A Saga that brought Britain to a standstill

Director Josh Roche tells readers about his production of The Forsyte Saga

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THIS two part adaptation of The Forsyte Saga, adapted by Shaun McKenna and Lin Coghlan and running at the Swan Theatre in Stratfiord-upon-Avon, is based on the novels by John Galsworthy. Can you tell us something about the original novels and some of the subsequent adaptations?

John Galsworthy’s original novels were written between 1905 and 1926, and were based in some part on Galsworthy’s own life. His uncles and extended family were upper middle class Victorians, just as the Forsytes are, and his own marriage to his wife Ada gave him the model for the star-crossed love affair at the centre his first book, Man of Property. There are nine books in all, though we are only dramatising the first six (which are generally considered to be the best).

In 1967 the BBC made a TV series of the novels which was hugely popular, in a way that is quite hard to fathom now. Eighteen million people watched the final episode in 1968. Pubs closed early and more than one church rescheduled evening worship to allow people to watch. Desperate to repeat the achievement, Granada TV filmed a new adaptation with Damian Lewis and Gina McKee in 2002, which also lives in the memory of many people as their first engagement with Galsworthy's story.

Could you give us a flavour of the story?

The Forsyte Saga starts at the high point of the British Empire, 1886, when to be rich, English and living in London was to have won life’s lottery. Soames Forsyte is the eldest son of a wealthy middle cl family. Having imbibed the morality of the era, Soames has begun to see everything as property - even his wife Irene, a beautiful woman who is smothered in their loveless marriage. When she makes a break for freedom, Soames takes drastic action to stop her.