In the season one finale of Gentleman Jack, Sally Wainwright gave Anne Lister, aka “Britain’s first modern lesbian”, a sublime happy ending. Backdropped by rolling hills, Lister reunited with the comely heiress Ann Walker, and the pair held their version of a wedding: taking communion together in York’s Holy Trinity Church, which now bears a blue plaque.

So, what next? Season two, once again based on Lister’s coded diaries, picks up just four weeks later. As always, Suranne Jones’s tireless Lister is on the move, stopping just briefly to welcome us back via her cheeky fourth-wall-breaking address to camera.

It’s one of many devices that the ingenious Wainwright uses to sweep the cobwebs off the traditional period drama. She might lack Bridgerton’s diverse casting and Billie Eilish covers, but Gentleman Jack’s rollicking pace, vivid design and witty scripts likewise collapse the distance between historical characters and the modern viewer – as well as underlining the point that Lister is an anachronistic figure.

Edward Hall takes over directing duties, and takes the action at even more of a gallop. He opens with a whirling drone shot – really the only way to keep up with Jones’s Olympic-level speed-walking – and showcases Yorkshire’s beautiful vistas, like the majestic Rievaulx Abbey, with panache.

It’s never dull, but the jostling subplots remain extremely uneven. Strongest is the newlyweds’ battle to cement their new status. Lister wants Walker to move in with her at Shibden Hall and for them both to change their wills. That’s broadly supported by her own family, but furiously fought by Walker’s, who are alarmed at losing control of her – and her sizable fortune. That gives plenty of juicy material to the brilliant Stephanie Cole as the guilt-tripping Aunt Ann and Amelia Bullmore as the wily Eliza Priestley.