I just saw the first episode of this new (?) HBO series. The script is taken from the diaries of Anne Lister who was born in 1791 and lived through much of early Victorian England. At the outset it is clear that Anne is not your ordinary, retiring English woman. While she does not vocally declare she is lesbian everything about her declares her sexuality. Her dress (very becoming for any Victorian man), how she speaks, and the fact that she holds nothing back in flirting with various woman. At the beginning of the episode she has come back to live with her very well off parents in a smaller English village. Anne has left another English town after an "incident" in which the other participant has decided to marry a man to conform to the times. Although she is obviously heartbroken from the ending of her last affair, she decides she is very capable to manage the affairs of her parent's estate - certainly better than her father and obviously better than her sister (who she does not get along with). She makes no attempt to hide her sexuality or not go after what she wants - a wife to live with forever. The actress who plays "Jack" is great; charismatic, really smart, capable, but at the same time very empathetic to others pain and vulnerable in her own way. If the other episodes are as good as the first one the series will be well worth watching.