The period drama Gentleman Jack has been renewed for a second season by HBO and The BBC. The joint production premiered last month to rave reviews.
“It’s so exciting that so many people have had such a positive response to Suranne’s exuberant performance as the brilliant, life-affirming Anne Lister and to Sophie Rundle’s beautiful performance as her courageous partner, Ann Walker,” said showrunner Sally Wainwright. “I’m utterly delighted that we’ve been recommissioned because there are so many more big, bold stories to tell about Anne Lister and Ann Walker. A massive thank you to the BBC and HBO and to everyone at Lookout Point.“
Set in 1832 Halifax, West Yorkshire amidst the industrial revolution, Gentlemen Jack follows landowner Anne Lister as she’s determined to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home, Shibden Hall, by reopening the coal mines and marrying well — but has no intention of marrying a man. The story examines Lister’s relationships with her family, servants, tenants and industrial rivals and, most importantly, would-be wife. Based in historical fact, the real-life Anne Lister’s story was recorded in the four million words of her diaries, and the most intimate details of her life, once hidden in a secret code, have been decoded and revealed for the series.
