New York ? For many viewers, just the mention of “The Forsyte Saga” triggers images of a bygone age. It was an era of quaint customs and curious wardrobes, hardly understandable to us now but so much fun to look back on.

Ah, those distant days of 1969! For that, of course, was when “The Forsyte Saga” premiered in the United States, causing a sensation throughout its 26-week run.

A sprawling costume drama that begins in 1870s London, the BBC production drew from a trilogy of novels by Nobel laureate John Galsworthy focusing on the upper-crust yet scandal-ridden Forsyte clan.

In that long-ago era (that is, 1969-70) before people had home video players and hundreds of channels to choose from, “The Forsyte Saga” was embraced as something ground-breaking and not to be missed. Unfolding in black-and-white splendor on a total budget of $728,000, it was the very definition of appointment TV.

Now a “Forsyte Saga” for a new century is about to dazzle viewers. Beginning at 8 p.m. Sunday with a two-hour opener, it will continue for six more weeks on PBS’ “Masterpiece Theatre” (the venerable showcase for British drama that, to bring things full circle, was spawned a generation ago by the success of the original “Forsyte”).

A co-production of WGBH Boston and Britain’s Granada Television, the lavish $10 million, full-color new “Saga” is billed not as a remake of the old TV series, but as a fresh adaptation of Galsworthy’s epic tale.

From roughly the same starting point, its eight episodes will cover “The Man of Property” and “In Chancery,” the first novels of the “Forsyte” cycle. In future seasons, two sequels will take the viewer through the next four books which all together equal the span of the 1960s series.

Love and lust

Damian Lewis appears as Soames Forsyte in a scene from the new Masterpiece

The action kicks off Sunday with a suitably gala dinner to celebrate the engagement of Winifred Forsyte (Amanda Root) to dashing, gold-digging Montague Dartie (Ben Miles).

But conspicuously missing from the festivities are Winifred’s cousin Jolyon (Rupert Graves), who, with his wife, has stayed home with their ailing daughter, June.

Look out! Up in June’s bedroom, unsaid longings are exhibited by Jolyon and the girl’s winsome governess, Helene (Amanda Ooms), who strikes quite a contrast to Jolyon’s icy mate.

Shortly after that, we meet enchanting Irene (Gina McKee), who becomes the object of pursuit, then the tormented wife, of Soames Forsyte, arguably the series’ centerpiece.

Poor Soames. Here is a British gentleman who can neither express the feelings that roil within him or recognize feelings within others. The series’ villain, if any, he also is his own worst enemy.

He is played by Damian Lewis (otherwise known for starring in HBO’s “Band of Brothers”), who calls Soames “an emotionally shriveled man.”

During Sunday’s opener, Soames will try to salvage his hollow marriage by building Irene a country home. But he chooses for his architect Philip Bosinney (Ioan Gruffudd), the sexy fiance of an all-grown-up June Forsyte (Gillian Kearney).

Problem is, Bosinney and Irene on first meeting feel an instant attraction. Next thing we know, they’re exchanging goo-goo eyes.

Tape the ‘Sopranos’

A lush melodrama in Victorian garb, “The Forsyte Saga” deals with family values that are always in vogue: love, lust, greed and social standing.

But what kind of hold will it have on audiences this go-around? As overindulged with programming as we viewers are today, can any TV drama rock our world the way the original “Forsyte” did in 1969?

Just one candidate comes to mind: “The Sopranos,” HBO’s critical and popular phenomenon with which (in most cities) “The Forsyte Saga” will clash on Sunday nights.

But that’s OK. Now viewers are blessed with modern marvels like TiVo and with each “Sopranos” episode’s multiple airings. So catch Soames, Irene and the rest of the Forsytes on Sunday. Tony can wait.