Set in the complex, changing world of 1832 Halifax, West Yorkshire – the cradle of the evolving Industrial Revolution – GENTLEMAN JACK focuses on landowner Anne Lister, who is determined to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home, Shibden Hall, by reopening the coal mines and marrying well. The charismatic, single-minded, swashbuckling Lister – who dresses head-to-toe in black and charms her way into high society – has no intention of marrying a man.

The story examines Lister’s relationships with her family, servants, tenants and industrial rivals and, most importantly, would-be wife. Based in historical fact, the real-life Anne Lister’s story was recorded in the four million words of her diaries, and the most intimate details of her life, once hidden in a secret code, have been decoded and revealed for the series.

The series is created, written and co-directed by Sally Wainwright and stars Suranne Jones, seen in the series “Doctor Foster” and “Vanity Fair,” alongside Sophie Rundle (“Bodyguard,” “Peaky Blinders”), Gemma Whelan (HBO’s “Game of Thrones”; “The Moorside”), Timothy West (“Last Tango in Halifax,” “Bleak House”), and Gemma Jones (“God’s Own Country,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary”).

“Gentleman Jack” premieres on HBO on April 22.