Sophie Rundle

Halifax is the Lourdes for lesbians,” said producer-director and former Chair of RTS Yorkshire Fiona Thompson at “Celebrating Gentleman Jack: Changing lives”.

Not a sentence many would have anticipated hearing, but this is only one of the consequences of the so-called “Gentleman Jack effect”.

Anne Lister, Sally Wainwright’s eponymous Gentleman Jack, born in 1791, was a Halifax industrialist, landowner, diarist and self-assured lesbian, and hero of possibly the most important TV drama of recent times.

When a man is found dead in an underground car park after a horrific flood, police suspect he simply drowned. PC Joanna Marshall, played by Sophie Rundle (Peaky Blinders), leads an investigation seeking to determine if more sinister foul play was at hand.

The show examines the effects of the flood on the town’s community, uncovering secrets, damaging reputations, and threatening some resident’s fortunes.

There are also new images of Suranne Jones, Sophie Rundle and Lydia Leonard as characters Anne Lister, Ann Walker and Mariana Lawton.

Set in 1834, the series will return to Yorkshire where the newly wedded Lister and Walker are making a home together at Shibden Hall.

The two aim to combine their estate in the hope of becoming a power couple, but Lister’s entrepreneurship frightens the locals as much as her unconventional love life. And as Halifax is on the brink of revolution, her high profile endangers them both.

Created by RTS Award-winning writer Nicole Taylor (Three Girls), the emotional thriller focuses on wealthy couple Dan (Compston) and Emily (Rundle) who are head over heels in love and live a beautiful house just outside of Glasgow.

Their lives seem perfect, but there is one thing missing: a baby.

A chance encounter introduces them to Kaya – played by Mirren Mack in her television debut – an 18-year-old from the other side of the city.