Gentleman Jack Reviews
The Guardian
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Gentleman Jack series review – one of the greatest British period dramas of our time
Suranne Jones is an alchemical force of nature in the gleeful, radical return of this rollicking, romantic and exquisitely scripted show.
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Suranne Jones' boundless charisma brings the indomitable Anne Lister to vivid life in Gentleman Jack, a gently revelatory series that mines terrific humor from the icon's unapologetic forward-thinkingness - although the series isn't as willing to ruffle feathers as she was.
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times
“Gentleman Jack,” a rollicking eight-episode series that begins Monday — an original.
“Jack” draws upon the diaries of the real Anne Lister, who told her life story in millions of words, many of them in a code based on mathematical symbols and the Greek alphabet that was not broken until the 1890s. (Their contents weren’t published until the 1980s.) She was a woman who loved women and courted them roguishly. She was a landowner who did business with calculation. She was not a man. She simply insisted — with striking success for her time — on having the same liberties as one.
She was, above all, a presence, as the series announces by having her arrive driving a team of horses hell-for-leather into her hometown Halifax, where she has returned to take charge of her rundown ancestral home of Shibden Hall. She dismounts, brisk and commanding, looking like a steampunk-goth assassin.
Variety
The New York Times
The New York Times
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writer who left behind many, many diaries detailing her life that have proved to be invaluable resources as rare historical documents of what it meant to be a gay woman in the 19th century.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.
Collider
Radio Times
Radio Times
From the very first beat of Gentleman Jack Season 2, it's plain to see that Anne Lister (Suranne Jones) is intent on making an entrance. In the midst of her decisive strides across a dirt road, cane in hand and top hat perched jauntily on her head, she turns to address the camera directly (in what will come to be the first of several fourth-wall breaks that the show cheekily likes to employ) and greets us as one would the return of an old friend: "Ah, there you are. Good." And with that, it's as if we were never parted from her in the first place. Even while the series (which initially premiered back in 2019) had a long road to the production of its second season, with a delay resulting from the ongoing pandemic, there's something infinitely comforting about being able to literally pick up right where we left off with the ongoing adventures of Anne Lister from creator Sally Wainwright — and this is still Anne Lister, all right, in all her outwardly assured and inwardly vulnerable glory.
Radio Times
Radio Times
Radio Times
Gentleman Jack season 2 review: Suranne Jones is back with gusto
Sally Wainwright’s lesbian period drama is back with new energy – but the show hasn’t lost its heart and soul.
We first met Suranne Jones’ Anne Lister, aka Gentleman Jack, almost three years ago – in Halifax in 1832, as she returned to take over the reins of the Shibden estate and set her sights on wealthy heiress Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle).
We watched, alternately shifting between tears and laughter, as the landowner, businesswoman and adventurer overcame many obstacles – from homophobia and business rivals to breakdowns – and strode her way to a happy ending, reuniting with Ann on a blowy Yorkshire hilltop and taking the sacrament together in a wedding (of sorts).
The Telegraph
The Telegraph
The Telegraph
Gentleman Jack, series 2 episode 1 review: Suranne Jones returns in style in this rip-roaring romp
4 out of 5 stars
Love in peril, beautiful vistas, a witty script, and the Olympic speed-walking of Jones as 'Britain’s first modern lesbian' – Jack's back!
The Times
The Telegraph
The Telegraph
Gentleman Jack review — I'm falling for Miss Lister - The Times
This is rollicking good drama, with Suranne Jones a dynamo as Lister, black-clad and striding around Halifax like a swashbuckling crow.