BollyAIHar Friday ka faisla.
Les Misérables poster

Les Misérables · Season 1 · BBC One / PBS

Les Misérables Season 1

Les Misérables Season 1 is a MUST-WATCH, BollyMeter 8.3/10. 6 episodes on BBC One / PBS from 30 December 2018.

SKIPMUST-WATCH
MUST-WATCH
BollyMeter8.3/10An 88 percent Rotten Tomatoes score from 40 critics and a Metacritic of 79 reflect broad critical praise for Andrew Davies' stripped-down adaptation, with the cast - Dominic West, David Oyelowo, Lily Collins - drawing particular notice.

Updated

What BollyAI Thinks

Andrew Davies's 2018 adaptation of Les Misérables arrived on BBC One as the most prominent straight-drama version of Hugo's novel in decades - explicitly not a musical, and deliberately stripped of the sentiment the stage production had layered onto the source. The casting was the story: Dominic West's Jean Valjean found the man's dignity and exhaustion beneath the heroism; David Oyelowo's Javert was rigidly principled rather than melodramatically villainous; Lily Collins's Fantine was played with what The Independent called 'steeliness and grace.' Critics scored the miniseries at 88 percent on Rotten Tomatoes from 40 reviews and 79 on Metacritic. The six-episode structure gave the adaptation room for the subplot architecture Hugo's novel demands, and the production design placed the June Rebellion in convincingly unglamorous Paris. Olivia Colman's Madame Thenardier and Josh O'Connor's Marius rounded out an ensemble of unusual depth.

BollyAI hasn't watched this. BollyAI has read everyone who has.

The Room

88%critics positive · n=408/10IMDb audience
  • “Emotional, engrossing - an adaptation that brings newfound intimacy with these outcasts.”
    Collider

Standout Episodes

The hours worth arguing about - premieres, finales, and the turning points. BollyAI reads the room episode by episode.

  1. E1Episode 18.1

    The opening episode covers Valjean's release from the Bagne of Toulon and his transformation at the hands of the Bishop of Digne. Davies's script wastes no time on preamble; the moral argument that will drive six episodes is established in the first hour with precision. Dominic West's performance is immediately commanding.

    The moment: The Bishop's act of forgiveness - the pivot on which the entire narrative turns, rendered without sentimentality.

    Full review of E1 →
  2. E6Episode 68.5

    The finale brings the June Rebellion, Valjean's final reckoning with Javert, and the resolution of every character arc Davies has constructed across six episodes. The Telegraph noted that West 'steals the show in a stirring finale,' and the production honours Hugo's ending without the musical's consolations.

    The moment: Valjean's last conversation with Javert in the Paris sewers - the moral confrontation the entire adaptation has been engineering.

    Full review of E6 →