Filming underway on Gentleman Jack Season 2

Staff Writer

Filming is underway on the second season of Gentleman Jack.

Sally Wainwright’s award winning hit drama has had cameras rolling all this week in Halifax. Suranne Jones returns as the remarkable Anne Lister, with Sophie Rundle reprising her role as Ann Walker.

We pick things up in Yorkshire, 1834. All eyes are on Anne Lister and Ann Walker as they set up home together at Shibden Hall as wife and wife, determined to combine their estates and become a power couple. Anne Lister’s entrepreneurial spirit frightens the locals as much as her unconventional love life and, with Halifax on the brink of revolution, her refusal to keep a low profile becomes provocative and dangerous.

Season 1 was a hit for BBC One and BBC iPlayer, averaging 6.8 million viewers across its eight-episode run. It won the RTS Drama Series award and received Bafta nominations in the Drama Series category, as well as the Leading Actress category for Suranne Jones’ performance.

The eight-episode Season 2 will again use the real life diaries of Anne Lister – part of which were written in code – as its source, with every part of Lister’s story based in historical fact and the 5 million words she wrote in her journals.

Also returning to Shibden Hall for the new season are Gemma Whelan as Marian Lister, Gemma Jones as Aunt Anne Lister, and Timothy West as Jeremy Lister. They are joined by many returning cast including Lydia Leonard (Mariana Lawton), Jodhi May (Lady Vere Cameron), Katherine Kelly (Elizabeth Sutherland), Derek Riddell (Captain George Sutherland), Stephanie Cole (Aunt Ann Walker), Peter Davison (William Priestley), Amelia Bullmore (Eliza Priestley), Vincent Franklin (Christopher Rawson), Shaun Dooley (Jeremiah Rawson), Rosie Cavaliero (Elizabeth Cordingley), Joe Armstrong (Samuel Washington), Anthony Flanagan (Ben Sowden), George Costigan (James Holt).

Joanna Scanlan (No Offence) will join the cast in the role of Anne Lister’s outrageous former lover Isabella “Tib” Norcliffe.

Together with independent health and safety consultants, in consultation with industry partners and the local authorities, and in accordance with current government guidelines on Covid-19, Gentleman Jack’s production team will adhere to comprehensive safety protocols.

Wainwright says: “I’m more thrilled than I’ve ever been about anything that we’re returning with a new season of Gentleman Jack. We’ve had such an extraordinary response from so many viewers all over the world about the first season, and I can’t wait to show them what we’ve come up with this time.

“Their excitement for the show has been a joy, and an inspiration. I’ve been in a little bit of heaven once again spending so much time deep in Anne’s diaries as I’ve written the scripts, and can’t wait to see the fabulous, joyous magic and detail that Suranne and Sophie will bring to it all.”

BBC One renews Gentleman Jack for Season 2

24th May 2019

BBC One has renewed Gentleman Jack for a second season.

Sally Wainwright’s drama tells the story of the one-of-a-kind Anne Lister, who’s on a mission to marry a seriously wealthy woman. In West Yorkshire. In 1832.

The eight-part series is a love story set in the complex, changing world of Halifax – the cradle of the industrial revolution. After years of exotic travel, we see Anne return to the town, determined to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home Shibden Hall.

Suranne Jones plays Lister, alongside Katherine Kelly as Elizabeth Sutherland, the sister of Anne Lister’s intended wife, Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle).

“Suranne Jones is electric in this whip-smart, playful period drama that swaggers through its true story with style,” we wrote in our review of Season 1’s opening episodes.

Audiences were equally smitten, with Episode 1 airing last Sunday and becoming the most successful launch for a new BBC drama this year, winning its 9pm slot with an average overnight audience of 5.1 million viewers, and a peak of 5.6 million.

Gentleman Jack is a Lookout Point production for BBC One, co-produced with HBO, and written by Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax, To Walk Invisible).

The second season will again use the real life diaries of Anne Lister – part of which were written in code – as its source, with every part of Lister’s story based in historical fact and the five million words she wrote in her journals.

On news of the recommission, Wainwright says: “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’s beautiful performance as her courageous partner, Ann Walker. 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.”

Jones adds: “I’m so thrilled that I will be joining Sally Wainwright on the second part of Anne’s journey. We always dreamed there would be more and now we get to play it all out. A huge thank you to the BBC, HBO and Lookout Point for giving us our second series. It’s such amazing and positive news. I love working with the brilliant and talented Sophie Rundle and can’t wait to create some more Lister and Walker moments with her too.”

Watch: First trailer for BBC One’s Gentleman Jack

21st March 2019

“She doesn’t conform to the way people think a woman should look, or think, or be.” That’s the sound of Gentleman Jack coming to BBC One and ruffling feathers as it goes.

Doing the ruffling? The one-of-a-kind Anne Lister, who’s on a mission to marry a seriously wealthy woman. In West Yorkshire. In 1832.

Sally Wainwright’s eight-part series is a love story set in the complex, changing world of Halifax – the cradle of the industrial revolution. After years of exotic travel, we see Anne return to the town, determined to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home Shibden Hall.

Suranne Jones plays Lister, alongside Katherine Kelly as Elizabeth Sutherland, the sister of Anne Lister’s intended wife, Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle), while Sofie Gråbøl will appear as Queen Marie of Denmark. The rest of the cast includes Gemma Whelan, Timothy West, Gemma Jones, Stephanie Cole, Peter Davison, Amelia Bullmore, Vincent Franklin, Shaun Dooley, Joe Armstrong and Rosie Cavaliero.

Every part of the story is based in historical fact, recorded in the four million words of Anne’s diaries that contain the most intimate details of her life, once hidden in a secret code that is now broken. Many of the diary extracts have been decoded for the very first time for the series.

Katherine Kelly and Sofie Gråbøl join Suranne Jones in BBC One’s Gentleman Jack

20th November 2018

Katherine Kelly and Sofie Gråbøl have joined Suranne Jones in the cast of BBC One drama Gentleman Jack.

Sally Wainwright’s forthcoming eight-part series is a love story set in the complex, changing world of Halifax – the cradle of the industrial revolution. The drama will explore Anne Lister’s relationships at home with her family, her servants, her tenants and her industrial rivals, who will use any dirty tricks they can to bring her down. After years of exotic travel, we see Anne return to Halifax, West Yorkshire in 1832, determined to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home Shibden Hall. Every part of her story is based in historical fact, recorded in the four million words of her diaries that contain the most intimate details of her life, once hidden in a secret code that is now broken. Many of the diary extracts have been decoded for the very first time for the series.

It is a Lookout Point production for BBC One, co-produced with HBO.

Kelly will play Elizabeth Sutherland, the sister of Anne Lister’s intended wife, Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle), while Gråbøl will appear as Queen Marie of Denmark. Her appearance will be shot on location in Copenhagen.

On joining Gentleman Jack, Kelly says: “I’m thrilled to be reuniting with Sally once again. I know how passionate she is about the life and times of Anne Lister, and I’m delighted to be portraying such a key historical character in Anne Lister’s story.”

Gråbøl adds: “When asked if I would like to play the Queen of Denmark in Sally Wainwright’s brand new series, I could not have said ‘yes’ fast enough! I’m excited to welcome the Gentleman Jack team to Copenhagen, and to film my scene as Queen Marie with the wonderful Suranne Jones.”

Sally Wainwright comments: “It’s so exciting that Anne Lister’s story has attracted such an extraordinary cast, and now we can add to that the unique talents of Katherine Kelly and Sofie Gråbøl! Anne Lister is taking us up to Scotland and across Europe!”

Kelly will be joined by Derek Riddell (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Gunpowder) as Elizabeth’s husband, Captain Sutherland, and Veronica Clifford (Hurt By Paradise, GameFace) as mother-in-law Mrs Sutherland.

Also announced today are Sylvia Syms (Rev, One Night in Bath) as the Elderly Mrs Rawson, Brendan Patricks (Downton Abbey, Kiri) as the clergyman Thomas Ainsworth, Caspar Phillipson (Jackie, Mission: Impossible – Fallout) as Mr De Hagemann, Polly Maberly (EastEnders, Shakespeare & Hathaway) as Lady De Hagemann, Lucy Black (The Durrells, Jericho) as Mary Sowden, Stephanie Hyam (Bodyguard, Doctor Who) as Sophie Ferrall, Dino Fetscher (Humans, Paranoid) as Thomas Beech, Rupert Vansittart(The Children Act, Game of Thrones) as Charles Lawton, and Michael Xavier (Never Let Go, Into The Woods) as Dr. Steph Belcombe.

They join the previously announced extended cast, which includes Gemma Whelan, Timothy West, Gemma Jones, Stephanie Cole, Peter Davison, Amelia Bullmore, Vincent Franklin, Shaun Dooley,Joe Armstrong and Rosie Cavaliero.

The casting coincides with the release of a new picture from the series, featuring Suranne Jones in character as the remarkable Regency landowner.

Filming on Gentleman Jack draws to a close in the weeks ahead, with the series due to air in 2019.