Season 1
- Dominic West ( Centurion ) as Jean Valjean
- David Oyelowo ( Don't Let Go ) as Inspector Javert
- Lily Collins as Fantine
- Adeel Akhtar ( Utopia ) as Monsieur Thénardier
- Olivia Colman as Madame Thénardier
- Ellie Bamber as Cosette
Les Miserables (2018) [Season 1, Episode 1]
Shown 30 Dec 18
Standing in contrast with the Musical Version which came out a few years before, this is a closer adaptation of the novel by Victor Hugo . It has added length, so can cover more subplots and give more depth.
The story starts in 1815, in the aftermath of the battle of Waterloo. Monsieur Thénardier (Adeel Akhtar - Utopia ) is busy robbing the dead when he accidentally saves a colonel. Later the colonel is kicked out by his father-in-law (David Bradley - Game Of Thrones ), who raises the colonel's son as an aristocrat. These are merely supporting characters, but they will eventually get involved with the main storylines.
Jean Valjean (Dominic West - Centurion ) is a convict, imprisoned on a decomissioned warship. His guard, Javert (David Oyelowo - Don't Let Go ), is an uncompromising fascist. This is the first Black Javert since Ben Sisko in Star Trek: Voyager .
Fantine ( Lily Collins ), a young factory girl, is romanced by a young aristocrat. Her friend warns her that the rich men do not regard mill girls as marriage material, and use them as practice girls. However, Fantine gets pregnant in the hope of getting married. Her mistake is marrying someone from out of town whe has no ties to her or to the area.
Les Miserables (2018) [Season 1, Episode 2]
Shown 06 Jan 19
Fantine ( Lily Collins ) leaves her child in the care of Madame Thénardier ( Olivia Colman ) and her husband, Monsieur Thénardier (Adeel Akhtar - Utopia ). Things are good when she gets a job at a factory. Unfortunately she is slut-shamed by a jealous woman, and sacked from the factory. She is so desperate for cash that she must sell her body. Not in a good way, renting herself out sexually, but by letting a travelling barber-surgeon take her hair and teeth. As the helpful postmaster points out, she did it the wrong way round by selling her looks first and her dubious virtue last.
The factory-owner is Jean Valjean (Dominic West - Centurion ), who has re-invented himself and gotten elected the town's Mayor. By incredible coincidence Inspector Javert (David Oyelowo - Don't Let Go ) arrives as new head of the local police. He is meant to enforce the law, but this is a bourgoise society. All he does is protect the rich and oppress the poor.
Victor Hugo wrote this as poverty-porn, no doubt combining the worst bad-luck stories he could find, but that does not mean that it did not ring true to the contemporary audience.
Les Miserables (2018) [Season 1, Episode 3]
Shown 13 Jan 19
Fantine ( Lily Collins ) is on her deathbed. Jean Valjean (Dominic West - Centurion ) tries to help her, but he has to stop Inspector Javert (David Oyelowo - Don't Let Go ) from committing a terrible miscarriage of justice.
Of course, Valjean has to try to right a whole bunch of other wrongs. For example, he must save Cosette from Monsieur Thénardier (Adeel Akhtar - Utopia ).
Les Miserables (2018) [Season 1, Episode 4]
Shown 20 Jan 19
This is set ten years after the previous episode. Cosette ( Ellie Bamber ) is a teenager, and decides she does not want to become a nun. Jean Valjean (Dominic West - Centurion ) sneaks out of Paris, walks out into the distant forest, and recovers his buried treasure. Then he uses it to buy a luxurious but secluded house for them to live in.
Marius learns that his father the Colonel was a hero, and leaves his grandfather (David Bradley - Game Of Thrones ). Instead, the young man moves into the tenement that Valjean and Cosette once lived in, and hangs around with a bunch of anarchist revolutionaries.
Madame Thénardier ( Olivia Colman ) and her husband, Monsieur Thénardier (Adeel Akhtar - Utopia ), are living in the same tenement. They want revenge on Valjean, as well as his money.
Les Miserables (2018) [Season 1, Episode 5]
Shown 27 Jan 19
Inspector Javert (David Oyelowo - Don't Let Go ) is once again on the hunt. The other police are worried about lesser things, such as the impending anarchist uprising. If they kept a better eye on things, they would not let Monsieur Thénardier (Adeel Akhtar - Utopia ) escape prison and set himself up in the catacombs.
Eponine self-sabotages her infactuation with Marius, by helping him with his infactuation of Cosette - who is left alone while Jean Valjean (Dominic West - Centurion ) sneaks out of Paris, walks out into the distant forest, and stashes his buried treasure in his old hiding place.
Les Miserables (2018) [Season 1, Episode 6]
Episode 6 (75 min)
Shown 03 Feb 19
Eponine is gone, but nobody seems to care - least of all her brother Gavroche, who is having the time of his life in the battle. First he scouts around for the rebels, and discovers the French Army has deployed four or five thousand regular cavalry. Secondly he disobeys direct orders, and tries to collect weapons from the enemy dead. Naturally, putting himself in harm's way will end badly. And everyone makes a much bigger deal out of his fate than they did of his unfortunate sister's.
Jean Valjean (Dominic West - Centurion ) is stuck in the barricaded quarter. He must get Marius back to his grandfather (David Bradley - Game Of Thrones ). Unfortunately, as in Kanal the only way out of the besieged area is the sewers. That is where Monsieur Thénardier (Adeel Akhtar - Utopia ) is hiding out ...
Inspector Javert (David Oyelowo - Don't Let Go ) gets his final confrontation with Valjean.
