✨The Forsyte Saga Cast | 🌹 12 Beautiful Characters Across 6 Decades: Who was your Favourite?
One saga. Three generations of actors. Sixty years of British television.
Since John Galsworthy's Forsytes first reached the screen, three landmark adaptations have told the same story of property, passion and a family at war with itself — the BBC's black-and-white landmark of 1967, ITV's lavish 2002 revival, and Channel 5 and PBS Masterpiece's sweeping 2026 reimagining, The Forsytes. In this video we set them side by side, role by role, and let you decide who wore each part best.
Eric Porter's definitive 1967 Soames, the performance that anchored the whole series. Damian Lewis, cast straight off Band of Brothers and years from Homeland and Wolf Hall. And Australia's Joshua Orpin, once Superboy in Titans, now the obsessive man of property.
Nyree Dawn Porter's luminous Irene opposite Gina McKee's, and now Millie Gibson — at just twenty-one, fresh from Doctor Who as Ruby Sunday — taking on the emotional heart of the saga. Kenneth More, the great film star and the biggest name of the 1967 cast, as Young Jolyon, a role later carried by Rupert Graves and now by Danny Griffin.
John Bennett's Bosinney, then Ioan Gruffudd's — the Welsh Hornblower and Fantastic Four star — and now Avatar's Jamie Flatters as the architect who breaks the Forsyte world open. June Barry, Gillian Kearney and Justine Moore as June. Ursula Howells's Frances, then Sarah Winman — who left acting altogether to become a bestselling novelist of When God Was a Rabbit and Still Life — and now Downton Abbey's Tuppence Middleton.
Lana Morris, Sweden's Amanda Ooms, and Poldark's beloved Demelza, Eleanor Tomlinson, as Louisa. Joseph O'Conor's Old Jolyon, then Corin Redgrave of the great Redgrave dynasty, and now True Blood's Stephen Moyer at the head of the family firm. John Welsh and John Carlisle as James, the role now held by Jack Davenport — Pirates of the Caribbean's Commodore Norrington and a star of The Morning Show.
The great Fay Compton as Aunt Ann, then Judy Campbell, and now BAFTA winner Francesca Annis as the formidable matriarch. Margaret Tyzack — later unforgettable in I, Claudius — as Winifred, with Amanda Root and Eleanor Jackson. And Terence Alexander, later Charlie Hungerford in Bergerac, as Monty, a part taken up by Ben Miles, the future Peter Townsend of The Crown, and now Tom Durant-Pritchard.
One last thread sixty years in the making: Susan Hampshire, who won an Emmy as Fleur in the 1967 series, returns in the 2026 cast as Lady Carteret.
Some of these faces still grace our screens today; many of the earliest among them have sadly left us. Join us for a tender journey across sixty years of one of British drama's most cherished sagas — and tell us in the comments: who's your favourite?
Chapter Index
00:00 Soames Forsyte
00:17 Irene Forsyte
00:37 Young Jolyon
00:57 Philip Bosinney
01:17 June Forsyte
01:37 Frances Forsyte
01:57 Hélène Hillmer
02:17 Old Jolyon
02:37 James Forsyte
02:57 Aunt Ann
03:17 Winifred Dartie
03:37 Monty Dartie
04:00 Outro
🎭 The cast, across three eras (1967 · 2002 · 2026)
Soames Forsyte — Eric Porter, Damian Lewis, Joshua Orpin
Irene — Nyree Dawn Porter, Gina McKee, Millie Gibson
Young Jolyon — Kenneth More, Rupert Graves, Danny Griffin
Philip Bosinney — John Bennett, Ioan Gruffudd, Jamie Flatters
June Forsyte — June Barry, Gillian Kearney, Justine Moore
Frances Forsyte — Ursula Howells, Sarah Winman, Tuppence Middleton
Hélène Hillmer — Lana Morris, Amanda Ooms, Eleanor Tomlinson
Old Jolyon — Joseph O'Conor, Corin Redgrave, Stephen Moyer
James Forsyte — John Welsh, John Carlisle, Jack Davenport
Aunt Ann — Fay Compton, Judy Campbell, Francesca Annis
Winifred Dartie — Margaret Tyzack, Amanda Root, Eleanor Jackson
Monty Dartie — Terence Alexander, Ben Miles, Tom Durant-Pritchard
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