What’s in Store for Frances Now Louisa Is Back on The Forsytes?

When it comes to The Forsytes, it’s only inspired by the novels by John Galsworthy. The series itself brings more life and depth to the women of the story, while making the men a little more likable and easier to understand.

Tuppence Middleton, who many will recognize from the final Downton Abbey movie takes on the role of Frances Forsyte. While in the novels, she is married to Jolyon and they have June together, in the TV series, she comes into the family with an eight-year-old daughter, who Jolyon takes in. It adds another layer to her character and her family life.

I got the chance to speak with Middleton about the role and about what’s to come. After all, Louisa showing up is going to throw a spanner in the works.

I love how Francis is so pragmatic. She is a woman of her time, but she does have some modern elements to her. What was it about Frances that drew you into the character?

She struck me as one of the more complex characters in the whole piece, because she has so many things to contend with. In the first season, she’s not the good guy, but she’s not the bad guy. There’s a very grey area, and she’s very human and makes mistakes that I think we can all relate to, but she’s also sassy, witty, and fun.

She can be really mischievous, so as an actor, there were many things that ticked my boxes. I think the journey that she goes on is such an interesting one, full of many difficult decisions that I really wanted to try to understand and explore, so it was an easy yes on my part.

I have loved seeing the development that Frances gets — and that she actually gets one — what’s it been like for you to tell this story?

The nice thing for Debbie [Horsfield] is that she has free rein for some of these characters. We could take Frances wherever we wanted to take her. The more you have to do as an actor, the more complex emotions or decisions you have to make, is just more fun. You get to really carve a character, especially when there wasn’t that much in the source material.

You have more ownership of it. She’s not so much a victim, but the author of her own journey, so that was definitely a positive.

She’s also so businesslike. This is a woman who has married into this family to help it grow. What’s going on in her mind?

She’s not a Forstye by blood, but that’s her nature. She instinctively understands from the start what her job is, and that it’s a mutually beneficial situation that she’s in. This family has a reputation and influence, and they’re the perfect match.

Her and Jolyon have a solid foundation. They have a relationship that works for her, and they’ve added a strategic partnership that becomes an important, grounding thing in her life.

He has been a wonderful father to her daughter, and he has taken her under his wing in a way that may not have been a given. It works out well for both of them, so by the time we meet them in this story with this giant curveball in their lives, she’s really taken by surprise, and she has to think on her feet.

They’ve been married for 10 years by this point, and here comes Louisa threatening everything. What’s going on in Frances’ mind right now?

She deals with it quite logically and rationally. There is shock, heartache, and panic, but she thinks strategically. She doesn’t let her emotions show, and only indulges in them privately, which is very typical of Frances.

Then she goes into planning mode. She accepts it in a mature manner and goes about figuring out how to navigate it.

I love how you say she doesn’t show emotion, because it’s something I brought up in my review of The Forsytes Episode 1.

Yeah, she’s reacted to the information, but she’s very composed. She has a reputation in society, and she understands how to uphold that. She can’t be the overly sensitive and free person that Jolyan allows himself to be. She is the rock of the family, so she registers it quickly and moves on.

Can you tease what’s to come next?

It could go either way. We want to feel like both women are good decisions, so there is no obvious direction to go. There needs to be conflict and the belief that their relationship was strong. There’s always going to be a pull between them because of their shared history, and they’ve raised this child together into womanhood.

After the final episode, Frances needs to tackle what she wants in her life because she’s always serving. She’s never really thought about what she wants, and she’ll get to look at that.

You mentioned her daughter, June. There’s a beautiful moment in the first episode where Frances is trying to offer some advice, and that connection and chemistry felt so real. Did you both run the scene a lot?

Thank you. We got to know each other really well while shooting, and I am older than Justine [Moore], so there is that element as well. I also have a daughter in real life, so I thought about how I would speak to her if she were that age. You remember how you were as a teenager, and those things that you felt so certain about.

It was really fun to have both sides, and it was fun to play around with. On the day, we both really understood our characters. We understood their struggle and that’s what I love about their relationship from the start. They are very different people. June is much more similar to Jolyan rather than to Frances, even though he’s not her father.

It’s difficult for Frances. She’s spent her life giving June a version of her own life, which June doesn’t want. She’s convinced she can change her mind, like she can change Jolyan’s mind, so it’s hard for Frances. She’s not a woman who is used to not getting her way.

There is a compromise between Frances and June, as Frances asks June to just let her be a proud mom for a moment. How was it for June to find that compromise?

Being married to Jolyan for so long, she’s used to compromise and finding that middle ground. It’s one of her superpowers. When things go wrong or need solving, she’s calm and rational about things. She’s good at it, and she understands how to manipulate the situation.

She understands how society works, and she understands what’s expected of her and other people. When she’s offering compromises, and it’s still not working, then she’s really coming up against something that she’s not been used to before.

Frances doesn’t just have to contend with Louisa and June growing up, either. Jolyan has not been named the new head of the brokerage. What’s going on through Frances’ mind with that change?

It’s what she’s worked for all these years, and they have finally achieved it. While she’s seeing her dreams come true, there’s also this huge amount of anxiety that Jolyan won’t step up. It’s never been his ambition, so there’s a risk that he will force it even further away.

She needs to force him into the role that he has been born to play, and she’s been born to coach him, so she’s thrilled. That’s why she accelerates the decision. She and Jolyan Sr. have always had a very easy exchange and true understanding. They’re much more matched than she and Jolyan.

So yes, she’s thrilled.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

The Forsytes airs on Sundays at 9/8c on PBS and is also available to stream on PBS Masterpiece on Prime Video and PBS Passport.