The ending of The Forsytes’ first series proved one thing – beneath all that Victorian wealth and polish, this family is an emotional powder keg.
Jolyon’s bombshell discovery that he fathered twins with a former lover sent shockwaves through the clan, forcing him to confront a past he’d kept neatly tucked away.
At the same time, Soames found himself dangerously drawn to Irene, the captivating dancer who shakes his rigid, controlled world to its core. His growing obsession threatens not only his marriage but the stability of the entire Forsyte name.
By the final moments, reputations were cracked, marriages strained and loyalties in free fall – a perfect setup for an even stormier second series.
Expect more secrets unravelled, more forbidden desires surfacing and even deeper fractures in this once mighty family.
***Warning: spoilers the ending of The Forsytes series 1 below***
Jolyon’s secret children shock
The big love story of the series was between Jolyon Forsyte and his former lover, Louisa. Jolyon was the loose cannon of the family, preferring art and travelling over business. This set him apart from the other men.
Before he married Frances, Jolyon met Louisa while travelling and the pair had a passionate love affair. Knowing a lady’s maid like Louisa could never get married to an heir to a fortune like him, the pair were forced to go their separate ways.
Louisa promised to write to Jolyon. However, he didn’t see her again until they came face to face at June’s 18th birthday party.
This chance meeting unravelled Jolyon’s life. Not only because he was reminded of the love he once had for Louisa, but also because he discovered she had been pregnant when they’d parted ways. The news that he was the father of her 10-year-old twins, Joss and Holly, shocked Jolyon to the core.
Did Jolyon leave Frances?
Despite genuinely loving Frances and his stepdaughter, June, Jolyon couldn’t pretend his children didn’t exist. He secretly kept seeing them, getting to know them and struggling to hide his reemerging feelings for Louisa.
Frances was the ambitious one in their marriage. She worked with Jolyon’s father to make sure Jolyon took over as the head of the family’s stockbroking firm. But Frances knew she was losing her grip on her husband and took drastic action. Wanting to get rid of Louisa from their lives forever, Frances had Louisa evicted from her home in Soho. However, her plan backfired completely.
Not wanting his newfound family to be homeless, Jolyon gave them a house in the countryside. Louisa was delighted, and the fresh country air did the sickly children the world of good. By the end of the series, Jolyon told Frances that he would be paying for his children’s education, leaving her fuming.
They had a huge fight, and he moved out of their house. But Frances hated being the topic of society gossip and quickly asked her husband to come back home. However, the damage was done, and Frances had inadvertently pushed Jolyon into Louisa’s arms.
Did Louisa and Jolyon end up together?
The Forsytes ending saw Jolyon walk out on his marriage. He also turned his back on the family business and his wealth to be with Louisa and their children.
He told Louisa they would end up penniless and that society would shun them, but he didn’t care. Jolyon promised to be a good father to their children, and the series ended with them sharing a passionate kiss.
What happened to Irene in The Forsytes ending?
Irene, played by the brilliant Millie Gibson, was tragically left penniless after her father passed away. His life savings were lost after share prices plummeted thanks to Soame’s ill-advised investments.
With her dreams of being a ballet dancer in Paris shattered, grieving Irene thought her life would change when Soames asked her to marry him. He promised to give her everything she had ever dreamed of, including a wonderful life in Paris full of love, wealth and dancing. But of course, things didn’t go to plan.
Irene loved the first few weeks of marriage, showing off her new husband to all her dancer friends in Paris. But when Soames became jealous of the life that she had without him, he lied that they had to return to London. He pretended his father, James, was gravely ill, forcing Irene to give up her dreams of dancing.
After working out that Soames had lied about his father’s heart condition, Irene’s marriage went sour.
Did Irene escape her toxic marriage?
Despite Soames showering her with expensive gifts to keep her happy, Irene didn’t want money and yearned for the life he had promised her. Realising that the role of a Forsyte woman was to socialise, entertain and not have an opinion, Irene felt trapped in her marriage.
Things took a sinister turn when she discovered from June that Soames had commissioned her fiancé Philip to build them a house in the country. Knowing her husband was essentially building a prison to keep her in, Irene started to panic. Philip tried to get out of the commission, but Soames got wise and demanded that he start building.
At the end of the series, Irene asked Soames to release her from their marriage, which he promised to do when they first got engaged if she ever felt unhappy. But to her horror, Soames denied any knowledge of his promise, and Irene realised she was well and truly trapped.
The Forsytes ending: What happened to Frances?
By the end of the series, Frances’ marriage to Jolyon was over. After they fought about Louisa and the twins, there was no going back in their relationship. Despite his love for his stepdaughter, June, Jolyon couldn’t deny his feelings for Louisa and told Frances he was leaving.
She felt devastated, especially since he was just about to take over as head of Forsyte & Co, a role she had encouraged him to pursue for years. With her future in tatters, Frances refused to divorce Jolyon, knowing this would mean she would remain a Forsyte and Jolyon could never marry Louisa.
Did June marry Philip?
June has never been one to play by society’s rules, but even her family didn’t see this coming.
Instead of accepting a tidy, respectable match with Horatio Carteret, June stunned them all by falling for Philip – a penniless but principled young architect she met at a Fabian Society meeting. At the same time, her parents’ marriage was crumbling, and learning her stepfather had other children only fuelled her determination to break free of the Forsyte mould.
Her friendship with Philip blossomed quickly into love, and in true June fashion she proposed to him herself. The family were appalled, of course, though Jolyon – ever the soft-hearted romantic – gave his blessing on one condition: Philip needed to land his first proper commission so he could support her.
Enter Soames.
He secretly commissioned Philip’s debut project, conveniently tying the couple’s future to his own plans. But everything shifted when Philip realised the house he was designing was meant to imprison Irene. Horrified, he overpriced the job in the hope of stopping it, putting his and June’s future entirely at risk.
The plan blew up in his face.
By the end of the series, Soames had simply recommissioned the project, and June and Philip’s path to the altar looked clear again – if not entirely steady.
Who is Harry Falconer in The Forsytes ending?
Throughout the series, there was talk of financial risk because of the stockmarket. Jo liked to err on the side of caution, hated taking risks with other people’s money and cared about the impact their choices could make on others. But Soames and his father, James, were all about the money.
One investment in particular saw some of the company’s biggest investors lose their fortunes after the stocks crashed. However, there was one client in particular that Anne Forsyte, the matriarch of the family, was unhappy to hear had lost money, and that was Harry Falconer.
Troubled by the fact that this client had lost their entire estate, Anne asked her sons, James and Jolyon Senior, to send financial compensation. However, they refused. Knowing that she could appeal to grandson Jolyon’s kinder nature, she gave him the money and asked him to pay Harry Falconer compensation.
Later, Harry wrote to the family, thanking them for sending the money to save his estate. Confused, both James and Jolyon Senior felt determined to discover who sent the money.
The Forsytes ending saw Jolyon Senior confront his mother, realising she had sent the money. Baffled, he asked why she felt so obliged to help this unknown client. At first, Anne was cagey about who Harry was, before eventually revealing that Harry was her secret grandson.
What could happen in The Forsytes series 2?
Jolyon and Louisa might finally be out in the open, but their troubles are only just beginning. Now that society has made it crystal clear they’re no longer welcome, the next chapter looks set to follow them as they try to carve out a life together on the wrong side of polite opinion. Their relationship may be soft around the edges, but the world they’re stepping into is anything but.
Meanwhile, June and Philip are sitting on a powder keg of their own. If Philip’s big plan for Soames actually comes off, it could give him the stability he needs to marry June – a moment that promises celebration, rebellion and yet another Forsyte fuss. But the pair are tied to Soames more tightly than they’d like, and that never ends quietly.
Still, the real storm is Irene.
Whether she’ll manage to free herself from that suffocating marriage remains the biggest question. June and Philip have already seen the cracks beneath her polished surface – the loneliness, the fear, the sense of being trapped. If others start to notice too, Soames’ control may finally begin to slip.
And looming over everything is the secret Irene hasn’t uncovered: Soames wiped out her inheritance with that failed investment, leaving her destitute after her father died and crushing her ballet dreams not once, but twice. Should she ever learn the truth, the fallout won’t just rock her marriage – it could shake the entire Forsyte world to its core.
We’re told: “In this next chapter, the proud dynasty faces a new era of scandal, ambition, and shifting loyalties. As love, legacy and reputation collide, the cracks in the family’s polished façade grow ever deeper.”
With the new series in production, it won’t be long before we see The Forsytes cast back on our screens.
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The Forsytes is now available to watch on Channel5.com.
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