Press Archive

TV Satellite Week
24-30 May 2003
by James Rampton

Cruel Intentions

Damian Lewis is seething sexily once again as the dastardly Soames in a second series of The Forsyte Saga.

Soames Forsyte is a thoroughly nasty piece of work. Cunning, cruel and callous, he was responsible for one of the most notorious scenes in modern British television history when, in the first series of The Forsyte Saga, he raped his wife Irene out of sheer spite. As the dramatic dynasty returns to our screens this Sunday, the sadistic Soames – played with glorious suppressed fury by Damian Lewis – is vexed once again. The primary source of his grief this time around is the next generation of the Forsyte family, namely his daughter, Fleur (Emma Griffiths Malin) who falls in love with a certain John Forsyte (Lee Williams), the son of Soames’ former wife Irene (Gina McKee) and her new husband, Young Jolyon Forsyte (Rupert Graves). Time has dome nothing to soften the bitter feud between Soames and Irene and, as young Fleur and Jon fall more deeply in love, their parents do everything in their power to keep them apart.

It seems likely, then, that this series, based on John Galsworthy’s novel To Let will end in tears. ‘By episode four everyone will be reaching for the Kleenex,’ confirms Lewis. ‘It’s even more expansive in its emotions than the first series, and more melodramatic, if that’s possible.’ At the centre of it all remains the glowering figure of Soames, a man so painfully buttoned-up, his wing collar seems to be strangling him. Yet, despite all his repellent characteristics, there is something strangely touching about this isolated embittered figure. ‘After the first series, some people came up to me in the street to say, “You were disgusting”, but just as many said, “Poor you, wasn’t Irene a bitch?”,’ says Lewis. ‘Gina has had the same experiences, which proves that we got it right.’

Lewis was keen that Soames shouldn’t be turned into a monster. ‘I chose to make the character three-dimensional and human. It’s interesting to make even the most appalling people sympathetic. That challenges the audience and forces them to ask themselves, “Why do I like this person who has raped his wife and is a bigot, a homophobe and a misogynist?”. Young Jolyon and Irene are not whiter than white either. These complexities create a much richer saga.’

Much to Lewis’s bemusement, some people liked Soames rather a lot. ‘There was a lot of press about him being sexy; maybe some people are very kinky,’ laughs the 32 year-old actor, who made his name in such diverse dramas as Hearts and Bones, Band of Brothers, Warriors and Jeffrey Archer: The Truth. ‘In Band of Brothers, I played a bona fide war hero, and I didn’t have nearly as much of a sex-symbol reaction as I did to Soames. British women appear to respond to a priggishness and misanthropy in this man and find his coldness attractive. Soames hasn’t created quite the same furore as Darcy did in Pride and Prejudice, but again viewers are falling for a man who’s reserved and unkind. It’s proof positive that a repressed Englishman can still be very sexy to English women.’

The London-born actor also hopes that he can lead the way for other flame-haired folk. ‘If people with red hair can be perceived as sexy and land romantic leads, then that has to be good for redheads in general. It’s fun to be able to challenge the status quo,’ he says, ‘Tom Hanks said to me, “You’re going to be the first ever red-headed film star”.’ It’s certainly looking that way. After recently sharing the silver screen with Morgan Freeman in Dreamcatcher, he’s currently commuting to the States to work on the movie An Unfinished Life with Robert Redford and Jennifer Lopez. ‘She’s enchanting and, yes, she has got a perfect behind,’ he says.

Meanwhile, Lewis predicts that series two of the 1920’s set The Forsyte Saga will again strike a chord with audiences. ‘It’s very far from heritage drama. It tackles universal ideas and has a very contemporary relevance. For a start, there’s the backdrop of post-World War I Britain and the loss of young lives, which is an obvious parallel. What we’re putting on screen is what you can read about in any newspaper any day,’ he continues. ‘It’s about love, ownership, jealousy and rivalry – in other words, timeless themes. So it’s not surprising that it chimes with viewer. Every teenage girl in the country is going to fall in love with this story.’