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30 Best Period Dramas to Watch for an Escape

The Forsyte Saga

by Elena Nicolaou and Cassie Hurwitz | Oprah Daily | August 23, 2022

From elaborate costumes to sumptuous storylines (and the strong desire to live in a time other than the present)—there is so much to love about period dramas. With the push of a button, these TV series and movies act as instant portals into other eras. The only question is: Where do you want to time-travel first?

Each of these shows and films explores an era in history, through the lenses of both the upper class and everyday people. For Tudor buffs, there’s a series that ventures into the early days of King Henry VIII’s notorious rule—through the eyes of his first wife. Regency fans have a movie that looks at what life was like for a young Black woman in a wealthy family during that era; then, of course, there’s Bridgerton. Many period dramas are based in this era, the time of Shakespeare and the Tudors, or the 18th century, but we’ve also included a few that take place in the 20th century, too, like a series that chronicles working in a hospital at the turn of the century to a 1950s drama about the dangers of racism.

Some stories come from real-life events, while others are adapted from classic novels or are completely fictional glimpses into life during that particular era. And, fear not, there are quite a few sweeping romances. We’ve also included Spanish-language picks, since period dramas are hardly limited by geographic region. Here are some of our favorite period dramas streaming on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Starz, and beyond.

#17
The Forsyte Saga (2002-2003)

Based on the Nobel Prize-winning work of John Galsworthy, this 10-part series follows England’s wealthy Forsyte family from the 1870s to the 1920s. It’s a highbrow show with soap-opera-worthy plots. Starring: Damian Lewis, Rupert Graves, Gina McKee. Watch on Amazon Prime here

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30 Best PBS Masterpiece Series (And Where to Stream Them) – Oct 15, 2020

Forsyte Saga

by Allison Keene & Staff | Paste Magazine | October 15, 2020

The Forsyte Saga (2002)

Available on Amazon here via a PBS Masterpiece Subscription (7-day free trial available)

Created by: John Galsworthy, Stephen Mallatratt
Stars: Damian Lewis, Rupert Graves, Gina McKee, Corin Redgrave, Ioan Gruffudd

Before Downton Abbey, there was The Forsyte Saga. Chronicling the lives of three generations of a wealthy family from the late 1800s through early 1900s, The Forsyte Saga is based on the John Galsworthy trilogy of the same name. It is, in some ways, a British version of Dynasty. The 2002 version is fantastically dramatic and heartbreaking, full of schemers and dreamers and a grandly charming cast as it spins its dizzying tale of romance and woe. Lushly produced, it should not be mistaken for high art so much as engrossing melodrama. While it may drag a little as it goes, including the repetition of a number of relationship quandaries, not enough can be said about Damian Lewis’ lead performance as the jealous, difficult Soames. If series about the scandals and foibles of the uppercrust appeal to you, you cannot go wrong with Forsyte. —Allison Keene

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Ten Actors Who Shone Even Before They Were Stars – June 28, 2018

Damian Lewis: The Guy Has Been a Godsend to TV

by Matthew Gilbert | Boston Globe | June 28, 2018

Damian Lewis as Soames Forsyte & Gina McKee as his wife in the 2002 miniseries The Forsyte Saga

A lot of the TV actors and actresses we’ve come to love have a past. Turns out that before they could get a good table at an exclusive restaurant, they were nonetheless doing some fine work. Here are 10 examples of memorable early performances by now famous actors and actresses.

DAMIAN LEWIS

“The Forsyte Saga”

The guy has been a godsend to TV, with his work on “Homeland,” “Billions,” “Wolf Hall,” “Band of Brothers,” and a fine network procedural called “Life,” on which he played a cop released from prison on DNA evidence. I have a particular fondness for his work on “The Forsyte Saga,” a 2002-03 adaptation of John Galsworthy’s novels and a remake of a seminal late-1960s PBS series. It’s an engrossing literary soap about a wealthy family torn between passion and Victorian repression, with Lewis’s Soames Forsyte as the upholder of the latter. Lewis is ice cold, pale, and pathetic, as Soames clings to his Victorian delusions, stuffing his emotions down, his eyes a brutish blue. As his unloving wife, Irene, Gina McKee is perfection.

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Damian Lewis Interview, Sunday Express, May 25, 2003

Damian Lewis looks terrible. With his copper-coloured hair slicked back and his fair skin etched with lines, he could pass for 60. Which is a tribute to the make-up artists who have just aged him for 30 years for his part in The Forsyte Saga. Continue reading Damian Lewis Interview, Sunday Express, May 25, 2003

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PBS Masterpiece Interview with Damian Lewis, May 2003

From a Repressed Tortured Soul to a Possessed College Professor

by Staff | PBS Masterpiece | May, 2003

Whether they realized it or not, viewers of the popular Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks miniseries Band of Brothers were watching an English actor in the starring role of Major Richard Winters, the taciturn American hero of an airborne unit during World War II. The real Major Winters is salt of the earth from Pennsylvania. The actor Damian Lewis is from London’s Abbey Road and attended Eton. Otherwise, you’d never know the difference.

While on hiatus between the production of series one and two of The Forsyte Saga, Lewis played Jonesy, a possessed college professor in the forthcoming film of Stephen King’s Dreamcatcher.

Lewis recently talked by phone from London about the Forsyte remake, Soames’s inner life, and what it’s like to play an alien.

Continue reading PBS Masterpiece Interview with Damian Lewis, May 2003