Sharpe's Rifles
Series
Sharpe's Rifles is both a series of novels (written by Bernard Cornwell) and British television mini-movies based on the novels. The protagonist and hero in the stories is Richard Sharpe a fictional British soldier and rifleman in the Napoleonic Wars. In the TV series he is played by Sean Bean beggining with Sharpe's Rifles the first in the series. Quoting one of the Wikipedia articles "The drama tells the story of Richard Sharpe, an ambitious and hardened soldier from Yorkshire. The story follows the exploits of Sharpe and his band of chosen men through Spain after they survive an ambush by French cavalry."
I found this series quite engaging when I first watched in the early 2000's (I would say around 2003). I rented the DVD's through Netflix (now dvd.com).
Series list
According to the Internet Movie Database
- 1. Sharpe’s Rifles (1993)
2. Sharpe’s Eagles (1993) 3. Sharpe’s Company (1994) 4. Sharpe’s Enemy ((1994) 5. Sharpe’s Honour (1994) 6. Sharpe’s Gold (1995) 7. Sharpe’s Battle (1995) 8. Sharpe’s Sword (1995) 9. Sharpe’s Regiment (1996) 10. Sharpe’s Siege (1996) 11. Sharpe’s Mission (1996) 12. Sharpe’s Revenge (1997) 13. Sharpe’s Justice (1997) 14. Sharpe’s Waterloo (1997)
Sharpe’s Challenge and Sharpe’s Peril are not adapted from the bestselling “Sharpe” novels by Bernard Cornwell. However, their storylines do hearken back to certain events and people from the hero’s past.
Culminating into what appears to be the final episode:
Discs
Recently I wanted to watch the series again (and the fact I never made it past the first 6 discs "Sharpe's Gold" was the last I had seen). I noticed however that most of the DVD's are no longer for rent on dvd.com so I went searching for them and how to buy or rent them in my region (Region 1). This page serves as both an homage and also my quest to watch the entire series.
Amazon has the complete series in both DVD and Blu-Ray however they are in Non-USA PAL format so that is no good for me.
Streaming options
It turns out that Apple's iTunes has episodes 1-14. See https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/sharpe/id621348102. Since I have an Apple TV (3rd Gen.) this was a great option for me.
Reportedly Hulu Plus has the two most recent series, Sharpe’s Challenge and Sharpe’s Peril, which are broken up into two parts each. I don't have a Hulu account so I cannot confirm that. The link provided in news reports (circa 2014) no longer works: http://www.hulu.com/sharpe
I did a search (2016-08-05) but I could not find the episodes: http://www.hulu.com/search?q=sharpe. I tried search for sean bean in movies and tv episodes and that came up empty as well. http://www.hulu.com/search?q=sean+bean&type=episodes
My next stop was Acorn TV which I had just recently discovered in search of another favorite show of mine "Pie in the Sky". Acorn does not have a search bar (at least to non-members) so I browsed alphabetically at https://acorn.tv/browse/ but was unable to find any of the series.
Links
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108108/combined
http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2015/10/bernard-cornwells-sharpe-series-a-binge-watching-guide
http://thebritishtvplace.com/2014/10/sean-bean-in-sharpe-now-streaming-in-the-us/