So take us through the process of humanizing her and making us laugh at And with Mary Bennet

Yeah, I, I feel that it's, a lot of it is on the page, the way that Sarah writes these multidimensional characters.

Because Mary is, specifically someone like Mary, who's always been seen as a bit of a trope, really, a bit of an archetype of someone that's kind of sanctimonious and preachy, and she's this sort of comical figure to be laughed at.

But no one had ever attempted before, I mean, I know other people wrote books about Mary other than Janice Hadlow, but attempted to see, uh, all these kind of different sides to her and why she'd decided to sort of brand herself as this intellectual, uh, scholar.

And, um, Sarah did that.

She kind of showed, like, many, many different faces to Mary.

When I was filming it, I felt a bit worried that it wasn't gonna be cohesive, 'cause I was like, I'm showing a human here that's, like, capable of being very guarded and shutting down emotionally, but also capable of, like, r- raucously laughing while she's being thrown around a dance floor, and also capable of, uh, yeah, many, many levels of vulnerability.

Oh.

Yeah, and what a world to be

part of.

Yeah, and what a lovely thing to do with Lucy Bryars as well.

I know.

The original.

I know.

I was quite starstruck.

Which I was kind of, I was impressed that you could

Which Jane Austen character are you going to start a fight with and why? Oh, I love that

question.

From Pride and Prech or just anyone? Anyone.

God, all right.

Do you know what? Maybe in this, who's Marianne and who's Eleanor out of the Sense and Sensibility sisters, the Dashwood sisters? Yeah, yeah.

Which one was the Kate Winslet one? I think it was, I think it's Marianne.

I could be wrong, but that character.

just thinking that because she doesn't steal mr collins but like she does she straight up does but in my head i'm like she didn't really have a choice she like wanted to get my but then he was interested in obviously lizzie but she didn't like him no i know if i was lizzie i was like what the fuck yeah

Yeah

... and the dialogue just felt really real to me and really almost kind of messy, and it was still, she nails that archaic language of the time, but it just feels real.

So, um, I had a lot of joy with just thinking, "Well, that's what I'm gonna try and do with this, is just, um, create someone who's multifaceted and, and very, and try my best to j- create someone who's very, um, real." And I did think when we were doing it, "Is this gonna be cohesive at all?" [laughs] 'Cause I was, 'cause we showcase all the different sides to Mary, and I was like, "Is this gonna make any sense? Is this too many sides to someone's personality, and at some point do you need to reduce it down so it makes sense?" But, um, I think that was the joy of it...

was trying to do that

Yeah.

I mean, I, I do think I experienced that growing up, but then I sort of feel like ...

Uh, 'cause when I get ...

Well, it's funny 'cause when I read Sarah's scripts and when I connected to Mary, I, um, I, yeah, read her scripts and I was going to audition for it, and I connected with it in, like, a really visceral way.

That's so, so true.

Sometimes they get in that big scrum and you think they're fighting on, on the inside there, but you don't know what's going on.

Yeah.

It's one of the places I've, I've really, really gotta go to.

Um, I really wanna see it.

It looks beautiful out there.

This is the first time that Mary has been given her own universe on the screen, so take us through the process of humanizing her and making us laugh at and with Mary Bennet.

Yeah, I, I feel that it's, a lot of it is on the page, the way that Sarah writes these multidimensional characters because Mary, it's, specifically someone like Mary, who's always been seen as a bit of a trope, really, a bit of an archetype of someone that's kind of sanctimonious and preachy, and she's this sort of comical figure to be laughed at.

But no one had ever attempted before, I mean, I know other people wrote books about Mary other than Janice Hadlow, but attempted to see, uh, all these kind of different sides to her and why she'd decided to sort of brand herself as this intellectual, uh, scholar, and, um, Sarah did that.

She kind of showed, like, many, many different faces to Mary.

When I was filming it, I felt a bit worried that it wasn't gonna be cohesive 'cause I was like, "I'm showing a human here that's, like, capable of being very guarded and shutting down emotionally, but also capable of, like, r- raucously laughing while she's being thrown around a dance floor and also capable of, uh, yeah, many, many levels of vulnerability." And I, I, I was worried that it wouldn't all tie together, but I think that's people, isn't it? We're so different around different people that we're with, and I, I was very grateful to be given the chance to show all those sides to her.

How important was that for you?

Yeah, yeah, really, really important.

If I'd been approached to do this by a group of men, I would [laughs] I would have, hold my hands up, been a bit skeptical about it because I would've been like, "You know, this is a very, very female story, and it is the female gaze." And I love how it's the men that are sort of objectified in our show rather than the women, and done in a way that's, like, far more sensual, I think, because I always think, you know, everything's kind of sexed up these days.

[laughs]

Oh, it's a big... yeah.

It's a, it's, um...

I mean, so Mary Bennet, she's the middle sister in Pride and Prejudice.

She's, um, pretty overlooked in that novel, I would say.

She's kind of, um, comically sanctimonious, the preachy, annoying one.

[laughs]

[laughs]

Yeah.

Okay.

That makes me feel really relieved, 'cause I, I was so late to the party with Austen.

I just didn't think she was a novelist for me growing up.

I'm from North Yorkshire in the UK, and I read a lot of Bronte.

And that was just more my world, and I thought Austen was ...

There's a big, [laughs] there's a big, like, north-south divide in the UK.

All right, now we're back here," and, and, you know?

Yeah, that's true.

I think it's helpful to see her as this arch-villain piece, do you know what I mean? I think our show is quite good at showing how complex it is, it's not that.

And I think she shows her love, I think she does love her daughters and I think she shows her love in a very practical way.

But it's like that whole love language thing, isn't it? Like, that's not how you receive.

I'm not going to receive loving that way.

I want to be nurtured and Mary wants to be cuddled and told that she does have something to offer.

And Mrs. Bennett's never going to do that.

Grant as your father?