UKH

Has anyone else been watch this?

I haven't read the book so I don't know how well it follows the original but it has kept me watching every Sunday. Dominic West is predictably excellent but the whole thing is well paced.

Dave

Likewise, I've not read the book or seen any of the other adaptations and am really enjoying it. It is very good.

Me and the other half love this. It's one of the few programs we make time to sit and watch together.

Haven't seen the musical, but at no point have I thought ooh, this needs a spot of singing now.

I've enjoyed it so far but it seems rather hammed up compared to the book in that it doesn't properly convey the mundaneness in real misery and massively over simplifies the moral examinations contained within it. I'd highly recommend the book although with one key proviso. A huge problem with the otherwise brilliance of the book is an incredibly long rant about the church and monasteries .. when you get to that bit skip to the end of it (might be 30 pages) and continue the story. Go back later to read the rant as a long essay.

I thought the TV show way better than the musical film, that seemed weird and ineptly filmed to me despite some amazing staging and better than I expected lead performances.

Strange really, given what a crowd-pleaser a prolonged depiction of the mundanity of real misery, combined with a massively complicated moral examination would be with the BBC1 Sunday evening audience!   

Don't forget 30-odd pages on the battle of Waterloo, the chapter on the etymology of French slang and the one on the history of the Parisian sewerage system. If ever there was a book in need of a good editor this is it! Other than that I'd agree it's a superb book.

I wonder if people really sold their 2 front teeth for some cash.....? I think I'd draw the line at that. 

I know its hardly the worse example (its good public TV) but they could easily have done it a bit more sympathetically from an artistic perspective, albeit more cheaply,  and put it on BBC2 or even 4 and be loved by fans of the book worldwide for generations to come.  What counts these days as success in public service broadcasting drama....it seems dumbing down and sexing up for the ratings?

It's partly the fault of the critics when passably enjoyable idiocy like The Bodyguard wins drama awards. The BBC can show great work: I really enjoyed stuff in the last year from the period espionage grime of  Little Drummer Girl, through the quirky black comedy of Killing Eve, to original serious work like Black Earth Rising.

To be fair such internal essays are Hugo's style but the monastery rant was too much for me. It all makes sense in his grand aims:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Misérables

Interesting comments abut the musical. While I was watching it I thought, "How do you make a musical of this story, it is so grim."

Dave

And yet it is a fantastic musical. The creators did a very good job of distilling a long and rambling social commentary into a compelling story, without losing any of the important themes of the book or converting it into a simplistic love story.

Contrast with Phantom of the Opera, which I'd say is the textbook example of how not to make a musical of a book.

The missus has been watching it but I find it hard to watch because I keep expecting them to burst in to song.

I'm enjoying it, haven't read the book, but according to my GF,who is French, it follows Hugo's story line well.

However at times I find the acting very bad and unconvincing.

I agree its enthralling watching and harrowing at the same time. No spoilers...but does it end happily ever after?

I enjoyed it at first  but have fallen behind a couple of episodes which in itself is quite telling, considering some of the stuff I like to "keep up" with.

Off topic...  Thanks for that recommendation. Just watched the 1st episode. Superb

Yes, I'm with you with all of this.  To be fair, the first episode of Bodyguard was excellent but it got increasingly implausible as it went on.  Little Drummer Girl was worthy of the thoughtful and subtle book it was adapting.  Black Earth Rising was brilliant - original and complex.  I'd only seen John Goodman in comedy roles but he really deserved an award for his performance as the wily, yet idealistic, old lawyer.

No idea about the book, but the musical has a satisfactory outcome.

You mean they finally all shut up?

Very much to my surprise it's become a family favourite.  Our kids' school did a quite brilliant version and my cool teenage son can now sing the entire thing from memory.  Considering his usual fare is Avenged Sevenfold this is a new development! 

The musical is fantastic, one of the best stage musicals around both theatrically and musically - and yes I used to know it pretty much word for word back in the 90s.

Film version of the musical was visually great but would have benefited from choosing singers who can act, rather than actors who can sing. The cast can hold a tune OK but lack the power to duel with their voices. 

Read the book once and it was very hard going. As someone above said it needs a good editor to cut out the waffle and let the reader focus on the actual story. To all you Tolkien haters, if you think TLOTR is long winded this book is on a whole new level. 

I am enjoying the TV series but finding it gets slightly lost in places which isn't helped by it being fragmented with only being on one a week, so it surprises me that those of you who are unfamiliar with the story are following out OK. I also agree with another poster that the acting standard ranges from excellent to wooden.