The script by Jane English drew from Lister's diaries, written in code, and decoded many years after her death.

The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister held its world premiere screening at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival in March 2010 and was broadcast in the United Kingdom by the BBC in May 2010.

Anne Lister (Maxine Peake) is a young unmarried woman living in 19th-century Yorkshire, at Shibden Hall, with her aunt (Gemma Jones) and uncle (Alan David).

There, the two women talk and Mariana tells Anne that she has missed her, and that one day, when her husband has died, they might live together as widow and companion.

A local industrialist named Christopher Rawson (Dean Lennox Kelly) proposes marriage to Anne.

Later, Anne tells her aunt and uncle that she does not want a husband, that she wants to be independent and intends one day to live with a female companion.

She forms a business alliance with Ann Walker (Christine Bottomley), an unmarried acquaintance who has recently inherited her own fortune.

Ann’s aunt (Richenda Carey) comes to Shibden to tell her niece that people are spreading shocking rumours about the two women.

[3][4] The script for The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister was written by Jane English and the film was directed by James Kent.

Maxine Peake, who had not previously heard of Lister, was keen to take part in a production with several strong female characters.

She said of her role, "[I]t was a privilege – I panicked about playing her at first because she is such an important figure and because she is very much part of lesbian and gay culture and you want to do a good job.

[9] It played at the opening night of San Francisco's Frameline Film Festival on 17 June 2010[10] and was broadcast in Australia by ABC1 on 13 November 2011.

She praised Peake's "excellent" and "fiery" performance and said that she "played [Lister] with great energy, her small, alert face full of expression and emotion".

He praised Peake's performance and enjoyed the contrast between her scenes of "pushing politeness to its limits" and "snatching carnal ecstasy".

[15] Sarah Dempster in The Guardian was unimpressed with the film, criticising the "misery" and "gloom" and said that "Peake's presence in a production is not generally conducive to LOLZ.

"[4] Rachel Cooke gave a somewhat negative review for the New Statesman, criticising the overemphasis on Lister's sex-life and the parts of her life missing from the script.