The new period drama is a reimagining of the world of Pride and Prejudice from the perspective of Mary Bennet

BBC viewers were thrilled to see a star from 1995 hit Pride and Prejudice in new period drama The Other Bennet Sister.

The series – which reimagines the world of Pride and Prejudice from the perspective of frequently overlooked middle daughter Mary Bennet – stars Call The Midwife‘s Ella Bruccoleri in the titular part. However, as the programme began, viewers realised that Mary’s ally Mrs Hill was portrayed by Lucy Briers, who played Mary in the 1995 BBC version of Jane Austen’s novel.

Several viewers shared comments on social media praising the “brilliant” casting choice, with one admitting it moved them to tears, reports the Mirror.

“Is Hill the original Mary? Please say she is – champagne casting!” one person posted on X when the series launched on Sunday (March 15).

“Ella Bruccoleri is fantastic as Mary and I love the link to the BBC adaptation of P&P with Lucy Briers as Mrs Hill (OG Mary),” another wrote on the platform, previously known as Twitter.

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“Ah wow, Hill is played by Lucy Briers, who played Mary in THE Pride and Prejudice,” remarked a third, whilst someone else observed: “What a lovely Easter egg.”

“Loving that Lucy Briers is the maid,” wrote one fan, as another commented: “I love that the original 1995 Mary is the lovely Hill in this show. Chapeau on the casting.”

“Welling up here,” confessed another viewer.

“Brilliant casting Lucy Briers (the original Mary) as Hill, the long suffering servant,” said a further viewer.

The Other Bennet Sister draws from Janice Hadlow’s novel and spans 10 episodes.

A synopsis reads: “Her journey sees her leave her family home for the soirées of Regency London and the peaks and vales of the Lake District, all in search of independence, self-love, and reinvention.”

“The series follows Mary as she steps out of her sisters’ shadows in search of her own identity and purpose, finding herself in the middle of an epic love story along the way,” it continues.

The supporting cast features Richard E Grant and Ruth Jones portraying Mr and Mrs Bennet, alongside Indira Varma and Richard Coyle as Mr and Mrs Gardiner. Laurie Davidson and Dónal Finn appear as Mary’s prospective romantic interests, Mr Ryder and Mr Hayward.

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The Other Bennet Sister airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

A total of 62 people, including eight children, have died after floods hit Kenya last week.

The capital Nairobi was the worst hit with 33 deaths, police said on Saturday.

It is up since the tally issued last week, which put the death toll at 42.

More than 2,000 families have been displaced across the country after days of intense rain.

Footage online shows cars being swept away in waist deep flash floods.

It has also forced disruption to flights from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, the biggest airport in East Africa.

Kenya is not the only country in the region to be affected.

Three days of mourning have been declared in neighbouring Ethiopia after 80 people died in landslides triggered by flooding.

Another 3,461 people have been displaced by the landslides, according to the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission.

Previous rain seasons have seen flooding, landslides and mudslides that have left hundreds of people dead and seen thousands of others displaced.

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The region is expected to see more rain and governments have urged residents to exercise caution.

Last month, the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre said the March-April-May rainy season has a 45% chance of above-average rainfall across most countries in the region, including Ethiopia and Kenya, as well as Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, South Sudan, Northern Somalia, and Djibouti.

A single mum from Cambridgeshire took part in a one-week life swap on the Channel 5 show

A single mum was emotional as she was gifted a family holiday and a big career boost in Rich House, Poor House.

Katie took part in the Channel 5 show with her two daughters, with the trio swapping homes – and lives – with a wealthy family from Norfolk for the week.

The family, who had been struggling financially and sometimes used a food bank when money was short, moved out of their three-bedroom home in Cambridgeshire and went to stay at Matt and Danni’s £1.2 million pad in Norfolk.

The families traded budgets, with parents-of-three Matt and Danni, who run a luxury mattress and bedding business, living on Katie’s £82.61 a week after bills, and Katie and her daughters Shelby and Dixie given £1,900 spending money for the week.

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During the moving episode, which aired on Sunday (March 15), Katie told how she was working four part-time jobs, including being a carer for her dad Ted, who had heart failure and is deaf and diabetic.

She also had an idea to build her own second hand clothes business, specialising in plus size outfits, with the help of mum Rosemary.

“It’s hard work trying to juggle earning a living and being a mum at the same time,” she said. “I’ve been using a food bank just to top up some shopping when I can’t afford it,” she added.

The show followed as Katie’s family had a taste of the high life, getting to splash out on takeaways and expensive clothes. Meanwhile Matt and Danni enjoyed staying in and playing board games with their children as they didn’t have the money to go out.

The couple also set about doing some repairs at Katie’s house, putting up a curtain in her bedroom window and painting the wooden staircase, which had been bare as Katie could not afford to decorate.

As the life swap came to an end, the families met for the first time. After discussing their experiences, Matt and Danni said they wanted to help Katie and her daughters Shelby and Dixie.

Katie looked emotional as Danni told her: “So we thought that it would be nice to pay for a family holiday for you guys on the Norfolk Broads on a boat for a week. You guys, and Ted and Rosemary as well, so that you can all be together.”

Matt added: “And also something that we’d like to do as well is help you with the business since you’ve already made such a great start. We would like to put £500 in for initial stock just to get up and running and going. And what you do need to do is focus your attention. So we’ve basically drawn a five year plan. And I think within a year, you can certainly be giving all the other jobs up, you know, except you sort of care for your dad and stuff. But I think the business, if it all goes to plan on here, you could probably generate a £77,000 profit out of the business every year.”

Katie looked tearful as she said she was pleased Matt could see the potential in her idea.

“I’m really excited about my business now,” she said. “Matt’s given me lots of ideas. I can’t believe he has worked out a five-year plan.”

For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip** website

Rich House, Poor House airs on Channel 5

The UK’s two native oak species, sessile oaks and pedunculate oaks, support more wildlife than any other native tree

British oaks are facing multiple threats which could spell “disaster” for the UK’s most important tree and the wider natural world, experts warn. The head of the Action Oak partnership of charities, landowners, research organisations and government bodies, says the UK must pay attention to the “warning signs” about the state of oaks, as the organisation releases a new report on the situation.

Action Oak’s director Annabel Narayanan said the emblematic trees were facing a litany of pressures including acute oak decline which can kill a tree in three to six years and “we cannot allow what has happened with Dutch elm disease and ash dieback to happen” to oaks.

The UK’s two native oak species, sessile oaks and pedunculate oaks, support more wildlife than any other native tree in the UK, playing host to more than 2,300 species, including 326 species that depend entirely on them for their survival.

The country’s 170 million oak trees also store carbon, provide an important hardwood resource and are a key natural icon in British culture.

The UK has more than 250,000 hectares (600,000 acres) of oak woodlands, much of it in England, as well as in hedgerows, parkland and standing sentinel in fields as remnants of old hedges and wood pasture.

Hundreds of thousands of oaks are found in London, while tens of thousands grow in cities such as Belfast and Cardiff. But, a new report from Action Oak warns, the country’s oaks are facing pressures from climate change bringing higher temperatures and extremes such as drought, diseases and pests including invasive and non-native species, damage from deer browsing and grey squirrels bark stripping.

Some woodlands are also under threat from infrastructure, housing and business developments, with large areas of oak woodlands set to be destroyed by the HS2 rail route.

The most prominent threat is acute oak decline, an interaction of several native bacteria and a native beetle, against a backdrop of environmental stress such as drought.

The condition, which can be seen with weeping lesions and cracks in the bark with dark fluid seeping out, can kill trees that would live for a thousand years in a handful of years making it a “serious condition that threatens the long term resilience” of oaks, says chief plant health officer Nicola Spence.

As of 2023, there were 394 sites recorded with acute oak decline in the UK. While oaks appear to cope relatively well under climate change scenarios as a species, research suggests, individual trees and woodlands may be stressed by drought – making them susceptible to disease – while rising temperatures will reduce growth and increase the risk of wildfires, the report said.

Other threats include oak powdery mildew, the knopper gall wasp which was introduced to Britain in the 1960s and the oak processionary moth which was introduced into the UK about 20 years ago and has spread through London and the South East.

And new threats such as the oak lace bug could be coming to the UK, the report says.

Ms Narayanan said: “What we are seeing with oak is not a single threat, but a convergence of pressures acting at the same time.

“Ageing trees, failed regeneration, climate stress, pests and disease.

“Each one on its own might be manageable, but together they are pushing the UK’s most important tree towards a tipping point, this is a slow-burn ecological disaster.”

And Geraint Richards, head forester to the King and Duchy of Cornwall, said the failure of a species that supports more wildlife than any other in Britain and stores 31 million tonnes of carbon would have national consequences.

“Long term surveys show fewer young oaks establishing, while mature trees dominate the landscape,” he warned.

“Without regeneration, today’s ageing oak population becomes tomorrow’s ecological cliff edge.”

Ms Narayanan also pointed to the presence of nearly 50,000 ancient and veteran oaks in the UK – more than the whole of the rest of Europe combined.

“It’s a really significant ecological resource that we have and so we do need to look to the future and make sure that in the future, we have protected the space that the new ones are coming into,” she said.

Conservationists also want to see better protection for ancient and veteran trees – with Ms Narayanan pointing to the illegal destruction of the Sycamore Gap tree, the felling of the centuries-old Whitewebbs Park oak and the threat to the 550-year-old Darwin oak in Shropshire to make way for a road.

Action Oak also says it is important to do more research into the threats facing oaks, and to keep watch on the emerging pests and diseases to prevent them taking hold.

People who are concerned about the fate of the country’s oak trees can get involved in citizen science projects, or report anything that does not look right to the authorities through schemes such as Observatree, Ms Narayanan added.

Professor Spence said: “Oak trees are a cornerstone of the UK’s landscapes, supporting a wide range of species and enriching our cultural and natural heritage.

“Yet our native oaks are increasingly under pressure, including from Acute Oak Decline – a complex and serious condition that threatens the long‑term resilience of this iconic species.”

“The ‘State of the UK’s Oaks’ provides an important evidence base to help us understand these challenges and focus our collective efforts to ensure that future generations continue to enjoy the immense environmental and societal benefits that healthy oak trees bring.”

Catterick Village Fisheries, based at Thornton Court, Catterick, is rated 4.5 out of 5 on TripAdvisor, placing it among the top quick-bite options in the area.

Reviewers regularly highlight the quality of the fish, with several praising the crispness of the batter and the way the food is cooked to order, while others describe it as “the best dinner pit stop” from the A1(M), which is nearby.

Catterick Village Fisheries (Image: TRIPADVISOR)

One customer described the meal as “excellent fish and chips”, adding that the fish was “very tasty with a superb crispy batter” and the chips were “cooked to perfection”.

They also praised the “lovely staff” and noted there was “parking right outside”.

Another reviewer called it “fish and chips how they should be”, describing “superb” food, “generous portions at a very fair price” and mushy peas that weren’t “green gloop”.

They added: “If you’re hungry, then definitely worth calling in off the motorway.”

A strong theme across the reviews is the service, with customers repeatedly describing staff as “welcoming and efficient”, particularly for pre-orders.

One visitor said they phoned an order through while shopping nearby and found it “wrapped and ready” on arrival.

“I was warmly greeted by all three staff members,” they wrote, before adding: “Our food was absolutely delicious.”

There are also frequent mentions of value for money, with reviewers describing large portions and good prices.

“Huge thick fish, extremely tasty,” wrote one visitor in September 2023, while another customer said the takeaway was “a proper chippy” with “really large portions at affordable prices”.

Open Monday to Saturday, Catterick Village Fisheries continues to draw customers looking for classic fish and chips served fresh, with many reviewers making it clear they plan to return, and others saying it’s the “perfect pitstop” off the A1(M) for fish and chips.

Half-a-century later from his pioneering operation, he is still going strong

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A Larne man is celebrating the life-changing impact of organ donation – 50 years after he received a kidney transplant.

Alan Morton was just 15-years-old when he underwent the pioneering surgery. And five decades later – and with the same kidney – he is living proof of the incredible legacy made possible by organ donation.

Happily married to his wife Gail for 40 years, the pair went on to have three children and are proud grandparents to three grand-daughters – all thanks to Alan’s gift of life.

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“Organ donation made a huge difference to me,” Alan said.

“Life has been very good and I am very, very, thankful. I have had this kidney for 50 years – it has given me a whole life. If my donor’s family had declined a request about organ donation that would have put me on a completely different path.

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“If somebody told you that a kidney donation could make a difference to the recipient for 50 or 60 years, I think more people might decide to go for it.”

To mark Alan’s milestone ‘kidneyversary’ a special celebration event was held in the Renal Unit at Antrim Area Hospital, where he was joined by family members and the renal staff who continue to care for him.

Sharon Brown, one of the Northern Trust’s Renal Nurse Specialists, said: “Whenever you think of the kidney Alan received as a 15-year-old boy and the life that it has given to him and the family he has been able to enjoy it.

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“It is something that is worth marking and we are delighted to have this celebration here with him today.”

Alan’s transplant story began back when he was a ten-year-old boy. A rash on his lower body was initially treated as a skin condition, but it was later confirmed that Alan had Henoch-Schönlein Purpura (HSP) and his kidneys were badly affected.

Medication and then dialysis were used to manage the condition, with Alan recalling the huge size of the machines involved and the time spent in a hospital bed – 14 hours a day, twice a week. However, his health continued to decline and it soon became clear that a transplant would be necessary.

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“One thing that sticks in my mind from that time was my mum standing at the bottom of the hospital bed, and the doctor saying ‘he’s going to really need a transplant’,” said Alan.

“And that was the first time it was mentioned, and Mum was in tears of course,”

Despite the passing of time, Alan can recall when the phone rang to say a donor organ was available, and how he remembers what he was doing at the time.

“The night the call came it was about six o’clock at night and we were just sitting down,” Alan said.

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“I had to be very careful with my diet so I used to save up my potato rations and I was having about four chips for my dinner. We didn’t have a car so we had to phone a cousin and he took us up to Belfast, and I remember the streets being so quiet as we made our way to the hospital. It all happened very quickly from there.”

Alan said he is hugely grateful to all those involved in his care at the time, with Professor Molly McGeown deserving a special mention. She was a leading figure in renal care in Belfast and spent a lot of time with Alan during his stays in hospital.

He added: “Professor McGeown came in and she told me everything had went well, that it was a good match, and she reassured me about everything. She was a lovely woman and she was very, very, good to me. She treated me like her own kid.”

Thankfully, the transplant was a complete success, allowing Alan to regain his health and strength while giving him a second chance to live a long and fulfilled life. A talented musician and singer, Alan was well-known in the local band scene in Northern Ireland, playing in various groups covering all genres from country to heavy rock.

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For many years he worked in Larne’s Paper Mill factory, and having returned to school after his transplant to complete his A-Levels, he has maintained a love of learning alongside an interest in photography, computers and music.

Despite not knowing details about his donor, Alan stated he is sure that he owes his life to the generosity and selflessness of an individual and their family. Someone, who gave the most precious gift at the hardest of times for them.

Currently, 82 people in Northern Ireland are on the active transplant list for a kidney-only transplant while over the last year, (1 April – 31 Dec 2025), 40 people donated their kidneys after death.

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If you want to be an organ donor, the best way to make this known is by making sure you are on the NHS Organ Donor Register and talking to your family so they are aware and understand.

By confirming your decision, you are giving hope to those who are waiting on the same call that Alan’s family received 50 years ago. Under the ‘opt-out’ system, donation can still only go ahead with your family’s support, which is why it remains so important to have the conversation and leave your loved ones certain of your decision.

Ring 0300 123 23 23 or visit www.organdonationni.info to find out more and confirm your support for organ donation.

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