BritBox, BBC commission 10-part Jane Austen drama

BritBox, the BBC and production company Bad Wolf have commissioned The Other Elliot Sister, a 10-part drama centered on Elizabeth Elliot, the eldest sister in Jane Austen’s Persuasion. Production is planned to begin in 2027, and no release date has been announced.

The series is the first announced title in Austen Untold, an anthology project focused on overlooked characters from Austen’s novels. Sarah Quintrell, who adapted The Other Bennet Sister, is adapting the new drama from Janice Hadlow’s forthcoming novel of the same name.

The story shifts attention to Elizabeth, whose younger sister Anne is the central character in Persuasion. The series will follow Elizabeth’s perspective on the novel’s world. In the original story, the Elliot family moves to Bath amid financial difficulties and rents out its estate.

The production is planned for BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the United Kingdom, and BritBox in the United States and Canada. Sony Pictures Television is named as the series’ international distributor.

The commission extends a strategy of adapting Austen stories through characters who receive less attention in the novels. The Other Bennet Sister, centered on Mary Bennet from...