SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

I’ve enjoyed checking out the six-episode TV drama series called ‘The Forsytes’ via Channel 5 from October to November 2025. This is a TV adaptation of ‘The Forsyte Saga’ – a series of books by John Glasworthy. It’s my first proper encounter of ‘The Forsyte Saga’.

‘The Forsyte Saga’ has been adapted into film and TV many times over the years. ‘The Forsytes’ is the third TV adaptation of the book series, with the first two including the 1967 TV series called ‘The Forsyte Saga’ and the 2002 TV series, also entitled ‘The Forsyte Saga’.

I can’t claim to be an expert of ‘The Forsyte Saga’ and I’ve not seen any of the previous two TV shows based on the books. So, I decided to go forth, check out the series and judge for myself whether ‘The Forsytes’ stands out well as a period TV drama series or not.

The primary reason for me to see ‘The Forsytes’ was of course to see Millie Gibson – well-known for playing Ruby Sunday in ‘Doctor Who’. It’s been very nice to see Millie in something else other than ‘Doctor Who’. 🙂 She’s quite different in this TV drama series (and I don’t mean just with the red wig 😀 ).

In ‘The Forsytes’, Millie plays Irene Heron, a spirited young woman who has ambitions of being a ballet dancer in Paris. She ends up marrying into the Forsyte family when she meets Joshua Orpin as Soames Forsyte. Millie is excellent as Irene in this period drama series.

But of course, ‘The Forsytes’ is not all about Millie as Irene, as the series takes place during the late-Victorian period of Great Britain and it follows the lives of the titular upper-class family of stockbrokers across four separate generations, which has been intriguing.

As well as Millie Gibson and Joshua Orpin, the series features Francesca Annis as Ann Forsyte, the matriarch of the Forsyte family. It was nice to see Francesca Annis in this, having seen her in 1999’s ‘Wives & Daughters’ and in ‘Partners In Crime’ with James Warrick.

There’s Danny Griffin as Jolyon Forsyte along with Tuppence Middleton (who I’ve seen in the first two ‘Downton Abbey’ movies) as his wife Frances Forsyte and their stepdaughter Justine Moore as June Forsyte. But it’s not a happy family for these three. 😐

Apparently, Jolyon had a previous romantic relationship with a seamstress living in London – Eleanor Tomlinson (who I’ve seen in the 2013 TV adaptation ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’ and she’s been in the 2015-2019 TV adaptation of ‘Poldark’) as Louisa Byrne.

As the drama unravels, it turns out Louisa has two children that are also Jolyon’s. It was fascinating to see how Jolyon’s wife Frances reacts to this, as she tries to keep this scandal secret whilst also preventing Jolyon from ever seeing Louisa and the children again.

Jack Davenport stars as James Forsyte, Soames’ father in the series. I’ve seen Jack Davenport before as he’s been in the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movies – the first three). It took me a while to realise who Jack Davenport was whilst watching the TV drama series.

It was nice to see Susan Hampshire as Lady Carteret in the series. Susan Hampshire previously played Fleur Mont née Forsyte in the 1967 TV series ‘The Forsyte Saga’. I’ve also seen Susan in ‘The Barchester Chronicles’ as well as the ‘Monarch of the Glen’ TV series.

I was quite surprised to see Josette Simon as Mrs. Ellen Parker Barrington in the series. Josette Simon played Dayna Mellanby in the sci-fi TV series ‘Blake’s 7’ from Series 3 to 4, and she’s been in the Big Finish audios of ‘Doctor Who’. Good to see her in another series!

There’s Stephen Moyer as Jolyon Forsyte Snr., Tristan Sturrock as Professor Heron, Irene’s father, Fiona Button as Clarissa Heron, Irene’s stepmother, Tom Durant-Pritchard as Monty Dartie, Eleanor Jackson as Winifred Dartie née Forsyte, Jamie Flatters as Philip Bosinney, June’s fiancée, Naomi Frederick as Emily Forsyte, Owen Igiehon as Isaac Cole and Sharon Rose as Alicia Cole. The performances of the cast are pretty good throughout.

There are two directors for ‘The Forsytes’, including Meenu Gaur and Annetta Laufer. I’ve come across Annetta Laufer as a director before, since she directed the ‘Doctor Who’ 2022 New Year’s Day Special ‘Eve of the Daleks’. Nice that she co-directed ‘The Forsytes’.

‘The Forsytes’ concludes on an open-ended note, which was expected, as there’s going to be a second season coming soon in 2026 (I believe), as confirmed by Millie Gibson on ‘The One Show’ in the UK recently. I’m curious about where ‘The Forsytes’ will go next in the next season.

Jolyon has now gone to be with Louisa at her new house with her children, but that doesn’t mean he’s escaped the wrath of his wife Frances. Irene is unhappy in her marriage to Soames, and it seems that Philip Bosineey might be attracted to Irene and she in return.

Incidentally, it’s amusing Millie Gibson has played characters where her romances haven’t ended well, including when Ruby was with Conrad in the ‘Doctor Who’ episode ‘Lucky Day’ and when Irene ends up married and unhappy with Soames in ‘The Forsytes’.

I’m glad I’ve seen ‘The Forsytes’ on Channel 5 at last. I’ve been looking forward to seeing this period drama TV series, especially with Millie Gibson in it. Having met Millie in real-life at conventions, I’m looking forward to sharing with her how much I enjoyed the series.

I don’t know when exactly the second season of ‘The Forsytes’ will come out via Channel 5 in 2016. It’ll probably be shown at the same time as Series 7 of the new ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ TV series next year. Whenever it comes out, I’m looking forward to seeing it soon.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂