0/5

Renewed: Gentleman Jack

8 more episodes coming for period drama starring Suranne Jones.

UK-US period drama Gentleman Jack has been renewed for a second season by BBC / HBO.

The drama starring Suranne Jones as Anne Lister, was the most successful launch for a new BBC drama this year, averaging 5.1 million UK viewers.

Written by Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax), the second series 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.

Sally Wainwright said: “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 (producers) Lookout Point.”

Suranne Jones said: “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.”

Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama, adds: “Gentleman Jack exudes sass and originality, and has been a huge hit with our BBC One audience. We look forward to continuing Anne Lister’s journey with Sally, Suranne and the rest of the team.”

Francesca Orsi, executive vice president, HBO Drama Programming added: “We’re thrilled that Anne Lister’s story has resonated so powerfully with audiences in the U.S. and abroad, and we’re grateful to Sally Wainwright and the entire Gentleman Jack family for bringing her story to life.”

The series has just debuted in Australia on FOX Showcase.

2 Responses

  1. I thought it would be a 6 episode miniseries. It only covers 6 years and they have already done her backstory and her plan to seduce Miss Walker, take her as her wife and use the proceeds to restore her estate and get into coal mining. 16+ seems a lot of eps. I guess there is a lot of material in the diaries but not sure how much of it is interesting TV.

  2. I’ve seen the first couple of episodes of this. It’s instantly recognisable as Sally Wainwright’s work and thoroughly enjoyable. I’m not sure when I’ll watch the outstanding episodes of S1, but I’m in no rush. It will be interesting to see if it’s renewed beyond 2 seasons given there’s only ~7 years of Anne Lister’s life to cover.

Leave a Reply