The BBC has released the trailer and announced an April UK premiere date for Season 2 of Sally Wainwright’s award-winning hit ‘Gentleman Jack‘.
The second season will see Suranne Jones return as the remarkable Anne Lister, with Sophie Rundle reprising her role as Ann Walker as we return to Yorkshire in 1843. All eyes are on the duo 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.
The series will, once 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.
Also returning to Shibden Hall for the new series 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’, ‘The Thick Of It’) will join as guest cast for Season 2 in the role of Anne Lister’s outrageous former lover Isabella ‘Tib’ Norcliffe.
‘Gentleman Jack’ season two was written by Sally Wainwright. Executive Producers are Sally Wainwright and Suranne Jones; Faith Penhale and Will Johnston for Lookout Point, and Ben Irving for BBC One. The new series will be directed by Edward Hall, Amanda Brotchie and Fergus O’Brien, produced by Lookout Point for BBC One, and co-produced with HBO. Phil Collinson is series producer, with Stella Merz as producer. Lookout Point is a BBC Studios company. The series was commissioned by Charlotte Moore, BBC Chief Content Officer, and Piers Wenger, Director of BBC Drama.
The first season was a hit for BBC One and 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. Internationally the series won the BANFF Rockie Award for Drama Series: English Language.
‘Gentleman Jack‘ premieres in Sunday, 10th April 2022 at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer. The series will air on HBO in the USA at a later date.
