Can We Love the Forsytes as Before?

Bradbury, Malcolm, New Statesman (1996)

The remake of a classic serial about money and sex brings a tear to the eye of Malcom Bradbury

For someone like me -- a sentimental lover of, as well as a writer for, the once splendid, now sagging story of British television drama -- the news that ITV has decided to risk a remake of The Forsyte Saga brings a tear to the eye and a smile to the lips. A tear because, for anyone with a sense of cultural history, The Forsyte Saga represents one of the high moments of screen dramatisation. A smile because, after this nadir of a summer, when even the television repeats were repeats of last year's repeats, a major investment in a classic project is exactly what we and the television business need.

For those who were not watching BBC2 on Sunday nights in 1967, possibly on the grounds of not having been born, the television magic that was The Forsyte Saga may be hard to understand. But this was …

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: Can We Love the Forsytes as Before?. Contributors: Bradbury, Malcolm - Author. Magazine title: New Statesman (1996). Volume: 129. Issue: 4500 Publication date: August 21, 2000. Page number: 7. © Not available. COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group.

This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.