Entertainment It Might Be Time To Say Goodbye To Sutton & Richard’s Relat... When The Bold Type returns for its fifth and final season, the relationship status of Sutton (Meghann Fahy) and Richard (Sam Page) will most definitely be<doc-sep>HBO’s newest show, Gentleman Jack, premiered last night. The TV show is based on the real life of Anne Lister, "the first modern lesbian" who defied 19th century norms. Anne was also a "buccaneering" businesswoman and traveler, who is now considered a pioneer of the LGBTQ community. HBO's newest show, Gentleman Jack, is based on the real life of Anne Lister, "the first modern lesbian." Besides being a pioneer for the LGBTQ community, she was also a "buccaneering" businessperson and mountaineer who ran an estate in 1830s England. Last night, Gentleman Jack premiered—and left viewers with a lot of questions, namely, who the heck was Anne Lister IRL? Here's everything you need to know about her life story: Anne Lister was born on April 3, 1791 in Halifax, England. She was brought up in Skelfler House, in Market Weighton, but Anne spent a lot of time at her Aunt Anne and Uncle James' estate, Shibden Hall. In 1815, she moved into Shidben Hall permanently to live with her aunt and uncle. Eleven years later, in 1826, she started managing the estate at the age of 35. She inherited Shibden Hall at the age of 45. Anne and her uncle were close enough that she inherited the estate once her aunt and father died (Anne's uncle had already passed in 1826). The TV show's title comes from Anne's real nickname. According to the New York Times, the show's title Gentleman Jack was a real nickname local residents called Anne once she returned to her ancestral Shibden Hall after traveling the world. She visited Paris, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Italy, leaving behind 14 volumes of travel notes. Btw, that's where the show begins: when Lister returns to town after having her heart broken by a lover who decided to marry a man. Anne exclusively wore black. Instead of conforming to society’s expectations for women in the 19th century, Anne did everything she could to buck tradition. Not only did not wish to marry (a man, anyway), but she wore black (reportedly without petticoats or stays) and spent a lot of her time studying, according to Calderdale Museums. Gentleman Jack is based upon Anne's diaries. Anne kept extremely detailed diaries (which !) from the time she was 15 years old. "She wrote over 4,000,000 words and she talks about everything in her diary," Claire Selby, curator of Social History for Calderdale Museums, told the BBC. "She could write up to 2,000 words a day! She recorded things like the weather, social events, national events and her business interests." She also wrote about her affairs with women, which were (obvs) not tolerated at the time. As a result, large chunks of Anne Lister's diaries were written in a code that wasn't broken until the 1930s, a combination of algebra and the Greek alphabet. New sections of Anne's diaries are still being deciphered today. Suranne Jones, who plays Anne on the show, told NPR, "It was being decoded especially for us as we filmed, which was really exciting. We'd get an email, and it was kind of like live, as we were filming scenes in the end, where we were getting pieces of information that had never been seen before." So you know whatever tea those new entries spill is gonna be piping hot... Gentleman Jack has been in the works for a loooong time. The show's creator Sally Wainwright—who grew up in Halifax, spent time as a child at Shibden Hall, and funded the diary's digitization—told Collider that she first envisioned Gentleman Jack 20 years ago, long before it was commonplace to see LGBTQ couples on screen. "That we have a very healthy discourse now, about gender and sexuality, has only happened in the last 5 or 10 years," she said, explaining that if the show had happened back in 2002, when she first pitched it, "it would've been a very, very niche product." Anne ultimately married a woman: neighboring heiress Ann Walker. Two years before Anne inherited Shidben Hall, her partner Ann Walker, a neighbouring heiress, moved in with her in 1834, per Carderdale Museums. That same year, the couple conducted various marriage rituals and gradually united their landowning and business interests, according to Historic England. Five years later, the couple went on a two-year vacation (nice), travelling through Dunkerque, Belgium, Germany, Copenhagen, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia—the list goes on and on. Anne died while travelling. During Anne and Ann's two-year expedition, Anne died of a fever in modern-day Georgia (then a part of Russia) on September 22, 1840. The other Ann then had to take Anne's body back to Shibden, where it was interred at Halifax Parish Church (now Halifax Minster). Ann Walker inherited Shibden—until her brother-in-law forcibly removed her took her to an asylum. In 1854, she died at her family home of Cliffe Hill. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io<doc-sep>Suranne Jones gives a performance worthy of Anne Lister's legacy, while the rest of "Gentleman Jack" endeavors to keep up. At the very end of “Gentleman Jack’s” first episode, the eponymous protagonist shows up unannounced but fully prepared to start courting a new love interest. Giddy with excitement, “Jack” asks to see the lady of the house and, with a quick pump of the eyebrows, looks directly into the camera. While far from a revolutionary choice in the golden age of “Fleabag,” a character breaking the fourth wall is still rather surprising in what’s otherwise a by-the-books period drama. Sure, writer-director Sally Wainwright (“Happy Valley”) shows a bit of flair from time to time — a cracking, up-tempo rhythm accompanies the title credits — but she needs to show more. You see, Gentleman Jack is Anne Lister (Suranne Jones), whose decoded diary entries inspire the series of the same name. A music cue here and a fourth-wall break there don’t quite match the swagger of this LGBTQ icon — or the bona fide star playing her. HBO’s eight-episode first season recounts part of Anne Lister’s many, many diaries and unearths a love story its 19th century observers tried to bury; one so scandalous, she had to pen her experiences in code. Lister is a lesbian. A landowner and landlord with a respected ancestral home in Halifax, she wants what any resident of the age would: an enriching marriage and a profitable business. But unlike the rest of her peers, Lister isn’t willing to marry a man to achieve financial security and companionship. She’s determined to live with a woman, even if it means getting her heart broken. This broad strokes summary lends itself to a number of storylines — as does the abundance of source material; Lister’s diaries topped 4 million words. And at times, it can feel like you’re watching a lesser anecdote from her life. Wainwright focuses on the romance with Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle), a wealthy young woman who lives nearby and proves amiable to Lister’s advances. But little in their relationship (at least through five episodes) reflects the pain seen in a brief flashback to Lister’s last, passionate love: Marianna Lawton, who left Lister to marry a man. But focusing on forward-momentum often befits Jones’ encapsulation of Lister, a performance that also happens to be the most eye-opening aspect of “Gentleman Jack.” The British TV veteran from “Doctor Foster” and “Scott & Bailey” strides through each episode with an apt air of defiance and demand. She recognizes how a woman dressed in all black, wearing a top hat, suit coat, and carefully rolled-up hair would approach the world around her: with a respectful nod to those who accept her and a less polite “fuck off” to those who don’t. Still, carefully placed confessionals provide insight into the daily pain Lister faces just for asking to be treated fairly, and Jones builds that hurt into her gait; she’s walking with purpose, and sometimes that purpose is to forget the cruelty all around her. Precise, attentive, and beguiling, Jones is such a gust of fresh air, it’s tough for the series around her to keep up. Now, given the genre’s preference for gorgeous countrysides and eye-catching formalwear — if not the incongruence of both, together — period dramas often get a bit stuffy, so any kind of breezy creative choices can feel as refreshing as well water on a hot day. Similarly, throwing in too many modern diversions can betray the honest intentions behind these stories. Striking a balance is key. But Wainwright can’t even follow through on her own devices. When the second episode starts, Anne, while pacing up a country road, narrates part of her diaries while looking into the camera. It appears as though breaking the fourth wall was done with the intent to bring Lister’s real voice into the series as much as it was a stylistic choice meant to mimic her distinctive spirit. And yet, it fades away. The direct-to-camera quips and glances continue to bookend episodes, but the lack of consistency in how they’re utilized is similar to the series’ struggles with regular rambunctiousness. For those eager for a period drama, “Gentleman Jack” is worth digging into. For those craving a dutiful interpretation of Lister’s legacy, it would be hard to argue this isn’t an enthusiastic, dedicated retelling of her hardships and values. It’s only in modeling itself after its star does the series start to come up short, as the storytelling style can be frustrating in its narrow imagination. Still, there’s Jones — a true original with a vivid arrival. Grade: B “Gentleman Jack” premieres Monday, April 22 at 10 p.m. on HBO. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.<doc-sep>
“Nature played a challenging trick on me, didn’t she?” Anne Lister (Suranne Jones) first utters this sentence with an arch amusement, but over the course of Sally Wainwright’s new drama “Gentleman Jack,” she repeats the sentiment with pride, exhaustion and defiance. Living in 1832 Halifax as a lesbian with a penchant for sweeping black suits and top hats, Anne both knows and resents the fine line she has to walk in order to live as freely as possible. In public, she leans into the role of proprietor of her family’s coal mines, leveraging the power of owning a valuable resource over the many snide men who would love nothing more than to dismiss her out of hand. In private, she softens considerably in the company of engaging young women, nursing a fierce hope that one day, one of them might reject her predetermined, patriarchal duties and become a loyal partner to her instead. The story of Anne Lister is extraordinary — and, it must be noted, rooted in reality. The real Anne Lister (nicknamed “Gentleman Jack” for her demeanor and love of black suits) was a prolific writer who left behind many, many diaries detailing her life that have proved to be invaluable resources as rare historical documents of what it meant to be a gay woman in the 19th century. (To protect the most explicit details, Lister wrote much of the diaries in a code that has since been broken.) In her writing, she revealed herself to be clever and sly, willful and frustrated, yearning and more romantic than even she might have liked to admit. Adapting these diaries into a show that can dig into her life, how it affected those around her, and queer history in general is a smart idea that immediately breathes life into the oft-repetitive period drama genre. Still, those familiar with Lister’s diaries may be surprised to hear that Wainwright chose to focus on her relationship with Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle), the meek and wealthy woman who would eventually become Lister’s common-law wife, rather than Marianna Lawton, the conflicted love of Lister’s life who left her behind to marry a man. In eschewing a perhaps more passionate affair for one rooted in a desire to settle down, Wainwright makes an intriguing choice that sets up a decidedly adult romance about devotion, trust and partnership that is rare for TV in general, let alone for lesbian characters in a period piece. For the most part, it pays off. Jones and Rundle are wonderful together, each making the absolute most of every emotion Wainwright’s scripts throw their way. And perhaps unsurprisingly for a production that was written and directed entirely by women, their intimate scenes are never gratuitous, and often preceded by thoughtful discussions about what being intimate to them truly means. Both their giddy joy at being together and their pain at reconciling it with the outside world are palpable in just about every scene. The trouble with “Gentleman Jack” is that for all its confidence in scenes of Anne issuing blistering comeuppances to unworthy men and gorgeous declarations of love to hesitant woman, it’s unsure how to go about everything else. With a full hour to fill per episode, the show makes glancing attempts to flesh out the remaining characters that never quite connect. Anne’s aunt and sister come the closest to stealing focus, largely thanks to sympathetic portrayals from Gemma Jones and Gemma Whelan, respectively. But the simmering dramas of the people who work for and around Anne suffer from a lack of connection to the overarching story — even when the show throws in a startling murder to spice things up. Perhaps the most frustrating part of “Gentleman Jack,” however, is that it frequently doesn’t seem to have a handle on Anne herself. Early episodes attempt to connect directly to her with stylistic choices like a voiceover using quotes from Lister’s diaries and having Jones turn directly to the camera with winks both figurative and literal. These don’t disappear completely, but fade out enough that it’s disappointing to see the show back off potentially rich opportunities to translate Anne’s interiority, which inspired the entire series after all, to the screen. What’s more, the show presents her initial courtship of Ann Walker as a seduction, with Anne musing both in voiceover and to the camera that she could use a pretty, rich wife to take her to the end of her days.