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'Les Miserables' miniseries in the works at the BBC

By Karen Butler
"Les Miserables" producer Harvey Weinstein attends the EE British Academy Film Awards Nominees Party at Kensington Palace in London on February 13, 2016. File Photo by Rune Hellestad/UPI
"Les Miserables" producer Harvey Weinstein attends the EE British Academy Film Awards Nominees Party at Kensington Palace in London on February 13, 2016. File Photo by Rune Hellestad/UPI | License Photo

LONDON, July 24 (UPI) -- Renowned screenwriter Andrew Davies is adapting Victor Hugo's epic novel Les Miserables for the small screen.

The BBC will air the six-hour miniseries in the United Kingdom, while Weinstein Television is distributing the program in the United States and China. No casting has been announced yet.

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"Andrew Davies' extraordinary skill for adaptation will bring the world-famous Les Misérables into powerful focus for a modern audience, with a multi-layered re-telling of Victor Hugo's masterpiece," Charlotte Moore, director of BBC Content, said in a statement. "BBC One viewers can expect the same quality and scale from the team behind War and Peace in this epic tale of redemption and the healing power of love."

"Les Misérables is a huge, iconic title. Most of us are familiar with the musical version, which only offers a fragmentary outline of its story. I am thrilled to have the opportunity of doing real justice to Victor Hugo at last by adapting his masterpiece in a six-hour version for the BBC, with the same team who made War and Peace," Davies noted.

"Victor Hugo's Les Misérables is one of the greatest novels of all time -- and while the musical is one of my favorites, this will be completely different," Weinstein Television's Harvey Weinstein remarked. "An intense and serious drama that will find contemporary relevance to what's going on in the world today. I'm thrilled to be reunited with Faith Penhale and Simon Vaughan, my partners from War and Peace, with Charlotte Moore from the BBC, and, of course, with Andrew Davies who wrote War and Peace. I think the BBC and Weinstein Television collaboration are a new paradigm in the telling of classics -- they're modern and yet respectful. And, with the exception of James Bond, nobody does it better than Andrew Davies."

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Les Misérables has been adapted for the big screen more than a dozen times. It is also the basis for an internationally beloved stage musical by the same name.

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