling who's had an older sibling, usually the older sibling thinks that the younger siblings got away with murder. And there's all these kind of tropes, and it's just it's just a natural part of parenting. I think that you know, with the first one, it's like, oh my gosh, we've got to keep this one alive by all means, and you know, it's very exciting, and then by the second and third maybe you're a bit more like, yeah, yeah, they're fine, that'd be fine. But I think with Mary, you have to imagine that she's kind of come through puberty that couldn't have been easy for anyone, and she presents as someone whose words do not hurt. You know, she's like water of a duck's back because she's always got this kind of front and she's always got something clever to say, because she thinks that's her thing. It's like, I'm going to be the clever one. I'm going to be the intellectual one, and I'm going to say clever thing. Some people are going to be dazzled by my wit. And obviously it's like a defense mechanism that she's built up because she doesn't fit what her sisters are, which is confident and easy and social and pretty and all of the things that make it very easy to be a woman.
00:18:31
Speaker 2: And smart is smart. It's just smart, and.
00:18:34
Speaker 3: Smart isn't a character exactly, And she is always looking for the answer in books. She's like, I'm going to find out how to be a human. Someone's going to tell me. Four dice is probably going to tell me, you know. But also, I quite like Rocks, so I'm going to learn about theology at the same time. But where was I going with that threat? Oh yeah, so missus Bennett. So I think family members can be quite cruel, almost without realizing it, especially if they have a sibling that they think the things they say doesn't impact, which is I think how we've got to this position with Mary is that it's been a long time of barbs that just haven't hit and therefore just keep coming because they're like fun to say and they don't seem to hurt her. But we the audience, we get to see those moments of you know, her pulling her skin and picking her nails, because we see that she feels really, really deeply, and that's how I wanted to kind of show the story is the family version, and then we go beyond that. We get to see behind Mary on her own, you know, covering the mirror and those moments of self reflection where you can just see her reeling from some of the things that her family have said to her. It's so heartbreaking her come talking about it. But yeah, so I totally understand why people have felt that Missus Bennett is so mean, But that is Mary's Missus Bennett. That's the Mary version, and unfortunately she is booler she is.
00:20:05
Speaker 2: Can we ask about the structuring of the series compared to what the book is, you know, and how you and Sarah and your team approached that, you know, because we know that people have read the book that it all starts out, it goes a certain way, and she doesn't get to London until about halfway through and mister Collins and everything that happens with her, which are the episodes we just watched happens earlier on. So tell us about like, obviously TV is a different narrative and you were much better at that, But what was the thought process between that with you and Sarah.
00:20:36
Speaker 3: I mean, I came onto the project once the scripts had already been written, so Sarah. But I know that Sarah and Bad Wolf and Jane Tranter and Kate Crowther and Rebecca have been working on the scripts for years. It's been a long time in the making, and I know that they'd really dug in and done a lot of reworking, and so it was it was great for me because I sort of came in and there were all these great half hour scripts and I was like, oh, great, you know lovely, But I know that they went through a very laborious process. I have to get I'll have to introduce you to Sarah. You should interview Sarah. She's so lovely and she'll be able to tell you, yeah, all of these things because she really went on a journey with Mary wonderful.
00:21:23
Speaker 1: We've got some questions from some listeners.
00:21:26
Speaker 3: Oh exciting.
00:21:27
Speaker 2: One of the first ones is is bring it up here. This is from our listener Cozzy, who is also a massive fan of the show. There's so many questions from Cozzy, but I'm going to do one of the favorite ones that we had. She wanted to know your thoughts on the Gardeners as potentially the most important narrative characters in Pride and Prejudice, So taking Lizzie to the legs and starting her transformation of the feelings from mister Darcy and urging them all to go to Pembley and now in you know Tops as we've named it, helping Mary and actually being Mary's sort of cheerleader.
00:21:58
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, I mean and India of Varma, who plays Missus Gardner, is just the loveliest person in the world. And she brought so much of that warmth that we needed from Missus Gardner because Mary just needs someone to sort of give her permission to be herself and to just say, you know, what do you think and throw the kind of insecurities away a little bit and sort of give her space to grow. And that's what she provides so beautifully. And I think Missus Gardner in the Pride of Prejudice is so completely key to Lizzie and mister Darcy. I mean, if she doesn't tell Lizzie about the fact that Darcy had paid for Lydia's wedding and said it all up, you know, she never would have known that, and they might never have got together. I mean, she's pivotal, she's a key character and in our show. Yeah, she just gives Mary this wonderful safe space to grow and support and encouragement that she just never had. And it's so lovely. I just, yeah, I love her so much.
00:22:56
Speaker 1: I'm going to cry. I'm going to cry remembering about the fact that no one is required to sparkle.
00:23:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, such a great line.
00:23:05
Speaker 3: And I love heard telling her about the bonnets, and that's something like looking at me Mary and Mary being like, what don't I don't get away some dusky pink.
00:23:17
Speaker 1: It's funny.
00:23:19
Speaker 3: I love it.
00:23:21
Speaker 1: We've got another one. Is there a secondary character from another novel that you think deserves this treatment, that we need to see the book retold through their eyes?
00:23:34
Speaker 3: Well, funny enough, it's funny you should say that because there might be something in the works that's a similar vibe to the other Benets is saying that it takes a character from a beloved Austin novel and places them in their own story. But I can't say what it is. We won't get your job.
00:23:56
Speaker 2: But that's enough to taste us for a couple of months.
00:23:58
Speaker 1: That's enough for me just to talk to you about that for a month.
00:24:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll bring that out. We'll go through every novel. Oh my gosh, So let me ask let me divert your wife from that case you get into trouble. You know what, You've had such an incredible career up until now, The notes love extraordinary, You've got you do your own films as well with Rose, and you've been nominated for awards to that. What does something like this, doing a show of this as someone in the in the industry, what does this do for your career? And where do you think? Like right now, I could think I could do this because of Mary.
00:24:37
Speaker 3: That's a really good question. I mean, I feel like I've been incredibly lucky because I was an editor for twelve years and then I've sort of made a short film with my dog and it won a prize and then they were like, well, now you have to make another short film with the prize money and I was like, I haven't even worked that is yet. And then I did some did some small things with actors that were very low budget, and then I used the prize money to make it sure and I just fell in love with actors and being on set. And it took me a long time after that to sort of break through because I just had I sort of unlocked something in myself that I couldn't put back away. So I just kept making short films. I made too many. I think I made about thirteen union, but it eventually it did lead to opportunities in television. And when I made my very low budget horror film Rose, it came out during Lockdown, which was quite a shame because I didn't get to have any Red Carfit moments. But it was really well received, and I was really toughed because I didn't expect it to do as well as it did. And that sort of opened the door to adult television and drama. And I've been trying really hard to not be locked into one genre because I love comedy, I love horror, I love sci fi, I love periods rather and I've been so lucky. I just think I've been incredibly lucky to get to play in so many different worlds so far. So when the Other Bennett Sister came along, I just thought, gosh, this is my dream job. And I knew that they were making they were remaking Private Prejudice as well. I remember talking to my agent about it and I was like, I really love I said, but I don't know if I could remake it, Like, I just think I just don't think I could improve on the ninety five version. To me, that's perfect perfection. I was like, I just don't know if I could tackle it. Not that they asked me for it, but my agent was then like he was like. He caught me up a week later and he said, so, you know how you said you like Private Prejudice. I was like yes, and I was thinking, oh my god, this Netflix, what's happened. And then he said, well, there's this called the Other Bennett's Sister. They want to meet you. And I was like, oh my goodness, me okay, And then I read the scripts and I was just like, this is a dream. It's a dream job. I just threw everything at it. So when I got it, it was just yeah, it was beyond my wildest dreams and it's really difficult to know where to go from there because obviously see Tobbs is so brilliant and the BBC are definitely keen for more of the same, and that's really exciting because any opportunity to go back and do anything with that cast or with a new cast that's in a similar but different world, I would absolutely relate. But I've just finished I'm just finishing a show called War, which is for HBO and Sky. It's completely different. It's like a courtroom drama starring Dominic West and Sienna Miller, which is completely different from, yeah, from Tobbs. So I'm so happy that I'm able to play in different worlds. So as long as I could keep doing that, I'd be really happy. Yeah, but just as long as all the stories have kind of got really human characters that you can care about and get behind, and yeah, bring them on a journey, That's that's the most important thing for me.
00:27:50
Speaker 1: Oh, Jennifer, thank you so much for your time. We've it's just been it's been an absolute joy to talk to you, and thank you so much for that, but also thank you for what you've made. It's made it's all so incredibly happy.
00:28:03
Speaker 2: I think you can see that with people online. They're just it is really such great viewing. It's not just comfort viewing. It's more than that's elevated. It's like all the bits of comedy you put into it and all the emotion and the heart you put into it takes it to such another level that it makes it imminently rewatchable, and it's it's perfect. It's so great.
00:28:22
Speaker 1: You've made a classic already.
00:28:24
Speaker 3: Oh. I mean that honestly means the world. The fact that other people would find comfort in rewatching something in the way that I did. You know that that really means everything. So thank you so much.
