The world's favourite swashbuckling quartet are back in a stunning new adventure series adapted by BBC One from Alexandre Dumas' 'The Three Musketeers' and starring an exceptional ensemble cast.

Tom Burke as Athos, Santiago Cabrera as Aramis, Luke Pasqualino as D'Artagnan and Howard Charles as Porthos
Athos, Aramis, D'Artagnan and Porthos

The new show is named merely 'The Musketeers' and, although is based on the main framework of the 1844 novel, is in fact a series of newly created escapades, occasionally inspired by the events of the original story. Creator Adrian Hodges wanted to go for something a little different from the last few decades of popular movie adaptions, which include Richard Lester's 1973 version starring Michael York and Charlton Heston, the 1993 Disney film with Chris O'Donnell and Tim Curry, and who could forget the animated adventure 'Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds'?

Rather than going with the popular notion of putting old stories into modern settings, such as Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat's detective series 'Sherlock' and Fox's supernatural crime drama 'Sleepy Hollow', Hodges wanted to keep it as original as possible though still quietly raising contemporary issues. 'I'm not sure the concept could really make sense outside of its original setting', he says. 'So right from the start I decided we had to keep the framework everyone knows but then bring a certain modern attitude to it.'

Aramis, Porthos, Athos and D'Artagnon
D'Artagnon and The Three Musketeers

The cast of The Musketeers BBC drama features Tom Burke, Santiago Cabrera, Howard Charles, Luke Pasqualino and Peter Capaldi and, let's face it, they've got a lot to live up to if previous adaptations are anything to go by. However, the new musketeers have had plenty of time to bond as brothers and even enjoyed a week of bootcamp at a Prague castle involving non-stop horse-riding, sword-fighting and general swashbuckling to prepare for filming. First glances suggest they could very well be a winning combination and offer us our new favourite version of the Dumas story.

Next page: Luke Pasqualino is D'Artagnan