Quote Originally Posted by cajunscot View Post
Chas,

I hate to correct you, but the regiment in question in the Sharpe series was the 95th Rifles, not an Irish one. Irish regiments of the line would have worn the traditional red coat of the Napoleonic era.

The 95th Regiment of Foot became the Rifle Brigade in 1816.

The "baldric" that Sean Bean/Sharpe is wearing the photo is actually a "pouch-belt" particular to officers in rifle regiments, such as the aforementioned Rifle Brigade, the KRRC, Gurkhas, etc. The whistle is particular to rifle & light infantry units, as neither had drums as a form of battlefield communication.

Regards,

Todd
Hi Todd,

I bow to you superior knowledge in this respect. I have never watched the series, Sean Bean not being one of my favourite actors.

The point of my posting was this. The Ministry of Defence has always been willing to assist television and film production companies providing the funds are forthcoming. They provide technical expertise; muzzle loading gun crews; any amount of soldiers and of course military and pipe bands amongst other skills. They have even lent warships for filming purposes. There was an acrimonious dispute, between the MoD and the 'Sharpe' production company. So much so that the production company tried to sue the MoD for breach of contract. It was never resolved. The Mod withdrew all support and contact. The upshot was that 'Sharpe's' uniform, and I believe all the major players' uniforms, are inaccurate or modified or altered in every respect. At a glance they all look correct, but in fact all the dimensions and colours and shapes and number and everything is in fact not as an original would be. It might be only a millimetre or a fraction of an inch, or the direction of the twist of the cord, but nothing was 'right'. There are even special uniforms for close-up shots.

That is why, I said that no-one should spend alot of money based on that photograph.

Regards

Chas