Bad Wolf to adapt Janice Hadlow’s forthcoming novel The Other Elliot Sister

Bad Wolf has landed a follow-up to BBC1 period drama The Other Bennet Sister, based on the forthcoming Janice Hadlow novel The Other Elliot Sister.

The Other Bennet Sister, which is returning for a three-part Christmas special, followed the oft-overlooked sister in the Bennet family from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The Other Elliot Sister is expected to do the same for one of the two sisters of protagonist Anne Elliot in Austen’s last novel Persuasion.

BBC drama director Lindsay Salt revealed the commission at the Edinburgh TV Festival, pointing to the success of the first series, which aired in March, and the performance of its lead actor Ella Bruccoleri as Mary Bennet.

“We are going to do more in that world,” she said. “I think we’ve found a really fun brand where we’ve refreshed period drama on the BBC.”

The Other Bennet Sister was the biggest launch of a new drama across all platforms and streamers in the UK since May last year, with 7.3m viewers watching in its first 28 days, according to BBC figures.

The show also landed on BritBox in the US and Canada, driving five times more new subscribers in its first five weeks than any previous launch on the service.