Dr Foster star Suranne Jones on being comfortable filming lesbian sex scenes for BBC drama Gentleman Jack
The actress plays trailblazing diarist Anne Lister in a raunchy new drama
WRITHING naked on the bed, a beautiful Parisian blonde throws her head back in ecstasy.
Moments later, the familiar face of Suranne Jones appears from beneath the sheets.
Having travelled far from the cobbles of Wetherfield, the actress is taking on her sauciest role to date, as Anne Lister in BBC1 costume drama Gentleman Jack.
Packed with sizzling scenes, it tells the true story of fearless trailblazer Anne, who scandalised Victorian society in Halifax, West Yorks, with her brazen love of ladies.
The role sees Suranne romping with a string of female lovers, including “wife” Ann Walker, played by Bodyguard and Peaky Blinders actress Sophie Rundle, 31.
Suranne, 40, says: “We used the camera to come in on us and find intimate moments, which was really great, because we were able to just play that between us like no one else was in the room.
“By the end me and Sophie were like two nans with a cup of tea. Like, covers off, hanging out and it was great.
“But we needed to get to know each other to be able to do that. We had a ‘chemistry read’ first and when Sophie was cast, I knew straight away, ‘That’s my girl’.
“Mine and Sophie’s chemistry grew as you see it in real time, throughout the eight episodes.”
One of the most graphic scenes, which are taken from a diary rich landowner Anne kept of her conquests, is when viewers see Suranne with her head buried between the legs of a naked lover on a trip to Paris.
Another sees her spooning a married woman in bed as she pleasures her from behind.
And in one of the steamiest moments, Suranne gropes and kisses Sophie passionately after closing the drawing room shutters to block out prying eyes.
Show creator Sally Wainwright, who also made BBC dramas Happy Valley and Last Tango In Halifax, was pleased to have an “intimacy co-ordinator” on set so her actors could perfect the erotic moments.
'THE HARDEST TASK WAS DECIDING WHAT NOT TO PUT IN'
She explains: “We could discuss scenes in a way that the co-ordinator just started talking about body parts and positions in a very matter-of-fact way, which just liberated us all, so we could chat very openly about stuff.
“That was the first thing that I thought was useful about having someone like that, as well as having us sculpt — as she calls it — the sex scenes and the positions.”
“The story is very much taken from the diaries.
She adds: “The story is pretty authentic. The hardest task for us was deciding what NOT to put in.
“I’ve gone back to the diaries since I finished writing it and it was quite a shock.”
Anne, who spent years on exotic travels across the world, charted her sexual conquests in a four million word diary over 34 years.
A large chunk of it was written in a code made up of letters, maths symbols and punctuation marks, which was only decyphered decades later.
And Anne, who was nicknamed Gentleman Jack, had plenty of euphemisms for her acts.
Pleasuring another woman with her hands was known as “grubbling”.
A full sexual experience with another woman was referred to as “Going to Italy”.
While filming Gentleman Jack, Suranne hired a home close to the set in West Yorks with husband Laurence Akers, a scriptwriter, and their two-year-old son.
Suranne says: “I spent a lot of time in soft play areas in Halifax learning lines and then my son would come and say, ‘Momma, you want to play pirates?’.
‘I want parts worthy of my 40 years’
“Then I would go down the slide, throw some balls and then say, ‘I have to learn some more lines’.”
Suranne, who has been able to pick and choose her parts since winning a Bafta as vengeful wife Dr Gemma Foster in BBC1 drama Doctor Foster, added: “I am a 40-year-old actress who’s looking for parts that are worthy of the 40 years that I’ve lived and my experience.
“Three-dimensional, complex characters don’t come along that often, or not often enough.
“I also have a two-and-a-half-year-old. So to leave him over the long periods of time I have to film, it has to be an important piece.”
But Suranne, who made her big break playing Karen McDonald in Coronation Street 15 years ago, does not take her now-privileged position for granted.
She remembers what it is like to be an actress desperately in need of work. She says: “I felt like I just should just say ‘Yes’ to everything. Sometimes you have to pay the bills.
“I’ve had some shows that I’ve taken early on in my career because I thought I should take this, knowing all along that it wasn’t the right job for me.
“I’ve had some fails and I think that it just teaches you that you should have listened to yourself.”
And Suranne knows all about listening to her body, too.
Last year she had to pull out of the last four shows of her West End run in the play Frozen after becoming unwell.
She took on the gruelling commitment to deliver around 100 performances not long after giving birth.
Suranne said: “I had been told by doctors not to do it and the producers and the director knew that I was not in a good place and I wasn’t really well enough.
“I felt like I had to do this show, because my face was on the billboard and people were coming from all over.
“Then I had to stop halfway through a performance because my sight went and my legs wouldn’t go.
"I had to listen to the doctors and got pulled off.
"That taught me that you can’t just push through.
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“You’re not superhuman and I think that listening to myself on my health is really important.”
But one person Suranne does consider superhuman is her latest character, the pioneering Anne.
She says: “The strength and the energy and the love for life is the superhero part — she’s just so uplifting.”
- Gentleman Jack starts on BBC1 on May 19 at 9pm.
Woman behind the tale
ANNE LISTER was a wealthy landowner and head of the household at Shibden Hall, in West Yorks, which had been the family’s ancestral home for centuries.
The eight-part TV series joins her story in 1832, when she is 41 and just back from her travels around the world.
Anne, who was noted for her androgenous look and her love of black clothes, earned the nickname Gentleman Jack among locals.
She gained a reputation for her love of ladies, but also for being fearless and not afraid to stand up to anyone, male or female.
She started a passionate affair with neighbouring heiress Ann Walker, who she referred to as Fred.
Within two years they took communion together at church and considered themselves married.
They set about transforming the Shibden lands and hall, as well as mining the surrounding area, which was rich in coal needed to fuel the industrial revolution.
Anne died in 1840 while travelling with Ann in Georgia.
Her life story is well documented in a four million-word diary which covers 34 years.
A large chunk of it was written in code – and was only decyphered decades later.
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