Millie Gibson, The Forsytes, Season 1

Released April 5, 2026 30:24

WARNING: This episode contains spoilers for Episode 3 of The Forsytes Season 1.

Actor Millie Gibson joined The Forsytes cast as the artistic and free-spirited ballet dancer, Irene Heron. In this conversation, Millie discusses how her character takes a leap of faith — a leap that promises her a world far beyond anything she could have ever dreamt.

Millie Gibson, The Forsytes, Season 1| MASTERPIECE Studio

This script has been lightly edited for clarity.

Jace Lacob: I’m Jace Lacob and you’re listening to MASTERPIECE Studio.

We first meet Irene Heron at the Academy of Dance as she floats breathlessly through the air in a cascade of twirls, sprints, and leaps. Following in her late mother’s footsteps, Irene is studying ballet in London, preparing to return to Paris to audition for the corps de ballet. Her father, Professor Heron, couldn’t be more supportive of his daughter’s talents and ambitions. However, his health soon takes a turn for the worse. On his deathbed, he imparts his final advice to his young daughter.

CLIP

Professor Heron: You must write to Madame Grasse in Montmartre - hopefully she’ll have a room.

Irene: Yes, papa, but my first priority is to get you well again.

Professor Heron: Never compromise. You hold fast to your passion. You have the means to pursue it in my will.

Irene: Why are you saying this?

As if losing her father weren’t enough, Irene soon learns that her father’s estate, which was largely invested in the recently collapsed Durham Mining Company, has evaporated. Ironically, the man who shares this information with Irene and her stepmother, Clarissa, is the same man responsible for the mining company’s collapse, Soames Forsyte. Unaware, Irene welcomes Soames’ recent interest in her, an interest that progresses rapidly towards a proposal by the end of Episode 2.

CLIP

Soames: But if you agree to our engagement, we will go to Paris together. And from there plan our future. And it will be all that you’ve dreamed of, and more.

With Soames’ attention, gifts, and charm, and not to mention a clear way out of her dire financial situation, Irene is soon swept off of her feet. But something inside the young dancer hesitates. Regardless, she casts fate to the wind and agrees to marry Soames. On her wedding day, Irene takes her time getting ready, wondering if her situation is too good to be true. As she studies the portraits of her late parents, Irene ponders the nature of love and marriage with her stepmother.

CLIP

Mrs. Heron: For Heaven’s sake, Irene, the carriage will be here any minute!

Irene: I hope I’m as blessed as they were.

Mrs. Heron: Can you ever doubt it? I mean the resources at Mr. Forsyte’s disposal? His willingness to uproot his entire existence for your sake?

Irene: I meant, theirs was a love match.

Mrs. Heron: And yours is?

Irene: I don’t yet know what to call it. He told me it would be “all that I dreamt of, and more”.

Mrs. Heron: Then I suggest you count your blessings and get dressed.

Today, we talk with actor Millie Gibson about how her character, Irene, takes a leap of faith — a leap that promises her a world far beyond anything she could have ever dreamt.

Jace Lacob: And this week we are joined by The Forsytes star, Millie Gibson. Welcome.

Millie Gibson: Hi. Thank you so much for having me.

Jace Lacob: Thanks for being here. So, The Forsytes revolves around a family whose domestic and professional lives are dangerously intertwined. Irene Heron is not at the center of power. She's a ballet dancer whose own family is ruined by the Forsytes’ greed. Did you feel an affinity for the character when you first read the scripts for The Forsytes?

Millie Gibson: Oh, totally. She is the daughter of these eccentric bohemian parents. It's just worlds away from the family she eventually marries into. So, I think what I loved most about her was her innocence, her youthfulness. Debbie Horsfield, the writer, really entranced a whole new personality with her, to be honest, because I think the past Irene Herons we've seen are a lot more mature. So, having this kind of youthful zest into it really plays on a situation that I feel like a lot of modern girls are still in. And I think that's why Debbie is such an amazing writer, she makes an old story feel so realistic with what's going on right now and a lot of controlling relationships, controlling families. So, it really felt real to me and I think playing a character that feels human is all an actor can really ask for really.

Jace Lacob: I love it, “to feel human.” You said in an interview prior to Irene, “I don’t think I’d ever really been seen as the lead, the female heroine… I don’t know – the love interest.” And you're speaking with me today using your natural Mancunian accent, which I love. What has it been like to put on Irene's red wig in her RP accent and play the romantic heroine then?

Millie Gibson: Even when I'm in that get up, whenever I have my normal accent, I'm talking to the rest of the cast, like, oh, how's your lunch? They're like, Millie, your voice just doesn't match how you look now. They just can't take me seriously. Especially Joshua Orpin, who plays Soames Forsyte, he cannot take my Manc accent seriously or understand it half of the time because he is Australian. So it was a lot of fun and yeah, I really was touched to be honest, because I think a lot of the roles I auditioned for prior… I sometimes got auditions for either the mean girl at school because you know, it was like that blonde look. And to be honest, seeing Irene, it was a totally different light for me.

And I went into the audition thinking, I don't know if I suit this. I don't know if I look as delicate, and almost this swan-like creature that's entrancing all these men. I don’t know if that's me. So I was very touched to be seen in that way because I think it's so rare these days for actors to be seen in a different way than a typecast way. Back in older days, it was a lot easier to chop and change into different places in a character's brain, but here it's like, okay, that actor does that thing, this actor does his thing. So I'm glad I was able to kind of reach out the box and I hope I continue to do so.

Jace Lacob: The Forsytes is a story of drawing rooms and board rooms. But we first meet ballet dancer, Irene Heron, not in one of those, but in the dance studio where she loses herself in the dance. In an era of repression and control, Irene seems to be the one most free and liberated at the point in which we meet her. What did you make of her introduction in this scene in the first episode?

Millie Gibson: I loved it. That dance, I had an amazing choreographer called Sammy Murray Brown, and this is how you know it's an amazing choreographer because when I was learning that dance, I felt all of those things. I remember there's a sequence at the end where I'm nonstop pirouetting. Obviously I also have an incredible ballet double called Eloise Taylor, who did the real pirouette. I just kind of spun on the spot like a mad woman and just tried to make it as graceful as I could.

Jace Lacob: Amazing. So you shot to fame with your casting as Ruby Sunday in Doctor Who in 2023 and Who is a global phenomenon and its actors are the subject of a lot of scrutiny from fans, the press and the tabloids. What did you bring from your experience on Doctor Who to The Forsytes, either in terms of your craft or your reactions to media attention?

Millie Gibson: Yeah, I think to be honest, a lot of people say there's always a lot of pressure to recreate a show that's already been done twice. And I was like, to be honest, I've come from a show that has a lot of pressure just from being the companion. So to be honest, The Forsytes was kind of a relief for me. I really felt so welcomed. It was nice to be in an ensemble cast and meet all these incredible actors and personalities and have such a collaborative experience within a scene.

I think I saw a Matt Smith interview who played the 11th doctor. He said, if you do Doctor Who you can literally do any other job with absolute ease. It is true because Doctor Who is predominantly two people in a cast, so you're in every scene every day. It was a nine month shoot, and it was a lot. It's a lot of chunky dialogue, a lot of running around, a lot of fun. But yeah, I think the pressure had already kind of lifted when I came to The Forsytes because I was like, okay, I can have a little bit of like, yeah, I can just go a bit mad with this because it's less of a spotlight. Which sometimes, people love, sometimes people enjoy. But I think in that moment in my career, it was a really nice balance to chop and change to that show from Doctor Who for sure.

Jace Lacob: Within the world of the Forsyte family, artistic expression is derided. Jolyon's art is thought of as shameful almost, but Irene exudes the pure joy of artistic expression. She comes alive when she dances. How does that help to define her character, that passion for dance in an era that's rooted in control and precision and repression?

Millie Gibson: That's such a good question. To be honest, there are so many kindred spirits within this horrible family. I think there's so many people that she finds a deep connection with who are totally different, but totally similar. Especially Jolyon, June, she rebels a lot from the family. And Phil Bossiney is this architect who's a little bit like, not Forsyte material at all. So I think those three characters are all really similar in fighting against the repression of the Forsytes. Debbie Horsfield really makes art such a release. And as actors, that's what we do. Acting is such a release for me. So yeah, I think I was kind of relating ballet for Irene to me in my acting for sure.

Jace Lacob: So you were born way after, not just the 1967 version The Forsytes, but also the 2002 version. Is it true that you started reading the John Galsworthy Forsyte Saga novels until Debbie Horsfield told you to just stop?

Millie Gibson: Yeah, I started reading the books. It was really cute, my dad got me this special edition book and I was like, wow, this is so cool! I'm going to read this all in the next month. I'm just going to set a goal for myself. And I told Debbie and she was like, yeah, don't bother, put it down. And I was like, right, okay. It is very male centered and her whole idea of this new adaptation was so that the female characters could have a lot more depth, strength. And I think that is really important in our day and age now because, I think the books are all from pretty much Soames’ point of view, and he's so horrible in it. And our Soames is obviously horrible, but I also really love how you kind of watch him fall in love with Irene and why Irene falls in love with him.

Because I think the only way in film and tv, the audience can actually feel anything for these characters is if they watch a relationship form. Because a lot of people are like, how does Irene not leave him? And it's like, okay, well let's see how she falls in love with him. And that's why it's more impactful further down the line when it does start to go similar to the books that it's more heart wrenching for the audience to watch because they've been there from the start.

Jace Lacob: So, when we first meet Irene, she is on the threshold of transformation.

CLIP

Irene: Papa!

Professor Heron: You are more like your mother, than you know.

Irene: She used to tell me we had too much fire. I almost wish I didn’t.

Professor Heron: When she died, I wanted you to have a less fraught profession. But now I think I was wrong. Had we stayed in Paris you would not have had to scratch about London for tuition. But then I would not have met your dear stepmother. And then where would we be?

Clarissa: Lost, entirely, without the sanity of an outside perspective. My dear, the ballet, it’s simply…

Irene: Not a respectable profession?

Clarissa: Well you can’t deny that it attracts women of ill repute.

Irene: And artists. Of which my mother was one.

Professor Heron: And so must you be.

Jace Lacob: What do you feel she means by this? What would she trade that fire for exactly?

Millie Gibson: I think because she knows in those days, ballet wasn't as kind of prestigious and as honored as it is today. Back in those days, it was more like, because you're showing a lot more skin, you're moving your body in ways that men get quite uncomfortable about. So I think to suppress it, it's the need to please, please society, please her peers. But because it's such a light in her that she can't put out, it's hard to detain and yeah, I really find a message in that in so many different art forms. I think it's such an underlying sense of everyone feels this way about some of their passions, even though we're in a modern society now.

MIDROLL

Jace Lacob: And we’re back with actor Millie Gibson. There is an intensity to the scenes between Irene and Soames, but also in these early episodes a sort of ease, a sweetness. And he appears to be an ally, a friend, a possible companion after their meet-cute in the park. What does Joshua Orpin bring to your scenes together and how did you work with Josh to find that tightrope tension between Irene and Soames in these early episodes?

Millie Gibson: Oh, that is such a good question. To be honest, it all felt like it all happened for a reason, in a way, because I was a month late into filming because I was on Doctor Who. So, I was coming in and everyone had already met each other for a month, they'd all been working together for so long. And I kind of came in almost like Irene, like she's new to the family, she's kind of the black sheep. And obviously in the real world, they welcomed me in so much more than the Forsytes do.

But, in that same respect, Josh had only done scenes with all of these men at the firm, and then all of his scenes were now with me. So, we shot it in order in the sense that we fall in love and then it goes dark, but I think because it was all shot in such intensity because of my schedule, the tension is there because from the off, we're working together on this relationship in real time. And sometimes it's hard with scheduling if you're doing really intense scenes when you've not really built the ground already. So, I was really happy that we were able to shoot it in order.

Jace Lacob: On a bigger question here, we tend to associate The Forsytes with legacy, with the notion of succession, who will follow in Jolyon Sr.’s footsteps at the firm? Who will uphold this family name? But Irene is equally fixated on legacy with fulfilling the promise of her late mother. How important is legacy to Irene, not in the male sense of name, but in art?

Millie Gibson: That's such a good question as well. That's exactly what it is though. She doesn't see legacy as like an heir, she sees it as love. I think she fell in love with ballet, not only because her mother was one, but because it's almost like a tribal element as well. I think everyone that's a part of something you love, you automatically fall in love with it too. I think such a beautiful thing is watching someone love something. I think that's another thing with me with acting. When you meet a cast like The Forsytes, it's so, so rewarding being a part of such a huge group of incredible actors that have done so many different things. And we all are doing this one, and this is our project and this is what we are doing in this scene.

And everyone has different ideas and we all love it because we're all loving it, if that makes sense. So I think with Irene and legacy, I think she'd only have children if it was totally for love, not for an heir or anything like that. Even though obviously in those times it was because women had to do that, sometimes they didn't have a choice.

Jace Lacob: Soames gives Irene a pair of ballet shoes and admits he's never felt loved before, and he can't imagine a life without Irene. And he makes her promise in this moment. He says,

CLIP

Soames: I’m convinced we could be happy. But if you find we cannot, though God help me I’ll move heaven and earth to make us so, I will release you and you will be free.

Jace Lacob: What goes through Irene's mind here, this promise that Soames has made as part of his informal proposal here?

Millie Gibson: Well that scene's got so many layers to it because she first starts with thinking he's in love with Clarissa. So she's now realizing that his attention has been on her the whole time. So I think she's thinking, oh my gosh, someone's actually first taken an interest in my passion, even though it's not really accepted in that time, and given me such a special gift, like ballet shoes. That's such a gorgeous gesture, so I think she's really touched. And then it kind of goes 360 where you've never seen Soames in this almost nervous light before. He is always just striding around in his suits, thinking that he knows everything about everyone. But in this scene, he actually says, I've never been that great at expressing my fondness of the heart. He has an amazing line,

CLIP

Soames: Forgive me, I am well-schooled in matters of business, less so in matters of the heart which, to be frank, has never been touched, not by a single soul until, believe me, I never intended to speak so soon, but your imminent departure — I can no longer leave unsaid what I’ve known from the moment I saw you. You are my heart’s desire. I cannot imagine a life without you.

Millie Gibson: And Josh acts that so brilliantly, and that vulnerability within him makes Irene kind of swoon, I think. I think seeing vulnerability in such a prestigious man, and this man that has been so kind to her already. And obviously she is a bit naive. I think if someone did a declaration of love like that to me, I'd be like, yes, of course. Of course! Is the sky blue? I would love to. So yeah, it was almost her childlike attributes coming out where that youthful young love is like, oh my God, someone loves me. Someone is declaring this beautiful anecdote to me and has just given me ballet shoes. So I think she's swept off her feet and then it's not till her wedding day, she's like, oh my God, will I be as blessed as my mum and dad are? This has all gone quite fast.

Jace Lacob: I mean, in that moment though, he does seem almost too good to be true as a Victorian gentleman. He's posh. He's got money. He says if it doesn't work out, she's free to go her own way. They'll go to Paris together and they'll plan their future. She can continue her career as a ballet dancer. Because of what you're saying with that sort of innocence and naivete, does she question this at all? Does she say, is this guy for real, or is it too good to be true? Or is she just taken aback by this that she thinks, yeah, let's make this leap.

Millie Gibson: No, totally. And I think that's why it's so important to have a role model in that moment, because I think she kind of hints it to Clarissa being like, is this the right decision? And she's like, no, you should be honored to have this opportunity to marry this man. Whereas I think her mum would've said to her, do you love him yet? And she's like, probably not yet. I think that's why role models are so important in those situations. I think because she's too young to figure out what she's thinking in that moment.

Jace Lacob: I do love the fact that she does sort of stand up for herself to Clarissa. Clarissa thinks that she's going to embarrass herself with the Forsytes,

CLIP

Clarissa: You’re not wearing that, are you? I mean the Forsyte ladies will never approve.

Irene: Is it not sufficiently modish?

Clarissa: My concern is that you don’t embarrass yourself. You’re stepping so far outside your milieu.

Irene: I thank you for your concern. But I can only start as I mean to go on. By doing what feels right. For me.

Jace Lacob: What did you make of that and Irene's tenacity?

Millie Gibson: I love that. And she just keeps going on with that attitude, and I think that's why Soames looks at her as almost like something he cannot contain anymore, because that is her absolute attitude and her drive throughout her whole life. And that's why she's an artist. You know what I mean? We all want to experience things so we can make mistakes and so we can learn from them, but I think the Forsytes are structured in a totally different way that fits that society at that time. Like you say, she is ahead of her time and that line is so powerful because it structures the way the rest of her life is going to go. And she’s a fighter, do you know what I mean? And Soames hates that he can't control that, and he'll eventually see that.

Jace Lacob: I love the scene between Irene and Francesca Annis’ Ann, where she tells Irene that she's Soames’ his first love. And she asks if Irene is in love and Irene says, “I have tremors, my pulse races and I feel faint. Some poets call that love.” But what would she call it exactly? And Irene says, “A prelude to something deeper.”

Millie Gibson: She's so deep. What a little, you know what a poet.

Jace Lacob: She is a poet, she's an artist. She's a true artist.

Millie Gibson: She's an artist. Yeah, I absolutely love that scene. And to do it with the Francesca Annis was really, really cool. And to be honest, I have some of my favorite lines in that and you've said some of them then. It's almost like this whole proposal, no one's actually said, and you, are you in love? Like, thank God someone's checked in with me on that because like I said, she's been swept off her feet. So, I think in that moment she's almost coy and embarrassed by the fact that, oh God, yeah. Oh wait, oh yeah, I'm supposed to be in love if I'm marrying. Do you know what I mean? No one kind of checks in on that. So I think the way she describes it is, it's so pure and so real and so human again. And I think that's what breaks my heart for her because I think she thinks in that moment, like basically I have a crush and it will turn into love because that's what I believe is what will happen for me And instead she's in for a shock to be honest.

Jace Lacob: She's in for a shock.

Millie Gibson: She's in for a shock.

Jace Lacob: There is a beat where it seems like Irene has maybe jilted Soames at the altar, but she shows up to marry him. What did you make of that delay? What was going on with Irene there? Is that the moment that you referenced earlier where she's sort of weighing her own parents’ marriage against hers?

Millie Gibson: Yeah, every single person's introduction to love is their parents. So, on a wedding day, to not have that first… the two people that showed you what love is and what love can create. I think she just felt really alone and really just totally bewildered by what she's suddenly done and is going to do. And I think the fact that the only person that has given her solace in this moment of loss is Soames, it makes her finally go to the altar. Obviously, Clarissa isn't being very nice to her in that moment as well. So I think her only choice of peace in that moment is to go ahead and marry into a new world of family and love and hopefully teach her kids the same, but like I say, it's not a fairytale ending, is it? But I think her only way out is her only way in, at that moment.

Jace Lacob: We pick up with Soames and Irene on their wedding night and Soames thanks Irene “for showing me a life and a man I never knew existed till I met you.” Does Irene see this as Soames bearing his soul as she does through her dance, that there is a naked vulnerability here?

Millie Gibson: Oh, totally. And I think he's being totally real there. I think that's his true thoughts. I don't even think he's just trying to get her into bed. I think he's actually confessing such a vulnerability that he has never, ever, ever done with anyone before because he's seen as this strong male figure in the firm and to his dad. And this is the first person that he's ever shared these feelings of fragility towards. And it's so intimate in that point. And I think she just totally thinks, oh my God, I'm in, I've cracked him. This is the start of something where we can really build such honesty and such pureness together.

Jace Lacob: Looking back at Professor Heron’s deathbed scene in Episode One reveals Irene's father's belief in her art, “Never compromise.” He tells Irene, “You hold fast to your passion.” Does Irene view her marriage to Soames as a compromise or a means to an end, a chance to hold fast to her passion by finding someone with whom to share that passion?

Millie Gibson: I think a bit of both. I think obviously her father is a little bit of a hypocrite in that sense because he's obviously married to a woman that really doesn't embrace him or his daughter or his deceased wife who used to be an artist. So I think it's kind of hard for her to navigate that information as she does. And like I say, the only person that gives her solace in that moment is Soames at the funeral. So I think she sees the kindness that she sees in her father's eyes in that moment. So she holds fast to that and leads with that. And obviously when Soames makes that huge speech around Paris and ballet and taking an interest in her art, she's like, this is it. This is the moment. This is what I need to hang on to. And she has no one else to tell her otherwise or to tell her to stop and think or to teach her anything else.

Jace Lacob: Episode Three begins with Anne asking the question how to define a Forsyte,

CLIP

Ann: How to define a Forsyte? By the secrets we keep shall you know us. By the little lies we tell. By the choices we make which echo down the generations, choices which will come back to haunt us until one of us decides to change the story.

Jace Lacob: And Episode Three ends with that scene of Soames carrying Irene to bed on their wedding night, this blissful couple on the verge of a new life together. What can you tease is coming up for Irene in the second half of Series One, and does this scene portend a life of happiness ahead for them both or of heartbreak?

Millie Gibson: Oh God, a bit of both. I think for the people that are a fan of the books, they obviously know where this relationship is inevitably going to go. But I'll tease that there's obviously their honeymoon, whether they find a deep connection there or not, they will definitely learn more about one another with it being in Paris. And I can also tease that it's almost like every single episode becomes darker and darker and yeah, the walls are definitely starting to close in for her.

Jace Lacob: Millie Gibson, thank you so very much.

Millie Gibson: Thank you so, so much. Thank you.

Next time, Soames and Irene plan out their future while on their honeymoon in Paris.

CLIP

Soames: You realize we’ll have a housekeeper, servants?

Irene: And your mother will think me woefully lacking! I’m sure she already thinks I’ve led you astray.

Soames: “Led me astray”? Have you?

Tune in next week to hear our conversation with actor Joshua Orpin who discusses how his character, Soames Forsyte, adjusts to the idea of beginning a new life in Paris, and following someone else’s dream.

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