Plot Synopsis

Created, written and co-directed by Sally Wainwright, GENTLEMAN JACK is a one-hour period drama series that tells the story of a woman who had a passion for life and a mind for business, and bucked society's expectations at every turn. Set in the complex, changing world of 1832 Halifax, West Yorkshire -- the cradle of the evolving Industrial Revolution -- GENTLEMAN JACK focuses on landowner Anne Lister, who is determined to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home, Shibden Hall, by reopening the coal mines and marrying well. The charismatic, single-minded, swashbuckling Lister -- who dresses head-to-toe in black and charms her way into high society -- has no intention of marrying a man. The story examines Lister's relationships with her family, servants, tenants and industrial rivals and, most importantly, would-be wife. Based in historical fact, the real-life Anne Lister's story was recorded in the four million words of her diaries, and the most intimate details of her life, once hidden in a secret code, have been decoded and revealed for the series.

Season 2 of GENTLEMAN JACK made its U.S. debut on Monday, April 25, 2022 at 10pm ET/PT on HBO. 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. In the season opener, "Faith Is All," as they prepare to move in together, Lister presses her new wife to change her will to help strengthen their future together, but Ann finds herself nervous of public opinion. Meanwhile, Ann's protective tribe of relatives grow increasingly suspicious of Lister's motives, and Mariana's devastation puts a damper on the couple's upcoming honeymoon abroad.
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On Monday, June 13, 2022 at 10pm ET/PT, HBO premiered "It's Not Illegal," the U.S. debut of GENTLEMAN JACK's Season 2 finale. Lister and Ann find their marriage in peril when Captain Sutherland arrives from Scotland determined to destroy Lister's reputation.