Actress Suranne Jones has shared the heartbreaking reason she won’t be tuning in to watch her BBC period drama Gentleman Jack.
Suranne, who plays leading lady Anne Lister in the hit show which is returning for series two this weekend, explained that filming came at a tough point in her life that she doesn’t want to be reminded of.
Just a week into filming on the second instalment began, Suranne’s dad, Chris, tested positive for Covid-19. After spending three months in hospital, Chris tragically passed away.
Now, in a moving interview with The Sunday Times Magazine, the 43 year old former Coronation Street star explained it had a devastating impact on her and affected her time on the BBC set.
Opening up about the difficult time, Suranne explained: “You're filming in a pandemic, everyone is wearing masks. Every two days you've got someone coming in to test you.
“To have a parent pass of the thing that you are reminded of all the time… Your brain filters out stuff, so I couldn't remember my lines.
“Most of the time I was going, 'What is it? What am I saying?' That will probably haunt all the crew. My brain was obviously going, 'This is not important.'”
In the moving interview, the star, who is mum to her six-year-old son with husband of four years, magazine editor Laurence Akers, went on to say that it’s understandably a time she’s not yet ready to relive.
She continued: “I'm not ready to watch it because it's so full of memories mixed up with stuff,” she said.
However, Suranne who stars alongside Peaky Blinders actress Sophie Rundle in Gentleman Jack, said she thinks viewers will be thoroughly entertained by the next part of the story.
As the show returns for eight brand new episodes, Anne and her new wife Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle) are settling into married life, just a month after they tied the knot in a private ceremony.
Ann is under the care of a doctor in York due to her fragile mental health, while Anne is busy putting the final touches to her house Shibden Hall so that the pair can move in together.
But, like any relationship, it’s not going to be smooth sailing – especially with Ann’s protective family worried about the nature of their relationship and their plans to include one another in their respective wills.
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What’s more, Anne’s past love life comes back to cast a big shadow on her romance.
After Anne writes to her former lover Mariana Lawton (Lydia Leonard) to let her know she’s moving on, Mariana’s jealousy rears its head, leading to a complicated and passionate love triangle.
Suranne said, “Anne’s always had these huge, big emotional relationships. She falls fast and hard. With Mariana it’s been ups and downs, and emotionally draining and taxing.”
“With Ann Walker, she questions herself. But what viewers will discover is that it is love, but it’s a very different kind.”
To read more about Suranne or Gentleman Jack, sign up to our daily OK! Newsletter. Gentleman Jack airs Sundays at 9pm on BBC One
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