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Private Notes
BAFTA-winning writer Sally Wainwright (Last Tango in Halifax, Happy Valley) and star Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster) talk about the true story behind their new BBC drama that revolves around a remarkable and unlikely love affair, and takes place in the turbulent world of Britain’s industrial revolution. Set in 1832 in West Yorkshire, Gentleman Jack is based on the diaries of Anne Lister, a landowner and industrialist who is often described as ’the first modern lesbian’. After years of exotic travel, Anne returns to Halifax, determined to transform the fate of her family and their faded ancestral home Shibden Hall – and to find herself a wife.
Halifax, 1832. Anne Lister returns from Hastings to Shibden Hall, having discovered that her would-be companion and lover, the aristocratic Vere Hobart, has accepted a marriage proposal from a man. Despite her affection for her elderly aunt, Anne is frustrated by the shabbiness of her ancestral home and finds her father and long-suffering sister difficult to live with.
Anne begins a playful but dangerous courtship of shy local heiress Miss Walker, who quickly finds herself captivated by the attention of her charismatic and unusual neighbour. Anne's plan to renovate Shibden Hall is also stepping up a gear, and her determination to sink her own coal mines brings her into the path of local magistrate Christopher Rawson and his brother Jeremiah.
Despite mutual acquaintances begin to chatter about their relationship, Anne confides her hopes for a future with Ann Walker to her aunt. Meanwhile, the Rawson brothers step up their attempts to out-maneuver her in the coal business, and Marian grows annoyed that her sister is treating Shibden like a hotel.
During a visit to York, Anne is delighted when Doctor Belcombe confirms that she is the perfect tonic for Ann Walker's nervous disorder. When the news of a bereavement arrives at Cliff Hill, Ann's desperate reaction makes Anne suspect that there's more to it and that Ann has secrets of her own. As her rivalry with Christopher Rawson heats up, Anne plans to re-open her old coal mines and sink her own shaft.
The widowed Reverend Ainsworth arrives in Halifax with his sights set on Ann Walker's hand in marriage. Aware that Ainsworth's attentions are stirring up painful memories for her lover, Anne sets out to deal with the clergyman in her own inimitable manner. However, she soon realizes that there are greater demons inside Ann Walker's troubled mind.
With Ann Walker's mental health in an alarming downward spiral - and her overprotective relatives watching over her – Anne Lister is forced to contemplate travelling alone, despite her family's warnings that to do so would raise eyebrows. Meanwhile, Anne reopens her coal-mine negotiations with the Rawson brothers, and Thomas Sowden's secret casts a cloud over his budding relationship with Suzannah Washington.
Before setting off for Europe to escape the heartache of her doomed relationship with Ann Walker, Anne invites Christopher Rawson to Shibden to rebuke him for publicly insulting Marian. Undeterred by his warnings that her accusations will have dangerous repercussions, Anne comes up with a bold, reckless strategy to finally sink her own pit and expose the Rawsons' industrial-scale theft of her coal.
Following a four-week journey from Paris to Copenhagen, Anne finds acceptance and appreciation in Danish high society, stepping out of her sartorial comfort zone to attend a birthday ball hosted by Queen Marie. When difficult news arrives from Shibden, Anne is faced with the decision to stay in Europe or go back home.
Yorkshire, 1834. A month on from their private marriage ceremony, Ann Walker remains in York under the care of her doctor while Anne Lister, with fresh financial confidence and entrepreneurial vigour, renovates Shibden Hall in preparation for her wife to move in.
Anne Lister’s former flame, Isabella ‘Tib’ Norcliffe, threatens to derail Anne’s idyllic honeymoon by revealing details of her complicated romantic past to Ann Walker. Questioned by Ann in the foothills of Mont Blanc, Anne Lister reveals something of her relationship with Mariana Lawton, but keeps back crucial information.
Anne Lister and Ann Walker launch a charm offensive on Ann’s relatives, determined to show them that Miss Walker is flourishing at Shibden Hall. Anne is fascinated by the arrival of a railway in Yorkshire, and quizzes Halifax’s men of industry on what this revolution could mean for the town.
Anne Lister is drawn back into her complicated past with Mariana during a trip to Lawton Hall. Determined to draw a line under the tempestuous 20-year relationship, the women find themselves raking over past heartache. Back at Shibden with her in-laws, Ann Walker receives a visitor of her own, in a sneaky move by her meddling cousins.
Halifax is smashed to pieces by a mob hungry for political change. It’s a dangerous time to be a Tory – and a lesbian – but Anne Lister refuses to keep a low profile.
In the face of a campaign to destroy their relationship, serious cracks are appearing in Anne Lister and Ann Walker’s marriage.
Ann Walker’s determination to divide the family estate angers Captain Sutherland, who is increasingly disturbed by Anne Lister’s involvement with his sister-in-law.
Anne and Ann’s marriage is in serious danger when Captain Sutherland arrives from Scotland determined to destroy Anne Lister’s reputation.
