Les Miserables (BBC Miniseries)

I don't think it 'needed' to be explained. I hadn't read the article but to me Valjean in the factory as the Mayor etc seemed to be talking in a more 'put on posh voice' than we'd heard in episode one. Then his conversations with Cosette being the first 'in private' version of Valjean we see/hear seemed to be his 'natural' voice. It's fairly subtle anyway- not like he veers from RP to a thick Newcastle accent or something with no explanation.

People with accents change 'em depending on context; sometimes it's as obvious as "I'm going to study at Cambridge and I don't want my fellow students to judge me for my strong Devonian accent", sometimes it's as esoteric as "I learned this word from my Scottish cousin and simply can't pronounce it the RP way without thinking really hard about it first". I once received praise for my accent work in a play because the woman playing my mother was from Liverpool and people were impressed by a few noticeably Scouse touches in the way I spoke even though that's just my voice. I have an acquaintance who is just as southern as any of us by birth but went overseas and came back with a broad Yorkshire accent. Isn't it more interesting to try and work out why there are differences in a character's accent (in my case, my real life mother is from Liverpool so I've been adjusting the way I speak for YEARS because I got sick of being bullied as a southern softie; in my acquaintance's case, she studied in Yorkshire and has felt a strong affinity for the county ever since) and what the actor is hoping to convey with such differences than to just sit there and write them off as unrealistic or pointless or dumb or bad?

I'm also really loving this now. Totally hooked

I'm loving it, but heck it leaves me anxious each week.

Omg I know! 

I don't think he's supposed to be their son in the musical. He's still a child when Eponine is grown up for one thing.

It's not mentioned at all in the musical, but I'm sure there was a reference to it in the film - after Little Fall of Rain I seem to remember one of the students asking Gavroche if he was ok and he said "She was my sister"

I'm not much of a musicals fan, but I think they did a pretty good job on a book that's all over the place.

That was the strongest episode so far for me. The students feel a bit underwritten so far - but they will get more screentime in the final 2 episodes.

Thenardier went full Fagin tonight - which jarred a bit for me. But overall, the best so far.

The ageing did seem a little inconsistent between episodes 3 and 4

Some people hardly seem to change at all and others were barely recognisable.

I think the pace is going to be somewhat breathless for the final 2 episodes (unless one of them is extended) as we now have a lot of plot to get through.

In terms of the musical, we have yet to reach the end of Act 1 - and yet we are 2/3rd of the way through the run time.

The best yet - very atmospheric, and a far more interesting group of characters as we get into this part of the story. I particularly liked the time given to Eponine, and Cosette was endearing, especially the scene in the park where her joy captivates Marius, and JVJ's mixed feelings as she tries on the frocks (btw, doesn't she ever wonder where the money comes from?). We've only had a glimpse of the students so far, but I thought they were distilled down well - Enjolras like a fierce Delacroix and Grantaire nicely dishevelled like a Daumier.

If anything, the US prefers much longer drama series, and they sell worldwide. The Wire was 12 or 13 episodes a series, as is The Deuce, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones etc, and the episodes are around an hour long without ads (the last Thrones will be a shorter series but with feature length episodes). Even teen stuff like Stranger Things is 8 hours, and 'limited series' like Feud - Bette and Joan or that Gianni Versace Murder thing seemed to go on for ages. It's a bit frustrating with the BBC Les Miserables where you have all that talent assembled but so many of the scenes are so short. At the same time, the BBC Philip Pullman adaptation sounds like it's going to be 3 or 4 separate 8-hour series. If the can do 8 hours for a single children's book, why not the same for an epic?

I suspect Les Mis couldn't be more than six episodes for cost reasons and to an extent scheduling reasons.