Sharpe

During the Peninsular War Sergeant Richard Sharpe is promoted to Lieutenant after saving the Duke of Wellington's life. He is given command of a squad of riflemen, the best shots in the army. He soon earns a reputation for being the man to entrust a dangerous mission to and Wellington regularly finds tasks for him.

An excellent war-drama series. Based on the novels by Bernard Cornwell and starring Sean Bean as Sharpe, this is as a series of rollicking adventures, often set against the background of actual historic battles in the Peninsular War.

Not perfect: the action scenes can be a bit gung ho at times and the plots aren't always 100% plausible. This is more than made up for by the sheer pace and momentum of each episode and the solid performances from the cast.

A really great series. I've not read the books so this was my first introduction to Sharpe. Each episode is quite long but they're well paced and good fun. The villains are proper villains, treacherous, wicked and delighting in their misdeeds. Sharpe is introduced as a hard but decent man raised from the ranks, from humble beginnings, now commanding a company of loyal misfits with his right hand man ever at his side. The costumes and attention to detail are good, you can tell they filmed it abroad, most episodes are set in Spain and Portugal. The modern score works quite well, they took a brave risk including electric guitar but I was surprised how well it worked. Some of it is pretty low budget but some pretty ladies turn up luckily throughout the series for Sharpe to flirt with. A lot of the fighting is actually very brutal and real, not lots of slick acting and fast editing but generally much more realistic with men grappling, wrestling, grunting, going for a low blow. Towards the end it Sharpe starts to seem like he's blessed with nine lives. There's another interesting episode where the war is over and Sharpe is working for the local yeomanry, but his sympathies lie more with the common people than the mill owners he's paid to protect. I like this one because we get to see Sharpe out of his comfort zone while we explore the poverty of Yorkshire in the 1810s. There's also a running gap in the series about Sharpe often being mistaken for a common solider rather than an officer. Many people are astonished to discover this rough mannered low born man is in fact an officer. Many of these men though lack his battle readiness and skill. Not that Sharpe is perfect, he has a weakness for women, he sometimes struggles to control his temper and he can occasionally be quite blind about certain things.

The casting is spot on, especially Sean Bean. Themes of social class, army life and justice/injustice, betrayal, jealousy and loyalty run throughout the series.

Long before Alec Trevelyan, Boromir or Ned Stark it was the role of Richard Sharpe that made Sean Bean famous. In recent years Bean's portrayal of Sharpe has unfortunately been largely forgotten and overshadowed by his later roles which is unfortunate because it is arguably one of the greatest roles of his career.

Sharpe is based on the book series of the same name by Bernard Cornwell and just like the books, the show tells the story of the fictional working class British rifleman as he fights in the Napoleonic Wars, rising in the ranks and facing off against his prejudiced superiors.

Despite being produced on a 90s British TV budget, the show is beautifully shot on location in Ukraine and manages to feel cinematic in places, though if you're expecting to see epic large scale battles then you will be left disappointed.

Where the show really shines is in it's excellent cast of actors. In addition to Sean Bean as Sharpe, there is Daragh O'Malley as Sharpe's patriotic Irish right hand man Patrick Harper, Jason Salkey as well spoken bookworm Harris and John Tams as singing sharpshooter Hagman making up the supporting cast. The show also has a revolving guest cast of top tier British acting talent, some of whom were unknowns at the time but would later go on to have illustrious careers of their own, including Brian Cox, Daniel Craig, Pete Postlethwaite, Mark Strong, Philip Glenister, Douglas Henshall and Paul Bettany to name a few.

Some stories are noticeably weaker than others (most notably Sharpe's Honour and Sharpe's Gold) but overall Sharpe is a very strong series with great acting and writing despite the budgetary limitations of the time and is definitely worth checking out if only to see Sean Bean shine in this forgotten early role.

Sean Bean IS Richard Sharpe, the British rifleman whose career mirrors that of Sir Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington through the British campaigns in Europe against the French forces under Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

Even though Bernard Cornell originally had his most famous character sporting black hair, I personally can't read Sharpe and not think of Sean Bean. That's how well he owned the role. Same with Daragh O'Malley as Sharpe's constant companion, the big Irishman Patrick Harper.

All but the last two instalments in this series were based on Cornwell's books, and even Sharpe's Challenge, the penultimate TV movie, was loosely based around Cornwall's trio of books where Sharpe is in India. I only wish these had been big screen productions, with a larger budget for extras and such. As good as the ITV production is - and it is very, very good - it could have been better with larger battle scenes.

That said, there is great Napoleonic action in each episode, and brilliant acting. Hugh Fraser is sensational as Wellington, and Pete Postlethwaite as Sharpe's sworn enemy Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill deserves special mention. A better villain, you will struggle to find. And lots of guest starring roles from famous British actors like Daniel Craig and Liz Hurley.

Fantastic tale of a sgt rising through the ranks whilst being gritty and heart warming.