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Rifleman
Harris Gets More Than One Line!
Sharpe Reviews
Jason
Salkey on Sharpe
Video
Diaries of Rifleman Harris 1
Video Diaries of Rifleman Harris 2
Video Diaries of Rifleman
Harris 3
Video Diaries of Rifleman
Harris 4
Video Diaries of Rifleman
Harris 5
Prices
and how to order
Rifleman
Harris website
By
JASON SALKEY (also known as Rifleman Harris)
 So
you want to know what it was like behind the scenes
of the television show Sharpe.
The
best way would be to buy my video diary series, but
until then I'll try to give you a little insight into
life on the Sharpe unit.
At
the press premiere of Sharpe's Waterloo back in '97,
I stood in the plush, cavernous rooms drinking champagne
with Daragh O'Malley, surveying all before us.
The
screening of the last ever episode had gone successfully,
we were all tucking into the splendid fare laid on
by Carlton and Daragh turned to me and said "Well,
that's your closure on Sharpe, Jason."
I thought about it for a second, in between sips of
bubbly, leant toward Big D and said: "Closure? I married
a Russian interpreter and conceived my child out in
Yalta; I will never have closure on Sharpe."
As
it turned out, I was right and bloody glad too.
I'm
damn proud of my part in the bringing to life of Bernard
Cornwell's fantastic invention. It wasn't always easy,
but my five years on the show have indelibly stamped
their mark on my life.
As
well as playing a nicely written character who's a
member of a very special club, I worked, travelled
and drank in the culture of three different countries.
Where else would I have learned to order beers in
Russian, Portuguese and Turkish?
But
what was it like to be an everyday, year in, year
out, Sharpe carnival?
It
was awesome, thrilling and wonderful; but there were
the moments of loneliness, fear and depression. It
was thrilling to shoot such an awesome set of films
in wonderfully new [for Westerners] surroundings.
But being far from home for long stretches of time,
filming injury-inducing action, in a place where the
very basics of human existence are a luxury, couldn't
help but put the fears up you!
Even before the famous Paul McGann injury on the first
Sharpe, Gavin O'Herlihy [Leroy/Eagle] broke his wrist
coming off a horse, a stuntman was stabbed in the
arm pit by Nolan Hemmings [Denny/Eagle], the food
was repulsing us daily and the unit was being decimated
by the 'Giardia Lamdlia' stomach bug.
In fact during that disjointed first year we had only
our prodigious party spirit and the knowledge that
we were helping to create televisual legend, to keep
us going.
Things
did get better over the three years that Sharpe was
shot in the Ukraine, but it was always going to be
blighted by the upheaval of change that resulted from
the break up of the Soviet system.
Being
up close and personal behind the rusty Iron Curtain
was certainly for me interesting enough to be distracted
by the film unit's troubles.
Shooting in Portugal and later Turkey swiftly solved
the shortcomings in the food, accommodation, but maybe
at a cost of diluting the unit's firm bond of camaraderie
forged in our difficult Crimean years.
Wherever
the Sharpe film unit encamped I think we embraced
and enriched the surroundings and their inhabitants.
Our openness crossed language barriers making it a
breeze to work with crews from three different countries.
The
physiognomy of Sharpe and the Chosen Men changed from
year to year, but in our minds we fought on as that
original unit: Sharpe, Harper, Hagman, Harris, Cooper,
Tongue and Perkins.
It
is that ethos and spirit that you see up on the screen
episode after episode; something that helped give
the films that extra bit of truth.
If you really want to know more then order 'The Video
Diaries of Rifleman Harris', available through this
web site.
NB:
There are six episodes of this series now available
on DVD for all regions. The films are shot on Hi-8
and digitally transferred to Applemac's Final Cut
Pro 6.
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