During the Peninsular War, British sergeant Richard Sharpe (Sean Bean) is field promoted to Lieutenant and placed in charge of the disrespectful 95th Rifles company.
The series of movie-length episodes then follows his exploits as he fights his way across the battlefields of 19th century Europe with his “Chosen Men”, accompanied by his loyal sidekick, Sgt, Harper (Daragh O’Malley).
Sharpe proves to be an extremely capable and cunning officer and is given progressively more important tasks by his commanding officers.
Despite their backing, he has to fight against the strong prejudice of aristocrats who owe their army positions to money and social connections rather than to military skill, and who object to an uncouth commoner raised from the ranks.
His successes gain him steady promotion, and by the Battle of Waterloo, he is a Lieutenant-Colonel.
Along the way, Sharpe marries the Spanish guerrilla leader Teresa Moreno (Assumpta Serna), with whom he has a daughter. When Teresa is killed, Sharpe marries Jane Gibbons (Abigail Cruttenden), who deserts him, squanders his money, and takes a lover.
He finally settles down with Lucille Castineau (Cécile Paoli), a Frenchwoman who passes away some time after Napoleon’s final defeat.
The series culminated in 1997 with the Battle of Waterloo but returned nine years later with Sharpe’s Challenge which saw our swashbuckling hero sent to India. The story aired over two nights in April 2006.
Bean returned in 2008 in a feature-length story (again aired over two nights) called Sharpe’s Peril
Based on Bernard Cornwell’s stirring Napoleonic novels, Sharpe was originally to have starred Paul McGann but he injured himself while playing football during a break in shooting on location in Ukraine. Within a week, Sean Bean had been cast as the hero.
A scene in the 1994 episode Sharpe’s Enemy in which a young Elizabeth Hurley is forced to strip was deemed to be the sexiest TV moment of all time and caused a surge on the British national grid as demand for electricity shot up 25% in the commercial break immediately after Hurley (as Lady Farthingdale) revealed her breasts, causing a power cut affecting 1,500 homes in northern England.
It was revealed during filming of the series that Sean Bean and his co-star Abigail Cruttenden were having an affair, breaking up his marriage to actress wife Melanie Hill.
Bean and Cruttenden subsequently married but divorced after three years.
Richard Sharpe
Sean Bean Sgt. Patrick Harper
Daragh O’Malley Daniel Hagman
John Tams Harris
Jason Salkey Lord Wellington
Hugh Fraser Ramona
Diana Perez Ben Perkins
Lyndon Davies Jane Gibbons
Abigail Cruttenden Francis Cooper
Michael Mears Sir Henry Simmerson
Michael Cochrane Teresa Moreno
Assumpta Serna Maj. Gen. Hector Ross
James Laurenson Maj. Mungo Munro
Hugh Ross Ducos
Féodor Atkine Capt. William Frederickson
Philip Whitchurch Lucille Castineau
Cécile Paoli Sgt. Obadiah Hakeswill
Pete Postlethwaite
Sharpe proves to be an extremely capable and cunning officer and is given progressively more important tasks by his commanding officers.
A scene in the 1994 episode Sharpe’s Enemy in which a young Elizabeth Hurley is forced to strip was deemed to be the sexiest TV moment of all time and caused a surge on the British national grid as demand for electricity shot up 25% in the commercial break immediately after Hurley (as Lady Farthingdale) revealed her breasts, causing a power cut affecting 1,500 homes in northern England.
