GAY THURSDAY: BBC CASTS SURANNE JONES IN 'GENTLEMAN JACK' PERIOD SET SERIES! 'MAN IN AN ORANGE SHIRT' BBC MINI TRAILER WITH OLIVER JACKSON COHEN, JULIAN MORRIS, VANESSA REDGRAVE

 BBC'S 'GENTLEMAN JACK'

 2B PLAYED BY SURANNE JONES

The lady is a gentleman!

Gay friendly news from BBC today! They've change the name of their period set series Shibden Hall into GENTLEMAN JACK who will be played by Suranne Jones in the eight part series about a 19th century lady who lived like a man!

The protagonist is Anne Lister, the remarkable landowner who - after years of exotic travel and social climbing - returns to Halifax, West Yorkshire in 1832, determined to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home, Shibden Hall. To restore it to its former glory, Anne must re-open her coal mines and marry well. But  charismatic, single minded, swashbuckling Anne Lister - who dressed head to foot in black and charmed her way into high society - has no intention of marrying a man. True to her own nature, she plans to marry a woman. And not just any woman: the

Suranne Jones stared in Crimson Fields WW1 series for BBC

woman Anne Lister marries must be seriously wealthy. Every part of Anne’s story was recorded in her diaries that contain the most intimate details of her life, once hidden in a secret code that is now broken.

 'MAN IN AN ORANGE SHIRT'

BBC MINI SERIES GETS A TRAILER

Meanwhile, BBC has also finally released a trailer for their gay, also period set, series MAN IN AN ORANGE SHIRT, a two part mini to be launched Monday July 31st within BBC's Gay Britannia summer

The two gay couples set 60 years apart

programme! Bestselling British novelist Patrick Gale wrote two love stories set 60 years apart,  linked by family and a painting, with a

Oliver Jackson Cohen and James McArdle play gay lovers

secret that echoes down the generations. It charts the challenges and huge changes to gay lives from the Second World War to the present day. Two of our dearest hunks Julian Morris and Oliver Jackson Cohen lead the cast!

 BEING GAY THROUGH DECADES
In 1944, British Army Captain Michael Berryman (Oliver Jackson Cohen) meets war artist Thomas March (James McArdle) in

Julian Morris plays Flora's gay grandson!

Southern Italy while chaos reigns all around them. Despite having a young fiancé, Flora (Joanna Vanderham), waiting at home for him,

Joanna Vanderham played younger Redgrave in The Go Between too

straight laced Michael finds himself falling for Thomas’ bohemian charms. In 2017, an ageing Flora (Vanessa Redgrave) looks on as her grandson, Adam (Julian Morris), tentatively forms a relationship

The mini series will air in two episodes from July 31st

with his client Steve (David Gyasi) in a more accepting world. But while the external obstacles have fallen away, a minefield of internalised issues and dangerous temptations still line the road to happiness.

PHOTO FRIDAY: 1ST PHOTOS OF LUKE EVANS FROM 'ALIENIST' PERIOD SET SERIES, HELEN MIRREN IN GOTHIC THRILLER 'WINCHESTER', OLIVER JACKSON COHEN IN BBC'S 'MAN IN AN ORANGE SHIRT'

1ST 'THE ALIENIST' PHOTOS 

 WITH LUKE EVANS, DANIEL BRUHL

Photos from new period set projects, first, pics from the Budapest sets of new TNT ten episode series THE ALIENIST showing lead stars Luke Evans and Daniel Bruhl in costume!

THE ALIENIST, based on the best selling Caleb Carr novel, is psychological thriller drama set in 1896, when a series of gruesome murders of boy prostitutes has gripped the city. Newly appointed top cop Roosevelt (Brian Geraghty) calls upon Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (Daniel Brühl), a criminal psychologist,  aka alienist, and newspaper illustrator John Moore (Luke Evans) to conduct the investigation in secret. Joining them in the probe is Sara Howard (Dakota Fanning), a headstrong secretary at Police Headquarters. Falk Hentschel will play Biff Ellison, an extremely corrupt mobster who runs illegal brothels and bars in the city. Emanuela Postacchini will play Flora, a beautiful young prostitute at the Frenchtown brothel who indulges in some twisted role playing and is a favourite of newspaper illustrator John Moore (Luke Evans).

HELEN MIRREN IS 

CRAZY LADY 'WINCHESTER'

The 1st photo has also been revealed of Helen Mirren as rich heiress Sarah WINCHESTER a woman who was convinced that she was being haunted by the ghosts of people who were killed by the famous rifle that her family manufactured. After the sudden deaths of her husband and child, she threw herself into never-ending construction on her 160 room mansion, which features stairways to nowhere and doors that open onto walls, to appease the spirits.

1ST 'MAN IN AN ORANGE SHIRT' 

PIC WITH OLIVER JACKSON COHEN
BBC has revealed the photo of Oliver Jackson Cohen in their two part series MAN IN AN ORANGE SHIRT  in which he plays British Captain Michael Berryman who during WW2 meets war artist Thomas March (James McArdle) in Southern Italy while chaos reigns all around them. Despite having a young fiancé, Flora (Joanna Vanderham), waiting at home for him, straight-laced Michael finds himself falling for Thomas. In 2017, an ageing Flora (Vanessa Redgrave) looks on as her grandson, Adam (Julian Morris), tentatively forms a relationship with his client Steve (David Gyasi) in a more accepting world. But while the external obstacles have fallen away, a minefield of internalised issues and dangerous temptations still line the road to happiness.

JULIAN MORRIS, OLIVER JACKSON COHEN, VANESSA REDGRAVE IN BBC'S PERIOD SET SERIES 'MAN IN AN ORANGE SHIRT'! CATE BLANCHETT PLAYS 13 CHARACTERS IN 'MANIFESTO' TRAILER

'MAN IN AN ORANGE SHIRT'

JULIAN MORRIS & OLIVER JACKSON COHEN TO GO GAY

Well if this isn't the most delicious treat BBC has ever given us, I don't know what is: they've cast two of television's hottest hunks in the history of hunkiness, our most beloved Julian Morris (whom we wish happy 34th birthday today) and Oliver Jackson Cohen as gay leads in their new two hour mini series MAN IN AN ORANGE SHIRT! It will tell two inter connected gay love stories, set sixty years apart, linked by a painting that holds a secret that echoes down the generations. The first love story set in the 1940's is made impossible by pressures from society, while the second, present day one, is nearly derailed by the long term fall-out from the 1940s story.

 DUTY OR LOVE? 
Oscar winner Vanessa Redgrave will play Flora, whose fiancé Michael fell in love with another man in 1944 and now in 2017 she sees a similar situation arise with her grandson Adam played by Julian Morris! Containment's David Gyasi has been cast as Steve, who forms a tentative gay relationship with Adam! Joanna Vanderham will play the younger Flora from the 1940s after she already played her younger version in The Go Between TV drama! Meanwhile, our dear Oliver Jackson Cohen is going to be British Army Captain Michael Berryman, Flora’s fiancé who falls for war artist Thomas March in Southern Italy in 1944 (James McArdle will play March). Julian Sands also stars!

CATE BLANCHETT PLAYS 13

 PEOPLE IN 'MANIFESTO' TRAILER

Yet another treat for you today is the first trailer for artistic experimental movie MANIFESTO in which greatest living actress Cate Blanchett plays 13 different characters! The whole movie is basically made out of famous proclamations from our history, including Karl Marx' Communist Manifesto, delivered by a different character in a different setting. As you can see Blanchett narrates them as a news anchor, as a teacher, as a worker, as a punk, as a homeless man, as a diva. Directed by German artist Julian Rosefeldt MANIFESTO was originally envisioned as a multi gallery exhibit but has now been turned into a whole movie. It will air next week at Sundance Film Festival!