You’d be forgiven for thinking that piety comes naturally to Brucolleri, who was brought up Roman Catholic but tells Radio Times she’s now agnostic. She’ll be familiar to many as Sister Frances in Call the Midwife, others might have recognised her in a small role as Sister Rosita in Paddington in Peru. Those roles don’t find her because of her upbringing, however. “I just have this kind of nun-like face!” she says.
Appropriately, Mary Bennet’s relationship with religion is hard to decipher, even as the BBC’s adaptation of Janice Hadlow’s novel of the same name expands her beyond Pride and Prejudice. It grants Mary a complexity lacking in other adaptations but for Brucolleri, in her first lead role, it was a new experience.
Read more:
The Other Bennet Sister star reveals why she left Call the Midwife and talks beloved Pride & Prejudice characterRuth Jones reveals what she told Gavin & Stacey icon Alison Steadman about the beloved Jane Austen role they now shareThat movement made Brucolleri’s filming experience elastic. Portraying the more morose side of Mary in Longbourn and later Pemberley, “I felt really conscious that it was slightly on me to set the tone for how filming went,” she says. “I would sometimes start to inhabit Mary a little too much on the set of Longbourn because I had all my sisters around me with these beautiful dresses and I was there in my grey monk’s robe. I sometimes felt a bit grumpy.”
That contrasted with the experience of filming in London where, as Mary opens up under the purview of the Gardiners (Richard Coyle and Indira Varma), Brucolleri also lightened. This was, in part, for having children on set and that necessitating a less serious mood in between takes. “[But] they’re also like big children, Indira and Richard,” Brucolleri says. “They’re such brilliant actors, and two of our most respected actors, [but] they’re incredibly silly people.”
It’s part of a broader program by Varma and Coyle to help relieve some of pressure Brucolleri felt by making “Ella regress into a million giggles,” she says. “A good reminder you shouldn't take anything that seriously.” That sense of support filters through the entire series for Brucolleri. First, with Richard E. Grant as Mr. Bennet – “he’s been wanting to play that character for a long time” – and Jones, and later Varma and Coyle.
“I've done jobs where I'm just showing up and doing the work and maybe I'm not insanely passionate about this, or invested in this,” she says. “I understand if other people show up and it's just a job for them. That was not the case with an ybody on that set. I was blown away by how everyone really cares and was really invested in the story and in their character, and people were putting in so much time and effort behind-the-scenes.”
It also makes her reticent to take on anything as long-term as Call the Midwife right now. She doesn’t rule it out – nor a return to the series when it returns from its hiatus.
An answer that might have been different immediately after exiting when, with no work booked, she did doubt momentarily whether it was the right decision. But if leaving is something Mary fears then Brucolleri has accepted the natural rhythm of a working actor that makes change a gift; albeit laced with the occasional worry when jobs end.
“I just really love variety,” she says. “I love doing something completely different.” That makes what comes next for an actress that, despite an abundance of nuns in her career thus far, has already collated a body of curious and characterful roles.
This prompts Brucolleri – who hails from North Yorkshire – to return to The Other Bennet Sister for a final thought. As it brings modern sensibilities to regency period dramas, she takes a moment to note how the series is packed with Northern actors and, more importantly, Northern voices. It’s part of a diverse cast of voices that’s opening up a story often reserved for Southern voices on-screen.
Having come to Austen later in life as a result, Brucolleri hopes The Other Bennet Sister, following in the footsteps of series like Bridgerton – in which Brucolleri has also appeared – might erode some of the barriers past voices may have erected around period dramas. Whether it’s Northern actors still speaking with received pronunciation – “We were all a bit taken aback by how many Northerners they trusted to do that,” she says – or those speaking in their own regional accents.
A recent trend in modernised period dramas, combining authentic production and costuming with more modern sensibilities and ideas, offers a more accessible way into period dramas. If The Other Bennet Sister changed some minds about Austen, and the broader genre; “if this could be a gateway drug to reading more Austen,” Brucolleri says, “that would be really, really cool".
Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Add The Other Bennet Sister to your watchlist on the Radio Times: What to Watch app – download now for daily TV recommendations, features and more.
Hence then, the article about the other bennet sister s ella bruccoleri on stepping into austen s world and stepping away from call the midwife was published today ( ) and is available on Radio Times ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The Other Bennet Sister's Ella Bruccoleri on stepping into Austen's world and stepping away from Call the Midwife )
Also on site :