Sharpe

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

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.

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.

The Sharpe series is a very enjoyable piece of historical fiction. Sean Bean is excellent as Sharpe. He is one of the finest actors of modern times. Everything he is in is great. His great strength is portraying flawed (and very human) characters either heroic or evil. The other actors in the show are also very good- with some going on to greater fame.

The stories range from very good and gripping to the somewhat silly but even the worst will keep you watching. The best part of the show is the dialog and the interactions between the characters. The worst is the combat action which is quite laughable in some instances ( with the classic pick up the enemy soldier and toss him over your shoulder scene). Everyone is killed, few are wounded except our heroes.

Also particularly annoying is the two main characters, Sharpe and Harper constantly running around outdoors with out some form of headgear. At that time, a man was considered indecent and in a state of undress to be out of doors with his head uncovered. Most of the other characters follow this convention, so I'm not quite sure why this is the case with Sharpe and Harper.

But overall a enjoyable and fun " guys soap opera" as the wife of my best friend calls it.

Bernard Cornwell is my favorite writer of historical fiction. He does meticulous research and gives a sense of time and place, but also never forgets to tell a rip-roaring good story. The 20-plus Richard Sharpe series is his masterwork - a land-based counterpart to the naval stories of C. F. Forester and Patrick O'Brian. This series of sixteen feature length TV movies simplifies the Sharpe saga somewhat but lovingly recreates its major plotlines and characters. You don't have to read the books to enjoy the series, but readers will appreciate some of the detail even more. The casting is mostly spot-on, with Sean Bean near perfect in the title role.

(In fact, Sean Bean is so perfect that I was surprised to learn that Richard E. Grant was originally cast in the role and that Bean was a last minute replacement after Grant injured himself. From what I have seen of Grant, he is pretty good but I think Bean turned out to be a much better choice for Sharpe.)

The entire series is now streaming on Britbox, which at seven bucks a month is a treasure-trove of classic and contemporary British TV. Do what I did and drop that 14 buck Netflix in favor of Britbox - if you love British TV you won't be sorry. Be aware that not all of the Britbox offerings show up on the menu on your smart TV. You have to drill down a bit in the website and click the "see all" buttons to see everything.

I saw a couple of the early Sharpe films on DVD years ago, and they were in 4:3 ratio. However, the versions streaming on Britbox are all in 1:33 widescreen and don't appear to me to be cropped. So I am assuming they were filmed in widescreen and cropped to 4:3 for broadcast back in the nineties before widescreen TVs were common. In any case, the versions streaming on Britbox look teriffic and have optional English subtitles which may help you follow the characters and plotlines.