Les Misérables

December 30, BBC One

Not a fan of musicals? No problem. This version of Les Mis has its cast focused more on gritty drama than breaking into song. As a six-part period drama, we get to delve more deeply into the background of the characters of Victor Hugo’s sprawling 1862 novel set in a fractious Paris. Leading the cast as reformed criminal Jean Valjeal, is a perfectly cast Dominic West, Lily Collins as naive ingenue Fantine and Olivia Coleman as the irrepressible Madame Thenardier.