Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events trailer: First full look at Netflix's latest series

How I Met Your Mother's Neil Patrick Harris stars as the sinister and duplicitous Count Olaf

If you're interested in television series with happy endings, you would be better off watching some other Netflix show.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is headed straight for the small screen, adapting the internationally best-selling children's novels by Daniel Handler; following the dire misadventures of the trio of Baudelaire orphans - inventor Violet, bookish Klaus, and bitey Sunny; as they find themselves perpetually hounded by the mysterious and sinister Count Olaf, hell-bent on landing the orphans' inherited fortune.

The Baudelaires must use their wits to outsmart Olaf's schemes and duplicitous disguises, as they journey from caretaker to caretaker in an effort to evade an unfortunate end and uncover the mystery of their parents' death.

The Emmy and Tony award-winning Neil Patrick Harris brings Olaf to life here, near unrecognisable underneath that sinister-looking nose and monobrow; the trailer also giving us a glimpse at a few of his disguises - namely Uncle Monty's assistant Stephano, Captain Sham, and Shirley the receptionist.

Harris stars alongside the likes of Patrick Warburton (Lemony Snicket), Joan Cusack (Justice Strauss), Malina Weissman (Violet Baudelaire) and Louis Hynes (Klaus Baudelaire); in an eight-episode series coming straight from executive producers Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black, The Addams Family) and Handler himself, with Sonnenfeld directing four of the episodes.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events hits Netflix on 13 January, 2017.