‘Gentleman Jack’ preview: Season 2 story hints, cast details, and more revealed

The second season of Gentleman Jack will finally arrive on our screens in 2021.

Set in Halifax, West Yorkshire in 1832, the BBC’s hit period drama series premiered in May 2019, becoming the most successful launch of the year for a new BBC drama.

Gentleman Jack was quickly renewed for another eight hour-long episodes and production was set to begin last June in the north of England.

Filming was inevitably delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but production was able to start in November.

The BBC commented: “Together with independent health and safety consultants, in full consultation with industry partners and the local authorities, and in accordance with all current government guidelines on Covid-19, Gentleman Jack’s production team will adhere to comprehensive protocols to ensure that the new series is produced in a safe and responsible manner during this time of global pandemic.”

The new season will again be based on the real life diaries of Anne Lister, which were partly written in code, with every part of Lister’s story based in historical fact and the five million words she wrote in her journals.

Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster) and Sophie Rundle (Peaky Blinders) will be back as Anne Lister and Ann Walker, alongside Gemma Whelan (Game of Thrones) as Marian Lister, Gemma Jones (Last Tango in Halifax) as Aunt Anne Lister, and Timothy West (EastEnders) as Jeremy Lister.

Other returning cast members will include 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), and George Costigan (James Holt).

They’ll be joined by new guest star Joanna Scanlan (No Offence, The Thick of It), who’ll be playing Anne Lister’s outrageous former lover, Isabella ‘Tib’ Norcliffe.

Gentleman Jack writer and creator Sally Wainwright commented: “I’m more thrilled than I’ve ever been about anything that we’re returning with a new series of Gentleman Jack. We’ve had such an extraordinary response from so many viewers all over the world about the first series, 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.

“I’m so excited and happy for this series, I hope people love it as much as they did the first.”

Suranne Jones (Anne Lister) said: “I’m so happy to be back in beautiful Yorkshire, back with my favourite team, back with Sophie and this amazing cast and of course I’m so honoured to be returning as Anne Lister. Sally’s scripts are detailed and wonderfully human as ever.”

Co-star Sophie Rundle (Ann Walker) added: “I feel very lucky to be heading back to Halifax to tell more of this extraordinary story that has meant so much to so many people all over the world.

“It is a privilege to be able to make more of this brilliant, brave show with such a talented cast and crew.”

Season 2 will premiere later this year on BBC One in the UK and on HBO in the US.

The first official story synopsis for the brand new episodes reveals: “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.”

Gentleman Jack is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.