How Is ‘The Forsytes’ Different From ‘The Forsyte Saga’?

Don’t call The Forsytes a remake of The Forsyte Saga.

Showrunner Debbie Horsfield, who penned Masterpiece’s lavish new adaptation of John Galsworthy’s novels, prefers the term “reimagining.” She was a fan of the books and the two previous TV versions, which begin in the Victorian era and revolve around the loves and sorrows of a wealthy English family trying to uphold tradition while coping with change. So Horsfield sought to explore what was missing from them, especially where the female characters are concerned.

“In the books, the male characters are drawn in quite a lot of detail,” says the writer and executive producer, who was also behind PBS’ beloved Poldark TV reboot starring Aidan Turner. “But the women are drawn with less detail, and one of the key things that attracted me was looking at some of the female characters in an era where, historically, women were beginning to see the possibility of having more agency over their lives.”

Horsfield also explored new avenues with the opposite sex, tempering the two central male characters, Forsyte cousins Jolyon (Danny Griffin) and Soames (Joshua Orpin), who work for the family stockbrokerage. Here, Jo gives up a footloose life as an artist in Italy to return to London, marry widow Frances (Tuppence Middleton), and become a stepfather to her daughter June (Justine Moore). In the premiere, June is about to celebrate her 18th birthday — and entrance into society — in 1887, when a woman from the past (played by Poldark’s Eleanor Tomlinson) rocks Jo’s world.

Eleanor Tomlinson and Danny Griffin (Sean Gleason/Mammoth Screen & MASTERPIECE)

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In Galsworthy’s version, June is Jo’s biological daughter, and he leaves his family after falling in love with the governess, a plotline that Horsfield thought made the character less sympathetic. “I wanted to suggest that they are decent, honorable people who find themselves in a painfully difficult situation,” she explains.

The rigid, ambitious Soames, meanwhile, falls instantly for beautiful aspiring dancer Irene (Doctor Who’s Millie Gibson), a woman not high enough on the social ladder to be considered a suitable partner for a Forsyte. This mismatched relationship, which takes a dark turn, was something Horsfield wanted to put her own spin on as well.

“There seemed to be no explanation for why Irene, who in some ways is repulsed by Soames, agrees to marry him in the books,” she says. So Horsfield decided to create a relationship for them that didn’t look like it was doomed from the start. “There’s something in her — a spark, a sense of wildness — that he sees and doesn’t have, but that speaks to a part of him that’s probably very repressed.”

Millie Gibson and Joshua Orpin (Sean Gleason/Mammoth Screen & MASTERPIECE)

Among the ensemble, Stephen Moyer and Jack Davenport lend parental support and pressure as the respective fathers of Jo and Soames, each of whom is pushing for his son to control the family business. Miss Scarlet leading man Tom Durant-Pritchard transforms into a heel to play Montague Dartie, the social-climbing husband of Soames’ sister Winifred (Eleanor Jackson). And lording over them all is Francesca Annis as grande dame Ann Forsyte, a woman with her share of secrets.

Another elder stateswoman in the cast is Susan Hampshire, who plays a newly-created character, Lady Carteret. Her connection to The Forsyte Saga dates back to 1967, when she appeared in a 26-part BBC adaptation of the novels, which aired in the United States on PBS. Some 35 years later, a remake starring Rupert Graves as Jolyon and Damian Lewis as Soames aired as part of the Masterpiece lineup. Although The Forsytes’ first season is only six episodes, a second has already been shot, and a third will follow.

The main cast is as vast as another Masterpiece series about a large, wealthy family whose members didn’t always fall for socially correct people, Downton Abbey. (Even the way the actors’ names flash on the screen in alphabetical order during the intro harkens back to that mega-popular show’s opening sequence.) “Like Downton Abbey, we have multiple storylines, hopefully high production values, and we definitely have an all-star cast,” Horsfield says, “but in terms of what we set out to achieve, I don’t think we had an eye on any other show.”

The Forsytes, Series Premiere, Sunday, March 22, 9/8c, PBS (check local listings at pbs.org)