That Viral ‘Other Bennet Sister’ Bird-Calling Scene Isn’t Just Fun, It’s the Key to the Show’s Romance

[Editor’s note: The following interview contains some spoilers for “The Other Bennet Sister” Episode 8, which is now streaming on BritBox.]

What’s a Jane Austen story without a great love? In the absolutely charming BritBox series “The Other Bennet Sister,” the perpetually misunderstood Mary Bennet (Ella Bruccoleri) isn’t necessarily looking for romance when she sets out for London, but it inevitably finds her. As in Janice Hadlow’s novel of the same name, which creator Sarah Quintrell adapted into 10 episodes of darling TV, Mary ends up with two suitors as she starts to come into her own, but as the series nears its finale, we suspect it’s clear who she really wants to end up with.

But that doesn’t mean it was easy for Quintrell to craft her small-screen version of shy, smart Mr. Tom Hayward (Dónal Finn). After all, if we’re watching five hours of TV, we really need our male lead to be up to snuff for our central lady.

Fortunately, Quintrell cracked the code on Mr. Hayward, and fans need not look much further than an already-viral scene in Episode 8 to see just why Finn’s character is such a match for Bruccoleri’s Mary Bennett. Quintrell previously told IndieWire about some of the character changes she made while adapting Hadlow’s novel to the screen, but Mr. Hayward required his own tweaks.

“I struggled to get Hayward to work, honestly, at the beginning,” Quintrell told IndieWire. “In the book, he works really, really well, but when I was translating that character directly to screen, he came across a little bit fatherly and a little bit like, ‘Aren’t you a funny little object?’ [toward Mary]. And I thought, ‘This is awkward.'”

It was during auditions that Quintrell realized her take on Hayward was not quite right, something she had to bring to Finn after his casting. “I sat down with him, and I said, ‘I am re-looking at Hayward at the moment. I’m going to make him much more of a male Mary, because I think that’s going to be more fun,'” she recalled. “I love that they bond over the death statistics of smallpox victims. And that her facts become flirtations and that he matches her. I felt like that’s a really lovely thing to be able to show. And Donal was like, ‘Oh, I thought I was going to be cool,’ and I was like, ‘No such luck, my friend.'”

But, as Quintrell said with a laugh, taking away any perceived “cool” factor from the part has “not harmed him in any way!” It actually made the part better, and gave Finn even more to dig into (counterpoint: he gets to be very cool indeed in “Young Sherlock”). “He’s such a good actor,” Quintrell said. “I think I didn’t realize how funny he is. He’s a very naturally comic actor. He’s brilliant at comedy.”

That range is on full display during the bird-calling scenes from Episode 8, titled “Chapter 8.” Mary and the Gardiners have set off for a visit to the Lake District, and have just been joined by Tom Hayward… who Mary soon learns is no longer engaged. As Mary and Mr. Hayward spend more time together (before Mr. Ryder shows up, as he just loves to do), they continue to bond over the dorky-cute stuff that highlights how very well-suited they are for each other.

That includes a bird-calling scene that sees the duo strolling through the forest and offering up their own spin on the calls of thrushes and larks. It’s incredibly silly, bright, and fun, and it shows off just how good Mary and Mr. Hayward are together.

‘The Other Bennet Sister’Courtesy of BBC / Bad Wolf

“The bird-calling scenes, when I write, I write with humor, but I feel like I don’t point out my jokes, there’s no arrows over them,” Quintrell said. “So there’s a world in which I could have been sidling up to the cast and going, ‘Oh, there’s a joke if you want to,’ but in the hands of this lot, I just kind of stood back, and they flew.”

The scene has proven to be a hit on social media (I can personally attest to being served all sorts of Instagram Reels about how it speaks to a desire for people to find paramours who can “match their freak” and, you know what? They’re not wrong!), and is a delightful peek into all the stuff that makes the show so charming. Look close enough, and you can see Bruccoleri struggling to contain her laughter. That was the overriding sentiment on the day they shot it.

“The bird noises thing? Honestly, they were setting each other off. The whole crew was going [crazy]. People had to walk off set because they were laughing so much, it was disrupting the day,” the creator said. “Every time Ella could sort of got herself together and could cope with his bird noises, Dónal changed them. That’s why they’re so outlandish, because he just kept making them. Obviously, he’s a great singer, and he’s got great command of his voice. His London thrush is exceptional, but the outtakes on that scene are so funny. We were hysterical.”

And, that day, Quintrell said, “summed up the shoot, because I’ve never been on a shoot that’s been so full of joy.” (Of that giddy kind of joy and involvement, Quintrell also pointed to the first time Caroline Bingley was nasty to Mary, noting that “the entire crew booed her. Poor Tanya Reynolds was like, ‘I didn’t write it!'”)

“That day, we were all hiding in the woods, and our first AD was across the other side, and they were doing the bird noises, and he said he looked up and the whole crew was watching, which is a miracle, and they were beaming,” Quintrell said. “I just think that sums up the kind of shared love of this story.”

And, yes, the love of Mary and Tom. Ahh-ahhhh!

Check out the full scene in question, an IndieWire exclusive, below.

The first eight episodes of “The Other Bennet Sister” are now streaming on BritBox, with new episodes releasing weekly.