Following on from the huge success and sprawling brilliance of the BBC’s adaptation of War And Peace, mum will be turning its attention to yet another tome-like classic in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. As with the previous epic, the screenplay for the French historical drama will be penned by Andrew Davies (A Poet In New York) with BBC Studios and Lookout Point filming the production to air on BBC 1 in association with the Weinstein Company.
The six-part mini-series was only announced this week (21st July 2016), so details are still fairly slim on the ground, but we’re expecting it to have a very similar plan to the one the Beeb had for War And Peace, which would give it an air date somewhere in January 2017. However, the filming schedule for the Tolstoy classic was almost exactly a year, but it required significant on-location work in Russia, Latvia and Lithuania, so if Les Misérables needs similar efforts in France then it could put it later in 2017.
It’s a development that we’re big fans of, having been a little disappointed to discover that the recent movie adaptation of Les Misérables was the musical version, which tells only fragments of the full story in the book. In the upcoming BBC adaptation there will be limited, if any, random singing and the full story will be told, so Victor Hugo’s original work should get a very thorough and dramatic retelling.
The adaptation promises to get as deep into the complexities of the novel as possible, following the troubled path of French peasant, Jean Valjean, who is released from a 19 years prison sentence in the galleys for stealing bread to feed his starving sister and family. The ensuing crimes he commits upon release result in an epic hunt for his capture with Inspector Javert picking up his trail six years later as Valjean has become the mayor of a small French town.
The to and fro of the story sees Valjean becoming responsible for the well-being of Cosette after the death of her mother Fantime, which Jean Valjean feels responsible for. All the while Javert is hot on his tail with the story coming to a head on the streets of Paris as the June Rebellion overtakes the city in a new wave of anti-monarchist sentiment.
Told over six hours of huge scale drama, the Les Misérables mini-series will be one of the BBC’s most anticipated shows of 2017, with perhaps only Doctor Who Series 10 and Sherlock Series 4 ahead of it. With more intensity and serious intent than the musical adaptation, which has become the public consciousness interpretation of the story, it’s going to be a very special production. Is there singing in this? Thankfully not, which is going to make it a contender for one one of the best adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic.
