Sharpe - Sharpe's Challenge - 6:50 pm Sunday, March 22 on U&Drama +1

Sean Bean (Actor) .. Sharpe

Born: April 17, 1959 in Sheffield

Best Known For: Blunt-talking soldier Sharpe.

Early-life: Born Shaun Mark Bean in Sheffield on April 17, 1959, the elder of two children. A fanatical Sheffield United supporter with '100% Blade' tattooed on his shoulder, he left school at 16 with two O-Levels. His first job was working for his father's welding firm, and while he was doing a day-release course at college he stumbled on an acting class. He was later accepted into Rada and made his professional stage debut in 1983 as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury.

Career: Sean worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company before making his TV debut in a 1984 episode of The Bill. Roles in The Fifteen Streets, Stormy Monday and Patriot Games followed before Lady Chatterley and the first Sharpe TV movies made him a household name in 1993. Other work includes A Woman's Guide to Adultery, Bravo Two Zero, GoldenEye, Ronin, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Equilibrium, Troy, National Treasure and HBO TV series Game of Thrones. He is one of Hollywood's most sought-after character actors and always has a number of productions in the pipeline.

Quote: 'I don't have any problems with women seeing me as their ideal bit of 'rough'. Why would I?'

Trivia: He has voiced characters in a number of video games.

Daragh O'Malley (Actor) .. Patrick Harper

Toby Stephens (Actor) .. Dodd

Born: March 21, 1969 in London

Best Known For: Being a Bond villain.

Early-life: Toby Stephens was born on April 21, 1969, at the Middlesex Hospital, London. He is the son of actors Robert Stephens and Maggie Smith. They divorced in the mid-1970s and Toby didn't see his father for 10 years, although they later became close and stayed friends until Robert's death in 1995. Toby and his brother Christopher (also an actor, using the stage name Chris Larkin) were raised by Smith and her second husband Beverley Cross. Stephens trained at the London Academy of Dramatic Art.

Career: Stevens first professional work came as a stage hand at the Chichester Festival Theatre, where he eventually won small roles. In 1992 he got his big break in TV series The Camomile Lawn and made his film debut in Orlando. He spent the next four years gaining rave reviews in theatre. Since then, he's appeared in Twelfth Night, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Photographing Fairies, Poirot, The Great Gatsby, and Cambridge Spies. He also played the young Clint Eastwood in Space Cowboys. His biggest role to date was as the villain in the James Bond movie Die Another Day. He also played the super spy himself in radio productions of Dr No and Goldfinger. He was an acclaimed Mr Rochester in an adaptation of Jane Eyre, played Prince John in the third series of Robin Hood, and has an acclaimed stage career.

Quote: 'If I ever read that actors know what they're doing, they are either immensely successful movie stars or they are just lying.'

Padma Lakshmi (Actor) .. Madhuvanthi

Aurelien Recoing (Actor) .. Gudin

Lucy Brown (Actor) .. Celia Burroughs

Michael Cochrane (Actor) .. Simmerson

Alyy Khan (Actor) .. Mohan Singh

Hugh Fraser (Actor) .. Wellington

Peter-Hugo Daly (Actor) .. Bickerstaff

Thierry Hancisse (Actor) .. Bonnet

Karan Panthaky (Actor) .. Khande Rao

Nicholas Blane (Actor) .. Crosby

Michael Elwyn (Actor) .. Rawlinson

Diana Perez (Actor) .. Ramona Harper

Tom Clegg (Director)

Sharpe: Sharpe's Challenge

6:50 pm - 9:00 pm, Sunday, March 22 on U&Drama +1 (60)

About this Broadcast

Sharpe's Challenge
Season 6, Episode 1

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