Stars: John Carlisle, Rupert Graves, Barbara Flynn, Gina McKee, Damian Lewis

Summary: THE FORSYTE SAGA, based on John Galsworthy's novels, follows a powerful Victorian family through three generations. A drama of romance, money, and betrayal, this sweeping tale features an excellent ensemble cast that includes the suitably seething performance from Damian Lewis, detached Gina McKee, bohemian Rupert Graves, fatherly Corin Redgrave and dashing Ioan Gruffudd. A delicious, lavish production, where the Victorian veneers are beginning to crack as the younger generation mature. Their corsetted, entwined lives seeping with an insatiable desire for freedom and love. Some make it, some are not so lucky.

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Granada Television's adaptation of The Forsyte Saga achieved the seemingly impossible in Spring 2002, matching the BBC's 35-year-old black-and-white classic version with a richly cast and superbly directed take on John Galsworthy's first two novels. The success of these six 90-minute episodes proved that despite the current emphasis on mini-series and dramas developed around the "hot" actor of the moment, our appetite--and attention span--still craves ensemble pieces which are given the space and time to develop in today’s focus-group-led scheduling. It also demonstrates that nothing generates television gold like a compelling family drama crammed with lust, rape, class conflict and the insuperable power of money.

The Forsyte Saga is nothing if not superior soap opera. It could all have gone horribly wrong, haunted by the spectre of its BBC predecessor--a television legend for anyone over 40. Instead, it succeeds entirely on its own merits with scarcely a weak link; from Stephen Mallatratt's taut and fluid script to David Moore's carefully measured, seamess direction.

Risks were taken to banish the old ghosts, particularly in the casting. In the event, Damian Lewis' repressed Soames and Gina McKee as his ill-matched bride, the enigmatic Irene, are inspired choices delivering complex portraits of unhappy, damaged human beings who deserve our sympathy. In a sea of marvellous cameos and splendid acting, the top honours go to Corin Redgrave and Rupert Graves for their hauntingly sensitive interpretations of Old and Young Jolyon, as well as to Amanda Root's increasingly exasperated Winifred; and Gillian Kearney's sharply intelligent and worldly June. All rounded characters without a weakly written cipher in sight. --Piers Ford

Aspect Ratio:	16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	The Making Of, Cinema Advert, Trailer
Year:	2002
Release Date:	May 13, 2002
Runtime:	450 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	G V D 029
Keywords:	Saga, Two, General, Wide, Screen, Forsyte, Drama, Period, Discs
Genre:	Drama