Jennifer Sheridan is good at letting comedy and vulnerability share a scene. We value her warmth and attention to actors, though The Other Bennet Sister suggests she can be too reluctant to call time.
Fi1m perspective
Mary Bennet feels out of place, and The Other Bennet Sister (2026) gives that discomfort time to register. Jennifer Sheridan shares directing duties with Asim Abbasi, and their willingness to let comedy sit beside vulnerability is one of the series’ pleasures. We felt for Mary because Ella Bruccoleri earns our sympathy without needing the writing to make her family quite so unpleasant. Sheridan’s warmth is worth having, even when the scenes need a firmer cut.
Her route from comedy editing to directing helps explain the attention to performance and timing. The early work already crossed genres: her debut feature was the grounded horror Rose: A Love Story (2020), while The Snow Spider (2020) began her television directing in fantasy. The thriller Rules of the Game (2022) followed, before episodes across both seasons of the superhero comedy Extraordinary (2023–2024). It is a useful background for a period drama that needs to find comedy without dismissing its central character’s hurt.
In The Other Bennet Sister, the effect also depends on Luke Bryant’s cinematography and Anne Chmelewsky’s music, which keep the series welcoming when the family comedy turns harsh. This is shared work, and we would be wary of handing Sheridan sole credit for its warmth. But the directors’ patience gives Bruccoleri space, and the performance makes Mary worth following. The weakness is that individual exchanges sometimes run on after we have understood them; the production’s polish cannot make those extra moments necessary.
Extraordinary offers another reason to follow her: an interest in visual gags and in getting an ensemble to work together. She varies the visual approach and tone between episodes while keeping the series consistent, a useful skill when moving between television assignments. There is good reason to follow her into another genre, provided the actors still get this much attention. Start with The Other Bennet Sister for Bruccoleri, and allow for a few exchanges that outstay their welcome.
Biography
Jennifer Sheridan is a British director and editor. A South London native, she discovered filmmaking at the BRIT School in Croydon and began her career as a self-taught editor on scripted comedy series including The League of Gentlemen and Cuckoo.
Her television directorial debut was the CBBC fantasy drama The Snow Spider (2020). Subsequent credits include the BBC thriller Rules of the Game (2022), episodes across both seasons of the Disney+ and Hulu series Extraordinary (2023–2024), and episodes of the ITV medical thriller Malpractice (2025). She served as lead director on the BBC and BritBox period drama The Other Bennet Sister (2026). Her feature debut, the horror film Rose – A Love Story (2020), premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and received BIFA longlist nominations.
