Les Miserables to get modern retelling in BBC series starring Dominic West, Lily Collins and David Oyelowo
- Even though Victor Hugo’s novel has been adapted for radio and film more times than any other, it is ripe for another revisit, says star Oyelowo
- The historical drama will be brought up to date in Andrew Davies’ adaptation
If you were adapting a story that has already been turned into a colossus of a stage musical and a triple-Oscar-winning Hollywood film, you might be expected to be slightly overawed by the task.
The actors and producers of the latest iteration of Les Miserables – a six-part BBC take on Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel – are suitably diplomatic about the stage show seen by 70 million people in 51 countries, giving verdicts that range from “perfectly good” to “brilliant”.
But not Andrew Davies. The screenwriter behind the original House of Cards, the Pride and Prejudice adaptation that saw a wet-shirted Colin Firth emerging from a lake and an equally sexed-up War and Peace went to see the musical in London’s West End while preparing his own scripts.
“And I thought it was appalling. I hated it,” says the 82-year-old, with a large glass of red wine in hand, ahead of the show’s global launch at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) in London.
“I did see it rather late on, probably with a second- or third-rate cast. But, even so, I thought the lyrics were contemptible doggerel. There were one or two good tunes, but nothing that you couldn’t do without. Basically a lot of it was like a school concert with people standing in a row and singing. So part of my motivation then became to rescue Les Miserables from the musical.”
