Picture courtesy of Jason Salkey

© www.riflemanharris.co.uk

Picture courtesy of Jason Salkey

© www.riflemanharris.co.uk

1. At the moment I would have to say that the role totally defines my career for anyone outside the UK. A situation I’m absolutely comfortable with. But I have done other roles beside Harris and some have come since my five year stint on that great show ended. Though I must say Sharpe hasn’t been a fast track to more, bigger and better roles that I’d hoped it might, but that’s show biz. And it’s a biz I’d rather be in than not, especially as it resulted in my close association with Harris and Sharpe.

1. Ah, the perennial ‘what’s Harris first name puzzle’!
   

2. 
   The truth is boringly prosaic: he was never given a first name. We knew Harper was Patrick, Dan Hagman, Ben Perkins, Francis Cooper and Isaiah Tongue; but not until just before my death scene was there an inkling that Harris’ first name was in doubt.
   

3. 
   I consider Harris to be one of those artists who only need one name a la Madonna, Bono, Prince or Cher!
    
   The writer of the first two screen plays, Eoghan Harris, had obviously read ‘The Recollections of Rifleman Harris’ and without a trace of ego, decided to name himself after the learned Chosen Man. Had Eoghan penned every following episode, perhaps he would have deployed the question of Harris’ Christian name as a story strand in an episode?
   Most prosaic of all, the Harris of the recollections book is called John in some copies, Ben in others. While we are on the subject, I’ve just recorded an abridged version of ‘The Recollections of Rifleman Harris’ available very soon through my web site or at re-enacting/living history events where I’m  appearing.

1. I spent five years perched at the side of Sean as Sharpe and only six weeks with Paul, therefore I have a fuller picture of the Yorkshire lad at the helm. My friendship with Paul McGann predated Sharpe by many years; I remember being elated at finally getting to work with him. And one could easily argue the case for McGann’s acting ability being more refined and on a higher plane than the Sharpe we ended up with. But perhaps because of this and the inherent brutal, primal and violent nature of the character, Paul is less suitable as Sharpe than Sean.
   I very much doubt the footage will see the light of day unless it’s in a documentary explaining the incident. When Paul was engaged in litigation with the producers of Sharpe, I was called in by McGann’s lawyers as a witness. They settled out of court but in Paul’s lawyer’s office I saw rushes and super 8 footage (shot by Paul Bigley/Dobbs-Eagle) of Paul as Sharpe. But I wouldn’t say you can make much of a judgement from just short clips.

1. The most cherished moments are from the first two years when most of the Chosen were still together, enduring, surviving and overcoming all that a corrupt, inept, and feckless Anglo-Russian co-production could throw at us. The danger and uncertainty that lurked around every corner on those seminal years really served to bond the actors who donned the green of the 95th.
   In spite of the adversity, we always made sure maximum fun should be extracted where ever possible. Charter flights to and from the Crimea, outrageous parties almost every weekend and our antics whenever we had to kill extended time on set all provided cherished memories.

1. There was perhaps a little structured, practised ad-libbing. There are so many layers and elements involved when shooting a scene, not just the acting. The camera moves get rehearsed, the boom swinging is plotted and the lights mustn’t cast any shadows, also stunts might be involved. So, there isn’t a lot of room to pull surprise moves within what’s been agreed; as the Rod Stewart song says, our ad-libbed lines were well-rehearsed.
   I can think of one exception; the second Harper/Sharpe barn fight in ‘Rifles’, Paul Trussell threw “Smite him, Harper” into the mix while rehearsing, this plus other ‘spontaneous’ Chosen utterances of support for Harper made it into the final cut.