(audience clapping) - Hello, hello.

My name is Chris Murphy, and I'm a staff writer at "Vanity Fair."

And I'm so thrilled to be here with some of the cast and creative teams behind "The Forsytes."

So, without further ado, let me introduce who we have here.

We've got Debbie Horsfield, the screenwriter and executive producer.

(audience cheering and clapping) Stephen Moyer, who plays Jolyon Forsyte Sr.

(audience cheering and clapping) Jack Davenport, who plays James Forsyte.

(audience cheering and clapping) Millie Gibson, or, yeah, Millie Gibson, who plays Irene Horton, Heron.

(laughing) - Horan.

- Yeah, Horan, Horan.

Okay, I knew I was right- - That should be her name.

- in the middle of it.

(laughing) Irene Horan.

(Millie laughing) And Joshua Orpin, who plays Soames Forsyte.

(audience cheering and clapping) All right, okay, so we're gearing up for the premiere of "The Forsytes" in the USA, but you guys have already done this across the pond, and it's been really well received and whatnot.

So I'd love to know, how does it feel to be gearing up for round two over here in the States?

- Who wants to hit this?

- So exciting, so exciting.

To be honest, it still blows my mind every time I come to the States that people even know anything that I'm a part of.

So, yeah, it's really, really flattering, to be honest.

Yeah, (laughing) how about you guys?

- Hi, guys.

(sighing) We got told that we were allowed to say something yesterday, so I'm gonna say it.

- Something.

- Something, there you go.

I'm done.

We shot this that you just saw actually about a year and a half ago.

And PBS were so happy with what they saw that they immediately recommissioned.

So we've already shot Season 2.

And- - Oh, there's more.

(everybody laughing) - And then when we were finishing Season 2, they told us they were going to recommission Season 3 straight away.

And I've been doing this 35 years, and I've never been part of something that has recommissioned the third season before it's been seen.

This is a PBS Masterpiece- - Masterpiece.

- performance.

(everybody laughing) Sorry, production.

And even though we have a different player in the UK that took it on, it's a PBS piece.

And they put their backs behind this thing three times without it being done.

And that's never really happened before.

And so I just wanted to take my hats off to them for having the faith to do that, because it's unprecedented.

So we're about to do Season 3.

(audience clapping) - Yeah, that's really exciting.

That's so fantastic.

Oh my goodness, wow, I guess, you know- - It's supposed to be a secret, but somebody found out and they said it yesterday, so we were like- - Yeah, don't tell anyone.

- "We can talk about it now."

- Don't tweet about it.

- No, the NDA's on the way out, just so you know.

- (laughing) Yeah.

Oh my goodness, well, before, you know, we look forward to Season 2 and 3, I'd love to actually go all the way back to sort of the creation of the television show.

And so, Debbie, I would love to know, you know, as the executive producer and screenwriter, how did you come to "The Forsytes?"

And, you know, it's a book by John Galsworthy, and what about the book and the family attracted you to the story and adapting it for television?

- Well, when I first got asked would I be interested in doing it, my first thought was, "Why would we be doing another adaptation?"

Because there are two really fantastic ones already.

But when we then started talking about it, it was more about what is there that's interesting to us about some of the characters in the book and the period in which it's set?

And listen, I'm a sucker for a family saga.

(Chris laughing) I absolutely love, you know, the intergenerational fighting, the kind of inherited trauma.

I know that sounds miserable.

- (laughing) It's true.

- But actually there is just so much kind of meat in that.

And that's what really attracted me to it.

That and the fact that, in the books and in the previous versions, the female characters are slightly less well drawn than the male characters.

And I just thought, "Well, you know, I'd really like to kinda get to know these female characters more, find out what makes them tick."

You know, Irene in particular is quite a shadowy figure in the book.

She's quite unknowable.

And I just thought, "That's a bit of a waste."

And you'd agree, wouldn't you, Millie?

- Oh yeah.

- You know, you kind of really want to kind of get inside her head.

- Oh, totally.

And you've completely rewritten her in such a beautiful, youthful light in a way.

And she has so many different attributes to her that you've never seen before in this version.

And it was a joy to recreate it.

So thank you so, so much.

- That's so fantastic.

And I guess while we're on the subject of, you know, creating these characters and whatnot, or imbuing them with, you know, more backstories, you also have to create the world.

And it's so sumptuous and it's so beautiful, the Victorian area, it looks beautiful, the production design, the costumes.

I guess, for Millie, you know, I'd love to know, what was it like sort of to inhabit the world and, you know, the- - Inhabit the corsets as well.

- Yeah, yeah, and the corsets, which probably was difficult.

(laughing) - I mean, the corset is, as you all know, you just can't breathe.

But I felt so skinny and so cinched, and I just loved it.

(audience and Debbie laughing) I mean, the only like con was like, I mean, if you had a sip of water at like 10:00 a.m., you still felt it like there at like 1:00 p.m.

But I mean, you said this last night, like you get in that corset, like someone (laughing) cinches you in, and I'm like, "Oh my God, I'm Irene.

Like, I can just feel it."

So yeah, I absolutely loved it, and I loved being in the wig as well.

I looked totally different.

Yeah, so I really enjoyed feeling so different from myself.

It really helps you play a character a lot more.

- That's fantastic.

And I guess, for everyone else, in terms of like the physical world, what was it like to shoot on these beautiful sets?

You know, how was that, I guess, as actors?

And yeah, dropping in.

- When I was first sent the scripts, I loved them, but like Steve, I've been doing this for far too long, and I looked at it and I was like, "Oh my God, if it's not like lunch for 12, it's a committee meeting for 20, or a party for 85, or like, where are the scenes with two people in?"

And there are a lot of mass scenes.

And I mean, the guys get it easy in terms of costuming, but it's all pretty uncomfortable.

And so when... I mean, it's not coal mining, to be clear.

(Chris laughing) But it's a very painful collar.

(everybody laughing) - You only wore winged collars.

- I did, 'cause I've done- - Like to point that out.

- this before, and I know- - Thank you.

- not to wear the other kind.

- Not the other.

Okay, that's good to know.

- But yeah, (sighing) as Millie alluded to, it's like once you're all in the rig and you're in these great big scenes, it's like not much imagination is required, because it's all right there in front of you, but the numbers can, it takes a long time to film is basically the point.

- Yeah, oh wow.

- And things that I have learned between series is that not to do so many of those mob-handed scenes, because yes, they do take... (Chris laughing) I mean, that and the other thing is not to have so much of the dog, (laughing) because the dog, everybody loves the dog, but the problem is the dog pants.

- Jack hates the dog.

- Jack hates the dog.

(Chris laughing) The dog pant all the way through.

And we have to do lots of ADR afterwards.

But everyone loves it.

- But in the first season, you just watched Episode 1, right?

Yeah, in the first season, whenever there's ribbons in Cyril, the dog's called Cyril, whenever there's ribbons or anything in Cyril's hair or there's some kind of curly thing going on, it is mirrored in Naomi's wig.

- Oh.

- So they do exactly the same tassles and twizzles and stuff in Naomi's wig.

- We're learning things.

Wow, that's really.

(laughing) - It's kind of amazing.

- Attention to detail.

- Attention to detail.

Okay, well, speaking of detail, I'd love to know, for the actors, how did you research your characters?

Did you read the books?

Like, what was your process diving into the script?

You know, actually, you know, Stephen, yeah, I would love to know.

- I did read "A Man of Property," which is the first of the books, and it's basically about Soames, "A Man of Property," and we enter the world through his eyes, and then we see flashbacks of what his world has been and his marriage to Irene.

And when you first meet my character, you're in a party and it's like a sort of wide shot.

And if it was a film, the camera sort of goes in on him until it says something like, "And we approach this tubby old man with big cheeks and a bald dome head."

And I was like, "I've read enough.

I know who I am."

(audience laughing) But what Debbie has done with this piece is- - Given you hair.

(audience laughing) - Given me hair, which is lovely, and it sort of feels real, but she's rewound the tape, and she's taken it back.

So the show starts before that.

So, as you can see, it's when these guys meet.

And she's recreated the wonderful character of Frances, played by Tuppence Middleton, who is Danny's wife in the first episode.

Danny plays Jolyon Jr.

In the book, Francis is dead.

And so Debbie brought her to life.

So there's all of these amazing things, but to a certain extent, the books are no good because Debbie's gone back before that.

So for me, it was about, I can't understate what it feels like when you're in one of those shirts.

You know, a lot of the research and a lot of what you're doing is deportment and holding yourself and how you would be in that situation.

- Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense.

It's so interesting, I didn't know that about Frances.

But let's talk about Soames for a second, just because- - Finally.

- (laughing) We were always gonna get to you.

We were always gonna get to you, but, yeah, you have such an interesting tense relationship with your cousin in this, and then a lot of chemistry, sort of tense chemistry with your cousin Jolyon, and then- - Heated rivalry you could call it.

- One might say.

- I wouldn't say that.

(Chris and audience laughing) It's not in Season 3 for that.

Okay, but then you also have a really wonderful chemistry with Irene too.

Can you talk, I guess, about, you know, navigating both of those relationships as an actor?

- Very different, right, those two dynamics.

We were actually talking about this earlier.

Because of the scheduling and just the fact that Millie happened to be unavailable for the first part of filming Season 1, I hadn't met her for I think the first two or three weeks of filming.

So for, you know, that initial two or three-week period, we were doing all the Forsyte and Co.

boardroom scenes.

And you saw a couple of them there.

So it was almost like a completely different world for me to step into those scenes with Irene, which kind of mirrored the journey that Soames goes on, and he discovers a new side of himself, and it's almost like he becomes a different guy.

But that contrast was prominent, you know, those two relationships you mentioned, in a way, because of that, I feel like it's not so much a rivalry with Jolyon as it is he's putting up with him.

He's not really a contemporary or an adversary as much as he's just an obstacle.

He's someone in the way that he has to get rid of, or that he has to put up with, you know, that he has to tolerate.

And we see moments of levity within that too.

And I know Debbie and I have spoken about this, there are moments when Soames is content, he finds he has some things in common with Jo, and he has moments where, I don't wanna spoil what happens in the future, but if you take Jolyon out of Soames's path in terms of where he wants to go within the company, he doesn't mind him.

He's all right, you know?

- Okay.

- It's just that the fact that he's in his way that's quite frustrating.

- Yeah, oh, that makes, okay, it's not a spoiler, but it's something to look forward to in terms of his ascent in the company.

I guess we should definitely talk about the company and I guess, you know, the dueling brothers, the real heated rivalry of, you know, James and Jolyon Sr.

(Chris laughing) - Well, I mean, that's putting a bit of a weird layer on it, as we are brothers.

- But let's talk about, that's fair, let's talk about just the rivalry, like the relationship between the two families, just because they live next door to each other, there's obviously a lot of tension and a lot of emotions between the two.

And yet they're family, you know, you have the grandmother that like unites them all.

So I guess as actors and, you know, as brothers and adversaries, what was that like on set and, you know, diving into that?

- When Debbie first talked to me about the scripts, one of the things she said was that what she wanted to explore amongst sort of the inherited trauma thing, which sounds a bit dramatic, but you've gotta remember that these people, while they kind of act like they're aristocrats, they're not, they're self-made, they're sort of nouveau, they're very rich, but they're kind of nouveau riche, what the English would call upper-middle class.

But as soon as they get rich, they start behaving like minor European royalty.

And they're worried all the time about who wins, who gets the next thing, who's the oldest?

And these structures to do with ancient tribal stuff they voluntarily walk into, and it just eats them alive.

They didn't have to do it like this, but they've decided that, because they now have money and influence, that they should behave like aristocrats of yore, which is absurd really.

But in terms of our actual relationship between the brothers, Steve and I have known each other a very long time.

30 years.

- Wow.

- And we're genuinely really old friends.

And so the kind of wildly dysfunctional nature of our relationship is really fun because we can be as insulting to each other as we want.

(Chris laughing) And the other one doesn't, we've heard it all before.

So it's actually quite fun.

So we can be- - We actually said to Debbie tonight, like, "Bring it on."

- Make it worse.

(Chris laughing) - "We can take it, come on."

- I guess it's gonna get worse for season, okay, that's really great, I love that.

I love what you just said about, you know, how money and capital changes people and how important that is to the Forsytes and, you know, the family drama and the saga.

And I mean, we really see that in the first episode with Irene, you know?

You think that you're gonna go to Paris and, you know, you have all this money, and then tragedy, you know, befalls you, and your whole world shifts.

So I guess, can you talk about going through that journey in the course of one episode and sort of, you know, starting from the top and then falling to the bottom, and then potentially working our way back up?

You know, we don't really know what's gonna happen yet.

- Oh, totally.

I think 'cause Irene's already lost such a prominent figure in her life, who she looks up to, which is her mother.

Her father is her only like source of peace and that lease of life that she used to have.

So when that goes, it's like, "Okay, who's the only person that's kind of taken an interest into that part of me?"

And that's Soames, so I think she finds a lot of peace within him.

And even though she's not sure if she's in love or if it's, you know, something that she can't even ask her mom about.

And she's only got Clarissa, who's like her stepmother, and not a very nice (laughing) person to her.

So I think she kind of sees Soames as someone that, she has a really beautiful line actually where she says, "I can only start as I mean to go on."

And I think she sees Soames as someone that, even though it's a way out of her old self, it's a way into something that could be so beautiful for her.

And yeah, spoilers, it's probably not.

(actors laughing) - (laughing) Huh?

- But yeah, I think she trusts him even though she doesn't know him quite yet.

- Mm, yeah.

Oh, that's really wonderful.

And that's- - Did anybody, while they were watching it, just sort of feel like screaming, "It's a trap?"

- "Run."

- "Get out."

- I was rooting for them.

I gotta say, I was rooting for them.

- Oh, well, you'll be disappointed.

(Chris and audience laughing) - Just give him a chance.

- Give him a chance, okay, well, yeah.

- She can fix him.

- Yeah.

Can you defend Soames or his Soames indefensible as a character, do you think?

- Well, Father knows best.

(Chris laughing) - It's one of the more interesting challenges as an actor to not judge your character, you know?

And when you play a villain or you play someone despicable, that becomes more difficult.

You have to not judge them.

You just have to try and understand why it is they're doing what they're doing.

And yeah, just, I guess, think the thoughts that they're thinking.

And (laughing) I think that's just, we all have to have empathy, and you just have to exercise that empathy muscle.

- Mm, okay, all right.

All right, I think that's very true.

And that's sort of the whole part of acting that makes it kind of fascinating and exciting, yeah, to play someone- - It's very fun though as well.

- Yeah, I mean, you know, to play the villain's gotta be great.

And you have the mustache too, which sort of works.

- (laughing) The mustache.

- (laughing) It's sort of fantastic.

I would love to know, I guess, 'cause, you know, it's such an ensemble show, right?

And, you know, you mentioned, you know, these big boardroom scenes, and, you know, there are balls and dances and boardroom scenes.

Do you have any, you know, wonderful sort of like fun memories from filming or set where, you know, "We were all together," or either one on one sequestered with other people?

But, yeah, any fun big memories of any of the big scenes?

- I had the most fun on this job, can I just say?

I went from a job that predominantly had two people in the cast.

So it was a small job called "Dr.

Who."

And it was, yeah, it was intense.

- I've heard of it.

(laughing) - Yeah, it was intense.

You're in every scene, every day.

So like, coming into this, I was like, "Oh my God, there's seven people in the scene.

Like, that's so strange to me."

And my first scene was meeting the Forsytes for the first time, and these guys have already worked together for like a month.

So I really (laughing) felt like Irene, I was like, Josh introduced me to everyone, like Soames would (laughing) introduce me to his mom and dad, and I met Jack and Steve and all the other beautiful cast members.

And I just really felt totally welcomed in.

And yeah, I mean, to learn so much from these incredible actors on this stage and the ones I hope you guys will meet eventually was a real, real impact for me.

And yeah, I mean, we got up to right loads of stuff, (laughing) didn't we?

- I was really glad, there's a big dance sequence that comes up.

(Millie laughing) And I seemed to be too old to do that.

- Because he is.

- (laughing) And so everybody else had to do it, and they were mortified, especially him.

And so I got to watch Jack be mortified in real life while acting mortified that he was having to dance.

And that was a really fun sequence, I loved that.

- Didn't you skip the dance lessons?

Didn't you say, "Oh, you don't need to know?"

- I was just not available.

(everybody laughing) I'm a quick study.

- Step ball change.

(Millie and Chris laughing) - Oh, that's so fantastic.

We don't have the full cast here.

We're missing, you know, Jolyon Jr., who we see at the end of the first episode, you know, might have some skeletons in his closet, you know, some interesting things.

So I'd actually love to know, as Soames, you know, might be the villain, but Jolyon's also pretty complicated.

I would love to talk to Debbie a little bit about the formation of that character and sort of, you know, them juxtaposed against each other.

- I mean, I'd like to think all the characters are complicated.

And one of the really thrilling things about writing a family saga is there's always skeletons in the closet, and, you know, that's not the only one that comes tumbling out.

But it is lovely to write that rivalry, because even though, as you say, that, you know, their families live next door to each other, in some ways they would be banded together against the world, but there is... And the interesting thing about Jolyon Jr.

is he's not really interested, as Josh was saying, he's not really interested in competing with Soames.

He doesn't want to be the boss of the company.

It's Soames that's desperate to do that.

So in a way, in some ways, people have said, "Is this a kind of, you know, is it like a Victorian version of 'Succession?'"

And in some ways, it is, but in other ways, no, it isn't, because actually, Jolyon, he'd just rather be off painting somewhere, you know?

(Chris laughing) And it's Soames finds that pretty incomprehensible really.

- He knows that.

- (laughing) Yeah.

- And that's why it's so frustrating.

- Yeah.

(laughing) - It's like, "Dude."

- "Yeah, do it.

Go, go."

- "Go be a painter."

- Yeah, yeah.

(Chris laughing) - Oh, that's fantastic, that's really great.

I love that we know, you know, that the second season is, you know, it's already in the can.

Without spoiling, you know, what's to come necessarily, yeah, what can we expect to happen to the Forsytes or like- - Skeletons out of closets big style.

- (laughing) Okay.

Okay, that's fantastic.

And I guess I'd love to know, as we begin to sort of wrap things up, what do you hope American audiences, and all audiences, but specifically American audiences, take away from this show, "The Forsytes?"

- I just hope they like the world of it and the interrelationships of it.

I mean, you know, the data is fairly clear that people do love watching shows about miserable rich people.

- Mm, it's true.

- Like, who doesn't enjoy that?

And God knows there's a lot of them in this show.

And so, you know, I think there are aspects to it that are quite familiar, but as Debbie has said, you know, like she's taken what was actually really quite an unwieldy big book and turned it into something I think much more accessible and dynamic and funny.

The books are not funny at all.

- Oh, okay.

- And the show is funny in places.

And I think people, you know, it's good to laugh (laughing) as well.

When you always do costume genre, it doesn't have to be sort of, you know, just a historical thing, you know, it's like, they're sort of still people.

So anyway.

- I think also it's rather beautiful in places.

And I think that we love watching this sort of elevated world.

You know, if you think about "Bridgerton," we know that "Bridgerton" is fantasy, but it's really, people love it.

And people love sort of the idea of the dressing up and all of that aspect of it.

The rivalry between the two families is something that we are all aware of.

You know, even though, to a modern audience, you kind of go, "Well, the oldest brother."

The oldest brother's son is the person who gets everything.

And that's still kind of the way, how many friends do you have who's, or how many of you are the eldest son and you were treated differently to, or the eldest daughter, or whatever, and you were treated differently to the one that came next?

I know so many, you know, New York princes, (laughing) you know?

- Yes, it's true.

- And that's really what you're watching.

And Debbie's done a great job of kind of modernizing it and making it feel like, even though we're watching something from 100 years ago, it actually feels like it's from now as well.

- Yeah, yeah.

Love to know, yeah, what do you hope people think of?

- I agree with that.

I think, you know, we want rich, detailed characters hopefully that we can connect with and relate to in a fantastical setting.

You know, that's entertainment.

I think that's what a lot of the best shows, the most successful shows are doing.

Hopefully we do that as well.

- Guys, it's so romantic.

It's so irresistible.

(audience and Debbie laughing) You're gonna love it.

Honestly, you're just gonna be obsessed.

No, it's really hard to tease without spoiling things that I want you guys to be shocked by.

If you're not a fan of the books and you don't know where Soames and Irene's relationship is gonna go, I think it's a real beautiful thing that Debbie has introduced, the fact that you see us falling in love, and it not just being the start of a bad thing, it's like the start of a thing that you can all connect with at first, until you kind of get on Irene's point of view of the relationship.

Because I think when you watch a relationship fall in a series, you don't connect with it if that's all it does at the start, if you see why and how, it's more heartbreaking.

So, yeah, I think you'll just love (laughing) the romance of it all.

And everyone's so hot in this cast, (laughing) so.

- That's true.

That is true.

- I think that really helps.

(Chris laughing) But yeah, yeah.

- Absolutely.

And, you know, I'll give, you know, the last word to Debbie too.

Yeah, what do you hope people take away from?

- Well, it's what I always hope, which is that people will engage with the characters, care enough about them to want to go on the journey through all the kind of twists and turns, and, you know, see that journey through.

And they don't have to love all the characters, they don't have to be likable characters, but they have to be able to comprehend their motives and just to be curious about where it goes next.

So that's what I hope.

- All right, well, with that, you've gotta make sure to tune in when "The Forsytes" premieres on March 22nd, all right, on PBS.

So why don't you thank our lovely cast and crew?

Thank you, Debbie.

(audience clapping) - Thanks so much for coming, everybody.

- Stephen and Jack, Millie and Joshua.

And make sure you tune in to "The Forsytes" and enjoy the reception after this.

So thanks for sticking around.

(laughing)