I’ve recently been re-watching my old episodes of the “Sharpe” series, starring Sean Bean.
The casting is great and the episodes are fun … it really suffers from two problems:
Most obvious to everyone watching it, it is really really hard to stage Napoleonic battles when you only have enough money to hire 20 extras. Lots of episiodes are re-written to avoid having to stage actual battles, but still the problem remains.
Less obvious unless you have read the book - they radically change Sharpe’s character from the novels, basically be re-writing the plots so that Sharpe never really does anything horribly rutheless. Sharpe in the books is a lot nastier. Sharpe in the TV episodes is a big softie by comparison.
To give an example: in Sharpe’s Battle, the novel, Sharpe has to prevent some Irish soldiers he’s supposed to be training from deserting. To solve this problem, Sharpe makes a deal with a local guerilla leader: castrate and murder the next soldiers to desert, and make it seem like it was done by the French (in return, Sharpe offers the leader some muskets). In Sharpe’s Battle, the TV episode, the French actually are responsible for mutilating and murdering deserters.
And so it goes: in each case where Sharpe did something really unpleasant or questionable (in the novels), he doesn’t (in the TV series). In the novels, his upbringing in an orphanage was horribly abusive and he goes back and wreaks a terrible vengence on the guy who ran the place - murdering him very messly (and he deserved it) (Sharpe’s Prey); in the TV series, his upbringing was bleak but he fondly remembers the woman who runs the place, who helps him (Sharpe’s Justice), etc.
The writers occasionally add stuff that is just odd, like in Sharpe’s Sword, where for some reason unknown to me the TV writers added an apparently jailbait love interest for Sharpe (a trauma-mute girl nicknamed “lass”) which was really quite squirm-inducing. She pursues Sharpe (by among other things turning up naked in his bedroll in his tent) who turns her down.
If you like Sean Bean, you will like this. My wife think’s he’s the perfect eye-candy in this series …
Basically, it is a drama about a British soldier (Sharpe) who was born in the gutter and, through sheer guts and ruthelessness, manages to rise through the ranks - becomming an officer (just barely possible in this era). Part of the drama is about his wartime exploits together with his inseperable buddy the giant Irishman Sarg. Harper, mainly (but not entirely) fighting the French in Spain; another part is about his fraught interaction with those on his own side (he’s an officer but not a gentleman, and it matters), and with the various women in his life.
Its good points are the casting and acting - almost everyone is well cast, particularly Sean Bean as Sharpe. More that pretty well any actor in a series I know, he totally owns this role - even the author of the books the series is based on agrees (he dedicated one of his books to Sean Bean and has admitted that, in books written after the series came out, his mental picture of Sharpe was informed by Bean’s acting).
He’s not the only great actor cast, though. Another real standout is the (evil and insane) Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill, brilliantly played by (the late) Pete Postlethwaite, though he’s just in a couple of episodes. Here’s a clip put together of some scenes of his:
The downsides I’ve mentioned above - most obvious to someone who hasn’t read the books, it was shot on a tight budget and it shows, particularly where large battles are called for. The details and period “look” is very well done though.
Overall, it is well worth watching, particularly if you liked LoTR and GoT. A great TV series.
BBC America showed the series over the summer about five years ago. Since then, I think two or three additional episodes were created (mostly set in India). I saw those via Netflix DVDs.
I agree with all of it. Its the best they could do given the budget. Hakeswill is one of the most evil bad guys ever in print. I never thought they could do a good job putting him on the screen. I was wrong. Postlethwaite was amazing.
I re-saw a few episodes over the weekend and I was struck how well they have aged. Its been 20 years. I loved the books, but I think the character is better in the films. He is more of an everyman. In the books, its like he is all that stands between Britain and defeat.
I did not like the new episodes set in India.
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Any idea if it’s available online at all?
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My problem with the series is that it became basically socialist propaganda, with Sharpe railing against the rich and powerful who almost invariably behaved like cads.
