PBS Set to Reimagine The Forsyte Saga For a New Generation
Gina McKee, Damian Lewis
A new reimagining of a 19th-century-set drama will be hitting our screens. PBS Masterpiece is adapting The Forsyte Saga, a tale of rich Londoners in the 1880s, for television, according to Deadline. There were two previous adaptations of John Galsworthy's novels: one in 1967 (airing on the BBC) and one in 2002 (airing on ITV).
PBS' rendition will consist of six episodes. BAFTA-nominated scribe Debbie Horsfield will pen the scripts, which has been designed to be a returning series. The Forsyte Saga 3.0 will come from production company Mammoth Screen, and it'll begin filming next month in Wales, England, and Italy.
Horsfield stated:
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The cast list is quite impressive, too. The Forsyte family is ruled by matriarch Ann (Francesca Annis), whose oldest son, Jolyon Senior (True Blood's Stephen Moyer), heads up the family's stockbroking firm. He's married to status-conscious Frances (Tuppence Middleton) and has a free-spirited son named Jo (Danny Griffin). And then there's Jo's first love, dressmaker Louisa (Eleanor Tomlinson).
The next branch of the family is headed by Ann's younger son, James (Jack Davenport), with his savvy son Soames (Joshua Orpin) and the latter's love interest, played by Millie Gibson. James' son-in-law Monty will be portrayed by Tom Durant Pritchard.
The Forsytes' social circle comes alive, thanks to: Josette Simon, who's slipping into the role of rich heiress Ellen Parker Barrington; Jamie Flatters (AKA architect Philip Bosinney); and Owen Igiehon as the lawyer Isaac Cole. Susan Hampshire, who appeared in the original BBC version of the show as Fleur, will play Lady Carteret this time around.
Directing will be Meenu Gaur and Annetta Laufer. EPs are Horsfield, Gaur, Sheena Bucktowonsing, and Damien Timmer for Mammoth Screen, plus Susanne Simpson for Masterpiece. Producing will be Sarah Lewis.
Timmer added:
