Pick of the week

SHARPE napoleonic hero

These thrilling adaptations of Bernard Cornwell’s Napoleonic novels made a star out of Sean Bean who played the heroic rifleman Richard Sharpe (above) – although it almost wasn’t to be: Paul Mcgann was originally cast, but pulled out two weeks into filming after he injured his knee. It’s impossible now to imagine anyone else in the role, even if he’s a Yorkshireman rather than the Londoner of Cornwell’s early novels. In the barnstorming episodes, Bean’s Sharpe leads the elite ‘Chosen Men’ of the 95th Rifles, despite himself being from sturdy workingclass stock.