Gentleman Jack wowed critics and audiences alike when it aired on BBC One earlier this year. This was a Sunday-night period drama with a difference – based on the diaries of early 19th-century landowner, industrialist and traveller Anne Lister, it revealed a woman determined to explore her lesbian sexuality.
Wainwright was joined on stage by series consultant Anne Choma and folk duo O’Hooley & Tidow, the creators of the drama’s closing song, who also played a live set.
Some 20 years in the making, Sally’s Wainwright’s new television drama, Gentleman Jack, was originally rejected by every broadcaster she took it to. The story of an openly gay woman who farmed in 19th-century rural Yorkshire was considered a non-starter by TV networks. Starting this month, the topic is getting eight hours of BBC One Sunday-night primetime.
It’s common for writers to describe their latest work as a “passion project” – often industry-accepted shorthand for what they hope is infectious enthusiasm for their new offering.
The RTS Programme Awards 2016 in partnership with Audio Network, honour excellence across all genres of television programming and recognise exceptional actors, presenters, writers and production teams as well as the programmes themselves.
Suranne Jones fought off stiff competition from Claire Foy (Wolf Hall) and Claire Rushbrook (Home Fires) to pick up the award for Female Actor for her performance in BBC One drama Doctor Foster, while Anthony Hopkins won the Male Actor award for BBC Two’s The Dresser.
The BBC has announced that Doctor Foster, the highest-rated new drama of the year, will be back for a second series.
A breakout hit, the five-part thriller starred Suranne Jones as GP Gemma Foster, who spirals into obsession with the discovery that her husband is having an affair.
