LES MISERABLES Miniseries Heading to TV; BWW Looks Back at Many Adaptations!

As BWW reported earlier today, Weinstein Television and the BBC will collaborate on a new version of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. Andrew Davies, who recently adapted "War & Peace" into a BBC and A&E miniseries, will pen the six-part series from BBC Studios and Lookout Point for BBC One in association with Weinstein TV. In a statement, Weinstein Company co-chairman Harvey Weinstein commented, "Victor Hugo's 'LES MISERABLES' 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."

Of course this will not be the first time that Hugo's classic tale will be adapted. The musical version was first staged in Paris in 1980, with music by Claude-Michel Schönberg and original French-language lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel. The London production has run continuously since October 1985 - the longest-running musical in the West End and the second longest-running musical in the world.

The Broadway production of Les Miserables opened in March 1987 and ran until May 2003, closing after 6,680 performances. It is the fifth longest-running Broadway show in history and was the second-longest at the time. The show was nominated for 12 TONY AWARDS and won eight, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. A Broadway revival opened in 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre and closed in 2008, and a second Broadway revival opened in 2014 and is currently running at the Imperial Theatre.

In 2012, a film adaptation from Universal Pictures hit theaters. Directed by Tom Hooper, and scripted by William Nicholson, Boublil, Schönberg, and Herbert Kretzmer, the film starred an ensemble cast led by Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, and Amanda Seyfried. The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Hathaway won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Below, BWW looks back at the many incarnations of the Victor Hugo classic:

Watch the official 2012 movie trailer for Les Miserables, starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit, Samantha Barks, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen