New BBC drama has ‘intimacy coordinator’
Specialist hired to oversee sex scenes in blockbuster Gentleman Jack following the Metoo campaign
SCAN the credits of BBC One’s new Sunday night drama, Gentleman Jack, and you will find an unusual job title.
For the first time, a BBC series has used an “intimacy coordinator” to oversee sex scenes in the wake of the Metoo movement, which threw the spotlight on issues of consent in the industry.
In this case they are lesbian scenes between Suranne Jones, playing the 19th-century diarist Anne Lister, and her lovers. Lister was an unconventional figure, owner of Shibden Hall in Halifax, who documented her sexual affairs in a series of secret volumes. The drama focuses on the years in which she met and fell in love with a local heiress, Ann Walker, who she met in 1832.
The intimacy coordinator on the production is Ita O’brien, whose previ- ous credits include the Netflix show, Sex Education. She is responsible for working through sex scenes with the cast and director beforehand, establishing boundaries and ensuring that everyone feels comfortable.
“It is perhaps a positive consequence of the Metoo movement, and we live in very enlightened times now,” said Faith Penhale, the show’s producer.
“A huge part of Anne Lister’s life was her sex life. She was very sexually active and loved having sex with other women. You have to think about how you’re going to really take care of the people who are going to play this out.
“For a long time we’ve had specialists we work with when thinking about stunts and all sorts of different areas [but] we’ve never had anyone really closely work with us to help us to think about how to approach those scenes.”
The drama is a co-production with US network HBO, which announced in October that it was hiring intimacy coordinators for all shows featuring sex scenes.
Jones, who last appeared on the BBC in Doctor Foster, told an audience at a preview screening that the scenes were “beautifully, beautifully done”.
Sophie Rundle, who plays Ann Walker, said: “This is such a sensitive subject matter and we wanted to make sure we tell it in the right way.
“When filming sex scenes on most productions, everyone is a bit awkward – the director, the crew. ‘How do we grapple with this?’
“It was a really positive experience, coming into rehearsals before we even started filming and being in a room full of women and having someone lead a discussion where you can talk about your experiences both positive and not so positive. It gave us the chance to say, ‘This works for us, this doesn’t.’
“It is quite a rare thing, unfortunately, but felt incredibly important.”