The Forsyte Saga (TV Episode)

• AMG Rating:
• Genre: Drama
• Movie Type: Period Film, Family Drama
• Themes: Eccentric Families
• Director: Christopher Menaul
• Main Cast: Damian Lewis, Gina McKee, Rupert Graves, Gillian Kearney, Amanda Root, Ioan Gruffudd
• Release Year: 2002
• Country: UK
• Run Time: 425 minutes

Plot

The Forsyte Saga was a remake of the classic 1960s British miniseries which put the PBS anthology Masterpiece Theatre on the map. Whereas the original version covered all of John Galsworthy's novels about the upper-crust Forsyte clan, requiring 26 episodes to do so, the remake took in only the first two books, running five episodes in Great Britain and seven episodes when it was exported to the U.S. (several sequels were, however, promised should this "trial balloon" prove successful). This was more than ample time to detail the fortunes and follies of the Forsytes as they made the sometimes painful transition from the Victorian to the Edwardian era. The focus was on frosty, tradition-bound Soames Forsyte (Damian Lewis), whose sincere but sterile relationship with his beloved wife Irene (Gina McKee) was complicated by Irene's fondness for iconoclastic architect Bosinney (Ioan Gruffudd). And in another branch of the Forsyte family, Old Jolyon Forsyte (Corin Redgrave) was vexed by the bohemian lifestyle of his son Young Jolyon (Rupert Graves). Budgeted at ten million dollars and running approximately eight hours, the "new" Forsyte Saga debuted in the U.K. on April 7, 2002, and in the U.S. courtesy of PBS on October 6 of that same year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide