THE creator of hit BBC show Gentleman Jack has spoken of the profound impact the show has had.

The second series, filmed in and around West Yorkshire, including in Bradford, begins on Sunday. 

Bradford Telegraph and Argus:

Starring Suranne Jones as Anne Lister, the first series followed the trailblazer as she inherited her uncle’s fading estate, Shibden Hall, which she attempted to restore while beginning a romance with Ann Walker, played by Sophie Rundle.

The forthcoming episodes will pick up in Yorkshire in 1834 as all eyes turn to Lister and Walker as they set up home together at Shibden Hall as wife and wife, determined to combine their estates and become a power couple.

The show has been a huge hit on a global scale and it’s something which creator Sally Wainwright didn’t expect.

She said: “You hope you’ll get an audience, you hope you’ll get good reviews, you hope people will love watching it and are entertained by it, but the ‘Gentleman Jack effect' as it’s called now - there’s a documentary about it that’s coming out that the BBC have made - absolutely not, I don’t think we ever imagined that.”

Wainwright said she and other cast members get letters from fans of the show all over the world, touching on how much the series means to them. 

“Just telling you their stories and expressing their love for the show and what it means to them, it’s really profound,” she said. 

“If Anne Lister was alive now, I think she’d love it and I think she’d be very happy to be a global icon.”

The show is based on the collected diaries of Lister, which were part-written in cryptic code.

Jones said: “These relatively unknown characters from history are front and centre on Sunday night. We’re talking about their struggles, about their relationship, about these women that loved each other and I just think that Sally’s done it in such a punk rock period drama, it’s wonderful.

“The second series is about the reality of a marriage. Sally does a detailed look into what life is like for these two women in a same-sex relationship having to hide in plain sight.

“It’s about how they navigate their relationship without a child to bond them, without a marriage certificate and it’s great. I think people will be really surprised.”

  • Gentleman Jack returns to BBC One and BBC iPlayer this Sunday at 9pm.