Sutherland Interview

Alex Sutherland

What happens when your leading man can’t work just as you start filming the series? Now that years have gone by, what can you tell us happened from the accident through the resolution?

AS: I was not in the Crimea during this period so I really only know what most of us already know.

SS: Well quite simply, Paul was playing football when he twisted his knee. He carried on working but after a week or so it got so bad that we had to abandon the shoot. I was just coming back from Barcelona. We thought it was all over but it turned out that Sean had just finished filming Patriot Games with Harrison Ford and was up for the part (he had already done a screen test but from recollection he was already committed to Patriot Games so he couldn’t do it initially). The rest is history.

Fans are very interested in seeing Paul McGann as Sharpe. Do you think any of the scenes with McGann will ever be shown to the public?

AS: Not sure if this can really ever happen, maybe Stuart would be able to shed more light on this matter.

SS:The footage of this is probably in our archive. It has been years since we did this 1993. I’m not sure where we stand contractually on this. We might look into adding it as a DVD extra in a future Sharpe. However I’m not sure how many of the scenes we have in sequence or whether it will just be bits of scenes. From recollection Paul only did 2 weeks of filming in total and some of his scenes were rescheduled due to his injury.

Early Sharpe Series I-III On US Public TV ThisYear

In addition to Sharpe’s Challenge and Sharpe’s Peril airing on Masterpiece Classic March and April, the early Sharpe shows will also air on PBS in 2010. Thanks to information from American Public Television Sharpe Pointe has learned that the early Sharpe episodes will air on the Montana PBS station, WETA in Washington, D.C., and WQPT in Iowa. Though we don’t have exact air dates, the series can be shown on any PBS station anytime this year. Check out your local station's Website to see when it will air, or contact your local PBS station and let them know you are interested in seeing the early Sharpe series in your area. And here is a description of the Sharpe Series (I-III) Episodes airing on PBS this year!

Richard Sharpe is

Coming to America!

Did you know Sean Bean before he took the role of Sharpe? In your view, how did he change the role of Sharpe?

AS: At the time of shooting Sean was working on another production & he only became available once the production was delayed. I don't think that he changed Sharpe, I think he made it his own.

Left: Hugh Fraser, Right: Sean Bean on the set of Sharpe’s Company

When and where did the idea develop to revive the Sharpe series and go to India?

AS: We started Sharpe in the Napoleonic wars but Bernard Cornwell had already written various books about Sharpe before this period set there so we just went back to the beginning as we thought that India would be a wonderful setting for the series.

What was Sean Bean’s original reaction when you approached him about this? What was the reaction of the other Sharpe veterans like Daragh O’Malley, Michael Cochrane, and others?

AS: I know that Sean was very excited about playing a brave action hero. In British television there were not many productions of this type hence we were able to attract some of the most talented actors into the series.

Did you have any trepidation about bringing back this much loved series after a 13 year absence? Did you have to do any convincing of others to get the go ahead?

AS: Bringing Sharpe back after such a long time away was always going to be a gamble as so many things had changed in the television world since 1997. But once everyone got on board we all wanted to make the biggest and best Sharpe possible.

What was it like working in India vs other Sharpe locations like the Ukraine, Turkey, or the UK?

AS: India was a tough place to work in but at the same time very rewarding. As we all know India makes more films than anywhere else in the world, however the way these films are made in a very different manor to something like Sharpe. We have a very strict shooting schedule of only 7 weeks to make 3 hours of prime time drama which even in a country like the UK is not easy. In order for us to achieve this we had to adapt and accept that our shooting crew would be in excess of 300 people when usually it would have been below 100.

Take us through the pre-production process when you started working on Challenge, and later Peril? For example, how do you select the suitable writer, put together the financing, decide on specific locations, cast the right actors in the UK and India, hire the local crew, etc.?

AS: I come on board once we have an early draft of the script. I break the script down and look at the logistics & complications within the script. For instance when you find a place that could suit the script you need to think how a crew of 300 plus can operate there and how to set up an infrastructure to facilitate an additional 300 plus extras.

On most days during the shoot we were feeding over 700 people. I have to think about moving these numbers of people, animals, equipment and props from A to B quickly which in India is certainly not one of the easiest thing to do due to the poor road networks. Then you need to think about airports and hotels, on Peril we took over the town of Khajuraho (where the Karma Sutra temples are located). This is the second most visited tourist attraction after the Taj Mahal.

After this the next step is to go to Mumbai to cast, meet crew & speak with rental houses about costs and how to make the production work in such a remote area that is used seldomly on films.

As a producer are you responsible for easing tensions on the set? Is there any particular way you go about this?

AS: As the Supervisor on Challenge & Line Producer on Peril you are certainly responsible for everything that goes on around you. I think that the only way you can go about it is to be approachable and to be calm under pressure. A lot of situations and misunderstandings can come out of nowhere and escalate quickly, so being around the set regularly is imperative.

On Sharpe we have some many nationalities working together it's important that the people around you feel comfortable.

From Sharpe’s Challenge, Sean Bean at left, Daragh O’Malley, center,

In sunglasses at right, Stuart Sutherland

After Challenge was ready to air, did you have any doubt that the Sharpe audience would follow? Did you have any doubt about attracting new viewers?

AS: I think that in the back of your mind you always have some sort of doubts but the main thing is to be true to the books if you can achieve that, then I think that the audience will remain with you.

Did the success of Challenge lead to making Peril, or had you thought about two series episodes from the beginning based on Cornwell’s India books?

AS: We always wanted to come back and make another film in India but Challenge needed to be successful for that to happen.

What stands out as a major difference between filming Challenge and Peril?

AS: We tried very hard to find different landscape's on Peril. The locations in the script were far more demanding and required many natural landscapes. Our budget on Peril was far less than on the previous production and we were based in a very remote part of India that was very tough for us logistically. We missed the colourful cities of Jaipur and Jodhpur immensely.

The early Sharpe series was shown in part on PBS in the 90’s, but in most stations only a few episodes were shown. Fans have heard different versions of why this happened. Can you tell us what actually happened with PBS and the Sharpe series at that time?

SS: When you sell a TV series to a station it is out of your hands where the show is scheduled. I’m was not aware of this however I’m sure that some stations must have had scheduling issues with other shows or whatever it might have been. What I can say is how proud we are that the shows have sold so extensively in the US. PBS, History Channel, BBC America and now PBS again have carried them so we think this is testament to there being a large audience for this show in the US. Long may that continue as we are currently working on another story!

PBS reaches a larger audience than BBC America in the US. Are you looking forward to a Sharpe revival in the US with the showing of Challenge and Peril this year? What would you say to a US audience unfamiliar with Sharpe to get them to watch the new episodes?

L to R, Stuart Sutherland, Alex Sutherland,

Zeynep Santiroglu Sutherland, Sean Bean

AS: I would say that Sharpe is a unique TV event and probably one that will never be matched again on British TV. I think that the era that Sharpe is set against is amongst the most colourful and fascinating periods of our time. It offers an insight of how the British controlled the Empire and then ran it, seen through the eyes of a normal working class soldier. It's a real swash buckling action adventure!

Stuart

Sutherland

Corralling 300 extras on the set of Sharpe is no easy task