'The Forsytes' review: Reimagined 'Saga' for 2026 looks great (but is less filling)

WHAT IT'S ABOUT In 1887 London, powerbroker brothers James Forsyte (Jack Davenport) and Jolyon Forsyte, Sr. (Stephen Moyer) have a big decision to make — who should run their giant stock brokerage, Forsyte & Co.? Jolyon wants his son, Jolyon Jr. (Danny Griffin), in the driver's seat, but James wants his son there — Soames (Joshua Orpin). Neither is ideal. Jolyon is a romantic, an artist with his head in the clouds; Soames is great with numbers, but a bit bloodless. Jolyon's spouse, Frances (Tuppence Middleton), is pushing hard for her husband's promotion, while Soames is distracted, actively wooing the penniless Irene Heron (Millie Gibson), an aspiring ballet dancer. But Jolyon also has a secret, a former lover — Louisa Byrne (Eleanor Tomlinson, "Poldark") — who could derail the future Frances and Jolyon Sr. have laid out for him.

This six-parter — based on the John Galsworthy classic, "The Forsyte Saga," which has yielded two other major TV adaptations (in 1967 and 2002) — is one of PBS's "event" series of the whole year. (Two future seasons are in the works.)

MY SAY A lifetime ago, viewers couldn't get enough of "The Forsyte Saga." Like The Beatles, this was another British invasion, but a TV one, full of pomp, circumstances and lush period details. There was clearly something that resonated with the 1967 adaptation of Galsworthy's famed screed against capitalism and "men of property." Trust no one over 30? Certainly trust no one named "Forsyte." Such vulgarians, these Forsytes, with their conspicuous consumption, big money, and houses, filled with possessions and trophy wives. People could watch all those 26 hours with a sense of self-satisfaction, expressed as "thank God, I'm not that bad — but I can't stop watching either." "Dallas" would perform the same function a little over 10 years later.

The irony is what came after "Saga"— a dozen other Victorian/ Edwardian costume dramas, from "Brideshead Revisited " to "Upstairs, Downstairs" and eventually "Downton Abbey" and "Bridgerton," that romanticized the British upper crust. "The Forsyte Saga" created a new TV genre, but just not the one probably intended.

What of this latest adaptation? Showrunner Debbie Horsfield is a gifted TV writer who once turned another book series into irresistible TV binge candy ("Poldark," 2015-19) and clearly knows what she's up against with this source material. Galsworthy's book was about the decline and fall of the British Empire, leading to World War I (still called the Great War when it was published in 1922). Hardly the stuff of binge candy circa 2026, so Horsfield has side-stepped all that by "re-imagining" the "Saga" as a prequel, with brand-new storylines, and new characters too.

They're not minor ones either. Tomlinson's Louisa Byrne has even conceived a pair of twins with Jolyon from a tryst in Venice. Horsfield has fully imagined Jolyon's first wife too — Middleton's Frances, who was scarcely seen or heard from in the books or other TV series. These are far from minor "reimaginings," but huge ones, with consequences that will reach deep into future seasons.

Assuming there are any still out there, "Forsyte Saga" superfans will be bugged, but no one else will care, or notice. These additions do however signal what this "Forsytes" is really about — secrets, sex, lies, self-deception, ambition, betrayal, romance, heart-versus-head storylines, and lots of soap tropes. It leans heavily into female-centric stories (that's good) without sacrificing some of the key male ones (Jolyon and Soames aren't going anywhere). There's not a whiff of Galsworthy's (or the 1967 series) anti-capitalist convictions in sight, but everyone does look marvelous in those immaculate Victorian period costumes.

Will this be your next "Downton Abbey?" Probably not, but it could be your next "Poldark." Nothing wrong with that.

BOTTOM LINE Looks great, less filling than earlier treatments.