Gentleman Jack Information

Gentleman Jack is an upcoming American-British historical drama series created by Sally Wainwright. Set in 1832 and starring Suranne Jones as noted landowner and Industrialist Anne Lister, the series will premiere on BBC One in the United Kingdom and HBO in the United States.

Overview

In 1832, Anne Lister (Suranne Jones) returns to her ancestral home in West Yorkshire after a extended period of travel, study and social climbing. The series explores the relationships and interests Lister develops in her quest to transform her ancestral home, her business interests and find herself a wife.

Production

In November 2016 screenwriter Sally Wainwright was awarded the 30,000 screenwriting fellowship grant from charitable organisation the Wellcome Trust, in partnership with Film4 and the British Film Institute. Wainwright disclosed to the media that she was writing a drama series about the landowner, industrialist, and intellectual Anne Lister, and would use the grant to further her research. In March 2017 it was announced that BBC One and the American cable network HBO had commissioned the eight-part series, provisionally titled Shibden Hall, after Lister's ancestral home. Wainwright was additionally announced as the series' director, and will serve as executive producer alongside Piers Wenger and Faith Penhale. Wainwright, a native Yorkshire-woman, had grown up in the environs of Shibden Hall and had had ambitions to write a drama based on Anne Lister for over 20 years. She described Lister as "a gift to a dramatist" and "one of the most exuberant, thrilling and brilliant women in British history". The series is based on the collective diaries of Anne Lister - containing over 4 million words and written largely in code.

In July 2017 the series was re-named Gentleman Jack and Suranne Jones was announced as having been cast in the central role of Lister. Jones had previously starred in the Wainwright scripted projects Dead Clever, Unforgiven and Scott & Bailey. Jones relished the chance to be directed for the first time by Wainwright anticipating an "immediate, exciting and new" connection between the pair whilst Wainwright deemed Jones to be capable of embodying the "boldness, subtlety, energy and humour" required to depict Lister.

See also

• The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister