Get ready to spot the stars of Game of Thrones, Doctor Who and Happy Valley.
The BBC has announced the full cast of new eight-part drama Gentleman Jack, which will be largely filmed in Calderdale.
Popular visitor attraction Shibden Hall in Halifax will close to the public from May 14 to July 23 and again from September 3 until the end of October for the BBC and HBO film crews and cast to record the Sally Wainwright drama based on the life of Anne Lister.
Sally Wainwright says: “I’m delighted that the story of Anne Lister has attracted such a talented, stand-out cast. We also have a wonderful crew on board and I can’t wait to start filming.”
Gentleman Jack is a remarkable and unlikely love story, set in the complex, changing world of Halifax. The drama will explore Anne Lister’s relationships at home with her family, her servants, her tenants and her industrial rivals, who will use any dirty tricks they can to bring her down. At its heart is Anne’s relationship with her would-be wife, Ann Walker.
Here’s a who’s who of the cast just announced and who they will play.
Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster, Save Me) will play Anne Lister, the remarkable Regency landowner Anne Lister. After years of exotic travel, Anne Lister returns to Halifax, West Yorkshire in 1832, determined to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home Shibden Hall.
Sophie Rundle (Bodyguard, Peaky Blinders) as Ann Walker, the wealthy heiress who Anne Lister soon sets her sights on marrying.
Gemma Whelan (who played Karen Matthews in The Moorside, a drama based on the Dewsbury community response to the kidnapping of Shannon Matthews; Game Of Thrones) will play Anne Lister’s sister Marian.
Timothy West (Last Tango In Halifax, Bleak House) as their father Jeremy Lister.
Gemma Jones (God’s Own County, Bridget Jones’s Diary) as Aunt Anne Lister.
Stephanie Cole (Waiting For God, Still Open All Hours) will play Ann Walker’s Aunt.
Peter Davison (Liar, Doctor Who) will play William Priestley, Ann Walker’s cousin, and Amelia Bullmore (Happy Valley, Scott & Bailey) Eliza his wife.
The cast includes Christopher Rawson, businessman and fierce rival to Anne Lister, will be played by Vincent Franklin (Happy Valley); Shaun Dooley (Gunpowder, Broadchurch) plays his brother and business partner Jeremiah; Joe Armstrong (Darkest Hour, Happy Valley) as Samuel Washington; Jodhi May (Genius, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard) as Vere Hobart; Rosie Cavaliero (Hold The Sunset, Unforgotten) as Elizabeth Cordingley; Thomas Howes (Downton Abbey) as John Booth; Lydia Leonard (Apple Tree Yard) as Marianna Lawton, Jessica Baglow (Waterloo Road) as Rachael Hemingway, and newcomers Albane Courtois as Eugénie Pierre and Ben Hunter as Joseph Booth.
