Les Miserables: TV adaptation announced

Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables has already been set to stage and screen, and now it’s hitting the trifecta with a television debut. The literary classic will head to TV with a six-part mini-series from the Weinstein Company and BBC, the companies announced Thursday.

The new adaptation will be penned by award-winning writer Andrew Davies, who also helmed the script for Weinstein and BBC’s acclaimed War & Peace production. He’ll work from Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel rather than the long-running smash musical. Davies, Bethan Jones (Sherlock), Faith Penhale (Nearly Famous), Simon Vaughan (Ripper Street), and Harvey Weinstein are set to executive-produce.

“Les Misérables is a huge iconic title. Most of us are familiar with the musical version which only offers a fragmentary outline of its story,” Davies said in a release. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity of doing real justice to Victor Hugo at last by adapting his masterpiece in a six-hour version for the BBC, with the same team who made War & Peace.”

Weinstein noted that the book “is one of the greatest novels of all time — and while the musical is one of my favorites, this will be completely different. An intense and serious drama that will find contemporary relevance to what’s going on in the world today.”

Les Misérables’ 2012 film adaptation starred Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, and Eddie Redmayne. Directed by the Emmy-nominated Tom Hooper, it was both a critical and commercial success, grossing more than $430 million at the worldwide box office and scoring three Academy Awards. No release date for the TV run has been announced.