HALIFAX, 1832. Anne Lister returns to her shabby ancestral home, Shibden Hall, determined to restore its fortunes and find herself a wife.

As premises go, BBC's latest costume romp has a good one. Now famous as 'the first modern lesbian', the real-life Lister was a wealthy, independent landowner who was renowned in her time for dressing always in black, without bothering to indulge in the feminine frills like the others of her sex. She was the 19th century equivalent of a 'butch' lesbian and became known to locals as 'Gentleman Jack'. Remarkably it was not until the discovery of her coded diaries in the 1980s that her true lifestyle was revealed and with the programme makers promising to base every part of her story on historical and often intimate fact, this new drama promises much.

That it doesn't disappoint is almost entirely down to a brilliant central performance from Suranne Jones, who off the back of her roles in Doctor Foster and Save Me, can probably be regarded as one of our finest TV actors currently on screen. She absolutely dominates proceedings as Lister, striding through the cobbled streets of Halifax like a cross between Grace Jones and Adam Adamant, and with her razor sharp cheek bones and curly dark locks, it is impossible not to think as Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag - especially when Lister breaks the fourth wall to speak directly to the audience and reveal her cunning plans to bed the innocently beautiful Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle).

Much has been made of the 'steamy' love scenes (apparently an 'intimacy coach' has been hired) but Lister's sexuality is addressed here in the most matter-of-fact terms. Life would be a whole lot easier for her, says someone, if she were to marry a man. No, she replies, that would be "perverse, absurd". She is what she is and it's society's problem if they can't cope with that. Besides, there's always Paris or Copenhagen to move to when she tires of Yorkshire (it was hard not to see parallels with that other great character of northern independence, Julie Christie's Liz in Billy Liar).

Further culture clashes are hinted at with the industrial revolution ("Nasty business, coal" warns her bumbling father played expertly by Timothy West) rearing its head in the form of the railway and untold riches beneath the family seat.

This opening episode sets everything up beautifully in a brilliantly odd hour of television that could make Lister a true iconoclast of Sunday nights.