TV’s serial seducer Dominic West finally plays the hero in Foxtel’s Les Miserables

In the BBC First adaptation of Les Miserables, TV’s serial seducer Dominic West finally gets to play the good guy.

Dominic West plays Jean Valjean in the new BBC First production of Les Miserables. Picture: Julien Lienard/Contour by Getty Images

Dominic West is the first to admit he’s built a career playing “a long line of philandering cads.”

There was his breakout role as troubled detective Jimmy McNulty in The Wire; then as womanising news anchor, Hector Madden in The Hour; and more recently as two-timing husband Noah Solloway in The Affair.

But, not surprisingly, the Yorkshire-born, Old Etonian is keen to point out he’s most certainly not the sum of his parts.

That would also explain why the critically-acclaimed lead actor hurled himself at the chance to play against type — as heroic protagonist, Jean Valjean in the new BBC First adaptation of Les Miserables.

Crime and punishment … Dominic West plays Jean Valjean in the BBC First production of Les Miserables. Picture: Robert Viglasky/BBC First.

It’s a role which added more gloss to Hugh Jackman’s reputation as the nicest man in Hollywood when he played the good guy to Russell Crowe’s villainous Javert in the 2012 movie musical version.

For West, “playing Jean Valjean, a good guy and a wonderful man, was so much easier on your soul than playing someone like [The Affair’s] Noah Solloway,” he tells TV GUIDE/WATCH with a beaming grin.

“I certainly play a lot of villains and people of questionable integrity, so it was such a relief to be offered the chance to play a proper hero. And I don’t mean just a superhero who can climb up the side of buildings like Spider-man, or can fight like Iron Man. None of those superheroes have done 19 years’ hard labour in a French 19th century jail like Valjean has,” he says. “He’s by far the toughest of them all.”

While the Jackman and Crowe extravaganza earned eight Academy Award nominations (including a golden gong for best supporting actress, Anne Hathaway as Fantine), West admits he “wasn’t a great fan of the musical.”

West was no fan of the 2012 musical, which starred Hugh Jackman in the same role of Jean Valjean. Picture: Universal Pictures, Laurie Sparham

Perhaps to the relief of like-minded viewers, this latest version, West says, has “something else to offer. It’s a six-hour, in-depth treatment of this incredible novel. And definitely no singing.”

For those not familiar with the Victor Hugo text, the story follows the tragic tale of Jean Valjean, who famously stole a loaf of bread for his sister’s starving children, and paid for his crime by going to jail for 19 years.

His imprisonment meant “all those children died of starvation,” West explains, and “he was brutalised in jail. He never knows tenderness, he never knows kindness, he never knows love for two decades.”

But as dark as the classic French literature classic does get, West jokes: “to be honest, it’s not nearly as dark as the stuff I did in The Affair.

Hot and heavy … Ruth Wilson as Alison and Dominic West as Noah in The Affair. Picture: Supplied/Presto

The fifth and final season of that seriously steamy and sordid series is likely to be focused more on West, with the death of his character’s mistress (played by Ruth Wilson), yet to be unexplained.

West, as angst-ridden Solloway, faces the final episodes with mixed emotions.

“Certainly being in jail with Brendan Fraser was quite a challenge in season three,” he laughs, referencing Fraser’s role as Solloway’s twisted jailer.

“I’m glad to be back, though I’m quite emotional about it and also quite relieved now that it’s drawing to a close. We’ve had an amazing run.”

Worlds away from Solloway’s sexual shenanigans, West has been happily married for almost a decade to Anglo-Irish aristocrat and landscape designer, Catherine Fitzgerald, and father to their four children; as well as an older daughter from a previous relationship.

When not on set, West revelling in his side job alongside his wife, as the proud owners of Ireland’s Glin Castle hotel — even if he’s self-deprecating about his management capabilities.

“I’d be the Basil Fawlty of Limerick if I was the one trying to run the hotel and I think everyone realises what a disaster that would be, so Catherine does most of the running, and I bring the publicity element.”

The unusual venture comes with a story better than anyone might write.

“My wife grew up in this wonderful castle in County Limerick. Her parents ran it as a hotel but then her father unfortunately died and it was put on the market.

It’s been in Catherine’s family for 700 years so we felt it would be churlish to let it go,” he says, before leaning in conspiratorially.

West relished playing the hero in the BBC First production of Les Miserables. Picture: Robert Viglasky/BBC First.

“I think I can say this now: we had Taylor Swift stay for Christmas!” he laughs. “It nearly killed me not being able to tell anyone about it.”

He’s more comfortable keeping mum about his looming milestone birthday, protesting: “hey, it’s not for a very long time … I don’t turn 50 until October.”

Still, there seems much to celebrate in West’s life.

“We’re doing a big road trip for four months up the Pacific Northwest and into Vancouver. Most of my family are on the trip. I’ve spent so much time away from them [on various locations] that I thought with turning 50 this year, it’s the right time to do it.

“Catherine has put her job on hold, and the kids are being homeschooled,” he beams. “This trip is the build-up to my 50th and it’s the most important thing in my life.”

* Les Miserables airs 8.30pm, Sunday, Foxtel’s BBC First.