FILMING for a new TV costume drama has started in York.

Suranne Jones - from the hit series Doctor Foster - stars in a new BBC drama called Gentleman Jack, about a 19th-century diarist, entrepreneur and mountaineer, Anne Lister, who married a woman.

The Press reported last year how a York church’s part in her lesbian romance looked set to feature in the drama.

The couple were said to have become engaged on February 27, 1834, and then taken communion during a service at Holy Trinity Church in Goodramgate, and the event had been hailed by gay and lesbian activists as the first Church of England blessing of a same-sex marriage.

Filming took place yesterday in the courtyard at Grays Court Hotel, a Grade I listed building near York Minster, and nearby streets,before reportedly moving on to the Treasurers House nearby.

The love story is said by the BBC to be set in the complex, changing world of Halifax - the cradle of the industrial revolution. “At its heart is her relationship with her would-be wife, the wealthy heiress Ann Walker,” said a spokeswoman.

She added that the series had been created, written and directed by Sally Wainwright, who is behind series including Last Tango in Halifax and Happy Valley.

The filming came as it was announced that a rainbow memorial plaque to Anne will be unveiled on the wall outside Holy Trinity Church today, created through a partnership between York Civic Trust, York LGBT Forum and The Churches Conservation Trust.

Dr Kit Heyam, co-organiser of the Rainbow Plaques project in York and former lead coordinator of York LGBT History Month, said it was the first ever permanent rainbow plaque in York and very possibly the UK.

The plaque inscription reads: “Anne Lister, 1791-1840, Gender non-conforming entrepreneur, Celebrated marital commitment, without legal recognition, to Ann Walker in this church. Easter, 1834.”