Portugal 1809 , the Peninsular War in the age of Napoleon. Napoleon Bonaparte is master of Europa . His brother Joseph Bonaparte sits on the throne of Spain . Sir Arthur Wellesley , soon to be Lord Wellington , the new British commander , has taken the city of Oporto from the French . Now he rests his forces before making an advance into Spain . A British sergeant , Sharpe (Sean Bean) , in the 95th Rifles having saved Arthur Wellesley (David Troughton)'s life during the Battle of Assaye in 1803 finds himself promoted to Lieutenant and in charge of a company of Rifles that do no respect him, to carry out a dangerous and vital mission , while collaborating with the Spanish resistance (Assumpta Serna , Simon Andreu) . Little by little Sharpe's character would have his regular team around him, developing a sense of camaraderie and friendship .
Stunning first outing of the successful series formed by 16 episodes, 1993-2008 and all of the episodes except for the last two are based upon the Sharpe series of books by Bernard Cornwell . Being equally based on historical events , as Sharpe's 95th Regiment and its green jackets are fact based along with other events and battles happened in Portugal and Spain . It contains noisy action, drama, romance , spectacular fights , go riding , cavalry charges and colorful outdoors . A series of stories starring Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe, a fictional British soldier in the Napoleonic Wars as he fights both Napoleon's forces and the strong prejudice of British aristocracy . Being well set in the Peninsular War, in which a British sergeant is field promoted to a lieutenant in charge of a disrespectful rifle company . The hard filming took place in Portugal , Spain and Crimea, Ukraine . The English crew was filming in Ukraine, perilously close to the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant . Stars Sean Bean who was stunningly cast , giving a nice acting as the brave and obstinate Lieutenant Sharpe . However , Paul McGann was originally cast as Sharpe , two weeks into shooting he tore a ligament playing soccer during a break and was unable to go on , that's why he was forced to drop out , being replaced by Sean Bean, the majority of the season had to be reshot , but new stunt coordinators being contracted and a planned third episode had to be dropped as too much time had been lost . According to Brian Cox , nearly the entire cast and crew were taken sick by giardia, a water-based parasite that causes diarrhea and severe stomach cramps. He told the Russian co-producers underpaid the crew and a filmmaker was constantly drunk or hungover , as well as the animals, specifically the horses, were regularly abused, including the use of tripwires to make them fall . This lax approach to safety included the actors, as an extra was accidentally stabbed with a sword while filming an action scene, the footage of which was reportedly included in the final episode . Despite this, the rest of the shoot was just as miserable, which led to Cox's vow never to reprise the role. In this first episode show up fine actors , such as : Assumpta Serna ,David Troughton , Julian Fellows , Michael Mears . Although Sean Bean and Daragh O'Malley are the only actors to show up in all 16 episodes of the series . And special mention for Brian Cox , in his memoir , he speaks at length about the miserable time he had making the first season. He fell ill during production of the first season , was appalled by the working conditions on location in Ukraine and refused to reprise the role of Major Hogan in any subsequent seasons . This episode ¨Sharp's rifles¨ was well directed by Tom Clegg.
This 16 episodes series displayed a good support cast , such as : Michael Byrne , Pete Postlethwaite, Toby Stephens , Emily Mortimer, Douglas Henshall , Lucy Brown, Hugh Fraser , Clive Francis , Nicholas Farrell , Mark Strong , Jeremy Child , James Purefoy , Elizabeth Hurley, Christopher Villiers , Féodor Atkine , Nickolas Grace , Steven Speirs, Paul Bettany and Daniel Craig's appearance in Sharpe's Eagle was one of his earliest roles. And all of them professionally directed by Tom Clegg.
Stunning first outing of the successful series formed by 16 episodes, 1993-2008 and all of the episodes except for the last two are based upon the Sharpe series of books by Bernard Cornwell . Being equally based on historical events , as Sharpe's 95th Regiment and its green jackets are fact based along with other events and battles happened in Portugal and Spain . It contains noisy action, drama, romance , spectacular fights , go riding , cavalry charges and colorful outdoors . A series of stories starring Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe, a fictional British soldier in the Napoleonic Wars as he fights both Napoleon's forces and the strong prejudice of British aristocracy . Being well set in the Peninsular War, in which a British sergeant is field promoted to a lieutenant in charge of a disrespectful rifle company . The hard filming took place in Portugal , Spain and Crimea, Ukraine . The English crew was filming in Ukraine, perilously close to the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant . Stars Sean Bean who was stunningly cast , giving a nice acting as the brave and obstinate Lieutenant Sharpe . However , Paul McGann was originally cast as Sharpe , two weeks into shooting he tore a ligament playing soccer during a break and was unable to go on , that's why he was forced to drop out , being replaced by Sean Bean, the majority of the season had to be reshot , but new stunt coordinators being contracted and a planned third episode had to be dropped as too much time had been lost . According to Brian Cox , nearly the entire cast and crew were taken sick by giardia, a water-based parasite that causes diarrhea and severe stomach cramps. He told the Russian co-producers underpaid the crew and a filmmaker was constantly drunk or hungover , as well as the animals, specifically the horses, were regularly abused, including the use of tripwires to make them fall . This lax approach to safety included the actors, as an extra was accidentally stabbed with a sword while filming an action scene, the footage of which was reportedly included in the final episode . Despite this, the rest of the shoot was just as miserable, which led to Cox's vow never to reprise the role. In this first episode show up fine actors , such as : Assumpta Serna ,David Troughton , Julian Fellows , Michael Mears . Although Sean Bean and Daragh O'Malley are the only actors to show up in all 16 episodes of the series . And special mention for Brian Cox , in his memoir , he speaks at length about the miserable time he had making the first season. He fell ill during production of the first season , was appalled by the working conditions on location in Ukraine and refused to reprise the role of Major Hogan in any subsequent seasons . This episode ¨Sharp's rifles¨ was well directed by Tom Clegg.
This 16 episodes series displayed a good support cast , such as : Michael Byrne , Pete Postlethwaite, Toby Stephens , Emily Mortimer, Douglas Henshall , Lucy Brown, Hugh Fraser , Clive Francis , Nicholas Farrell , Mark Strong , Jeremy Child , James Purefoy , Elizabeth Hurley, Christopher Villiers , Féodor Atkine , Nickolas Grace , Steven Speirs, Paul Bettany and Daniel Craig's appearance in Sharpe's Eagle was one of his earliest roles. And all of them professionally directed by Tom Clegg.