Main •
Suranne Jones as
Anne Lister •
Sophie Rundle as
Ann Walker, Anne Lister's fiancée and eventual wife. •
Joe Armstrong as Samuel Washington, land steward for both Ann Walker and Anne Lister •
Amelia Bullmore as Eliza Priestley, wife of William Priestley •
Rosie Cavaliero as Elizabeth Cordingley,
cook-housekeeper for the Listers and former
lady's maid to Anne Lister •
Gemma Whelan as Marian Lister, Anne Lister's sister •
Gemma Jones as Aunt Anne Lister •
Timothy West as
Capt. Jeremy Lister, Anne Lister's father •
Tom Lewis as Thomas Sowden, one of Anne Lister's tenants
Recurring •
Stephanie Cole as Aunt Ann Walker •
George Costigan as James Holt, who works for Anne Lister and helps with managing her coal business •
Peter Davison as
William Priestley, Ann Walker's cousin and one of the trustees of her
entailed estate •
Shaun Dooley as Jeremiah Rawson, Ann Walker's cousin and Christopher Rawson's brother •
Vincent Franklin as Christopher Rawson, a magistrate and Ann Walker's cousin •
Lydia Leonard as Mariana Lawton, Anne Lister's ex-lover with whom she occasionally sleeps •
Katherine Kelly as Elizabeth Sutherland, Ann Walker's sister who lives in Scotland with her husband and children •
Derek Riddell as Elizabeth's husband, Captain Sutherland • Lucy Black as Mary Sowden, Thomas Sowden's mother •
Amy James-Kelly as Suzannah Washington, eldest daughter of Samuel Washington •
Thomas Howes as John Booth,
head gardener for the Listers • Albane Courtois as Eugénie Pierre, Anne Lister's
femme de chambre or French lady's maid • Ben Hunter as Joseph (George) Booth, the Listers'
manservant and brother of John Booth •
Jessica Baglow as Rachel Hemingway, lady's maid to Aunt Anne and Marian Lister •
Bruce Alexander as Mr. Parker, Anne Lister's financial adviser • Leo Flanagan as Matthew Avison, the Listers' footman (S2) •
Daniel Weyman as Dr Kenny, the local doctor for Ann Walker, Aunt Anne Lister, Capt. Jeremy Lister and Henry Hardcastle •
John Hollingworth as Mr Abbott, Marian Lister's suitor • Saul Marron as James Mackenzie, Ann Walker's manservant •
Emma Paetz (S1) and
Elizabeth Dulau (S2) as Catherine Rawson, Ann Walker's cousin •
Lucy Briers as Mrs Stansfield Rawson, Catherine and Delia Rawson's mother • Emma Wrightson as Eliza Washington, Samuel Washington's second oldest daughter • Joel Morris as William Hardcastle, Anne Lister's tenant • Natalie Gavin as Alice Hardcastle, William Hardcastle's wife • Dexter Hughes as Henry Hardcastle, William and Alice's son, who loses his leg in a carriage accident
Guest •
Anthony Flanagan as Samuel Sowden, Thomas Sowden's alcoholic and violent father, and as Ben Sowden, Samuel Sowden's brother and Thomas's uncle •
Rupert Vansittart as Charles Lawton, Mariana Lawton's husband •
Sylvia Syms (S1) and
Sara Kestelman (S2) as Mrs Rawson (Elderly Mrs Rawson in S2), mother of Christopher Rawson and Jeremiah Rawson •
Brendan Patricks as Reverend Thomas Ainsworth, a man who raped Ann Walker and later proposes to her •
Jodhi May as Vere Hobart, later Lady Vere Cameron, Anne Lister's former travelling companion and unrequited love •
Daisy Edgar-Jones (S1) and Poppy Allen-Quarmby (S2) as Delia Rawson, Mrs Stansfield Rawson's daughter and Ann Walker's cousin •
Sofie Gråbøl as
Queen Marie of Denmark •
Stephanie Hyam as Sophie Ferrall • Julie Agnete Vang as Countess (Emily) Blücher, Sophie's elder sister •
Joanna Scanlan as Anne Lister's former lover, Isabella "Tib" Norcliffe •
Luke Newberry as architect
Jack Harper, A depiction of the real architectural changes to Shibden Hall in 1837 •
Nicholas Farrell as John Waterhouse Snr, chairman of the Navigation Committee • Hannah Donelon as Mary Rawson, Ann Walker's cousin • Matilda Holt as Martha Booth, John Booth's daughter and later Mariana Lawton's kitchen hand ==Episodes==