The miniseries that started it all! In 1969, a internationally-acclaimed BBC show began airing on the fledgling public broadcasting network. The Forsyte Saga, in telling the remarkable story of a nouveau riche English family, introduced America to a new kind of TV. Millions of Americans devoted the next half year of their lives to following the frank treatment of all sins, foibles and peccadilloes of the Forsytes and their circle. The passing decades can never the erase the memory of their extraordinary evenings with the Forsytes: Kenneth More as Jo, the philosophical outsider; Eric Porter as Soames, the grasping man of property; Nyree Dawn Porter as Irene, “born to be loved and to love” and in later episodes, Susan Hampshire in an Emmy-winning performance as Fleur, Soame’s ‘restless’ daughter. The series was so popular that Masterpiece Theatre was created to meet the new demand for great literary adaptations. With 150 characters, 2000 separate costumes and over 100 sets, this sprawling yet intimate saga continues to move, provoke and entrance viewers today.
Back in 1967, the BBC wanted to introduce its newly created channel, BBC2, and needed a major attraction to draw more subscribers to the young station. Producer Donald Wilson felt that a lengthy, multi-part adaptation of John Galsworthy’s The Forsyte Saga would fit the bill. The BBC was concerned that perhaps the late ’60s weren’t the right time to present a grand costume drama — this was, after all, the era of Vietnam, miniskirts, the Beatles and Strawberry Fields Forever. But Wilson won out and The Forsyte Saga was made. The series turned out to be innovative, but also conventional: it was the last BBC drama ever produced in black and white and, at a cost of £250,000, it was the BBC’s most expensive drama produced to date. A soap opera in the classic sense, the show introduced themes never before seen on television, gathered six million viewers, and garnered four BAFTA Awards (from the British Association of Film and Television Artists). Given that success, Forsyte was quickly shown again on BBC1 where it attracted an incredible 18 million viewers. – PBS
The series spans many eras (Victorian, Edwardian, First World War, Interwar) as it was adapted from the three novels and two interludes of John Galsworthy’s Forsyte Saga: The Man of Property (1906), Indian Summer of a Forsyte (1918), In Chancery (1920), Awakening (1920) and To Let (1921); and Galsworthy’s later trilogy A Modern Comedy.