[MoMo]

Yes Jim, it's good fun watching the Commanding Officers. No wonder we lost America!

[MoMo]

[

QUOTE]
Sharpe is a British series of television dramas about Richard Sharpe, a fictional British soldier in the Napoleonic Wars. Sharpe is the hero of a number of novels by Bernard Cornwell; most, though not all, of the episodes are based on the books. Produced by Central Independent Television for the ITV network, the series was shot mainly in Turkey and the Crimea, although some filming was also done in England, Spain and Portugal.
In 2004, as part of ITV's new set of drama, ITV announced that it intended to produce new episodes of Sharpe, in co-production with BBC America, loosely based on his time in India, with Sean Bean continuing his role as Sharpe. Sharpe's Challenge is a two-part adventure; part one premiered on ITV on 23 April 2006, with part two being shown the following night. More gory than earlier episodes, the show was broadcast by BBC America in September 2006.
At a book signing in Bath on 11 October 2006, Bernard Cornwell revealed that there were plans by ITV to film two more episodes. Filming was supposed to start in April, but was postponed due to the resignation of ITV's chief executive, at which point production was pushed back to September. However, Sean Bean was unavailable due to other commitments, so production has been postponed once more. When asked about the stories, Cornwell said that he believed that they were producing two new stories specially for television. It was announced that filming Sharpe's Peril, produced by Celtic Film/Picture Palace, began on 3 March 2008 in India.[[/quote]

[jim]

MO, I am not an expert on these things but I believe the weapons and uniforms used in the series were a very accurate portrayal of the real thing.
Mr Bean was an ideal choice for Sharpe, er Mr Sean Bean I should say.

A gruff Yorkshireman fits the part perfectly.

Mo did you see Sean Bean in Troy?

Now that cracked me up, eh up lads, nah weir gonna go oop this ere beach , etc etc.

Hilarious.

[smartd]

Glad to hear that more Sharpe is on the way. Great TV series, Good books.

[ChairmanMilo]

That's INCREDIBLE news, MoMo! I thought for sure that we'd seen the last of Sean Bean as Sharpe! Sharpe's Challenge was really fun to watch - I remember enjoying the books about Sharpe's time in India the most, to the point where I bought a copy of "Sharpe's Tiger" for my dad one Christmas. Sean Bean is one of my favourite actors - I've been hearing his voiceovers a lot lately whilst playing "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion" over the last few months (he voices the dead emperor's son).

[MoMo]

MO, I am not an expert on these things but I believe the weapons and uniforms used in the series were a very accurate portrayal of the real thing.
Mr Bean was an ideal choice for Sharpe, er Mr Sean Bean I should say.

A gruff Yorkshireman fits the part perfectly.

Mo did you see Sean Bean in Troy?

Now that cracked me up, eh up lads, nah weir gonna go oop this ere beach , etc etc.

Hilarious.

JIM

I only watched " TROY " one time, when I bought it. It was so bad that I expunged most of it from my memory. However, now that I'm on holiday, I'll dig it out in order to see the aforementioned scenes.

Perhaps they should've done the whole thing Yorkshire-style?

" Bah gum, Achilles, that's a fair bit o' spear tha' has there! "

" Aye, Ajax, it were me Dad's. Tha'll soon be makin' aquaintance wi' t! "

[Captain Eddie]

MoMo, ye had me chucklin' with tha' las' post o' yers

[MoMo]

You must have Yorkshire roots, Cap ! Yorkshire is considered, by Yorkshiremen, to be a country all on its own. Certainly, if you hear the country accents you might consider this to be true.

This weekend, UKTV HISTORY is showing the three episodes of the Drama-Doc. " Dunkirk ". It's still raining here, so I've decided to watch all three in a row ( 3 hours ).

I saw this when it was first transmitted about five years ago, and I thought that it was excellent. It relates the story in such a way that you are aware of what's happening on the ground in France and Belgium. We are also made aware of the carnage in and around Dunkirk, on the beaches and out in the countryside. Much archive material is used to illustrate the battle and the action at sea.

The internecine struggle between Halifax and Churchill is also dramatised, given you a feeling of 'being there', and much of the drama is based on cabinet papers which were released over the last few years. Through this, we can see how touch and go the political battle between the Halifax camp and the Churchill camp was. It was thought, at the time, that if even 50,000 troops could be rescued, it would be a miracle, but that even this would not be enough to bolster Britain's position in the event of France falling to the German onslaught. Halifax pleaded for a negotiated peace using the diplomatic offices of Mussolini while Churchill dug his heels in, stating that he would rather fight to the last than submit to the slavery of becoming a German puppet state under the leadership of Mosley and his pathetic crowd of British Nazis.

The drama of the fleet of little boats, so necessary to ferry the troops off the shallow beaches and on to the fast destroyers, is highlighted too, and the bravery of the civilian sailors who showed courage and determination to save the 'Pongos' on the beach and carry them to the evacuation ships and directly back to the UK is moving. Many were killed as they went about their vital work, attacked by strafing planes and bombed by diving Stukas.

The naval, military, air-war and political struggles are well documented and well represented here.

Listen to the stories of survivors here :

BBC - History - Voices of Dunkirk

Check out some of the stuff which the BBC has produced on the history of WW1 and WW2 here :

BBC - History - World War Two

and more in general here ;

BBC - History - History TV and Radio Archive

cheers,

MoMo

[Captain Eddie]

I may have Yorkshire roots, MoMo, as a lot of my family tree is from England.

Great links you posted, lot of reading there!

[MoMo]

Yea, Cap.

There are hundreds of great dramas and documentaries listed on the BBC site which should show up on BBC America at some point. You can also see most of the BBC's weekly output on line now. I'll post if anything comes up which might interest members !

Cheers,

MoMo