Sharpe

Something awesome to follow the leader of a small bataillon of men during Napoleonic war, Sharpie charismatic and physical lead representation by Sean Bean with a perfectly cast support that grow as each episode progress.

The soundtrack is well appropriate, the vilains are nasties, many outdoor scenes, it accomplished well under its budgets i presume.

I guess this is a series about valors, dramatic, some social classes and geographic commentaries. Advemtures and mortal dangers, outdoor locations, and decent soundtrack.

This and Horatio Hornblower are totally well cast and well preesented with good soundtrack and operatic at time sutuations.

Maybe more of a guy men type of series.

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.

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.

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

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.