He has gained a strange reputation throughout his 30-year career. Sheffield-born actor Sean Bean has appeared in huge movies and television shows such as The Lord of the Rings, Patriot Games and GoldenEye as well as, of course, Game Of Thrones.
By an odd quirk, though, Sean’s characters always seem to perish in these roles. It culminated in a sketch for a US comedy site where Sean made fun of how many times his characters had been killed off.
It led him to ask one thing of show creator Peter Bowker when considering whether to audition for a part in World On Fire, the BBC’s new Second World War epic, which begins tonight.
Sean said: “It was a telephone conversation and I said, ‘I don’t die in this one, do I?’ and he said, ‘No, no you’ll be fine. You’re all right’.”
The former Sharpe star might be safe – for the first series, at least – but plenty of other characters are in jeopardy as the conflict engulfs Europe.
Translator Harry, played by Jonah Hauer-King, works at the British Embassy in Warsaw. He falls in love with a Polish waitress, Zofia Wichłacz’s Kasia.
When German Panzers roll into Poland and Britain declares war on Germany, Harry and Kasia are faced with terrible choices. With her life in grave danger, the only way for Kasia to be safe is to escape. Can Harry help her – and, if he does, how will he ever explain himself to factory worker and singer Lois Bennett, played by Julia Brown, the girl he left behind in Manchester?
As the Nazi threat spreads, Kasia must choose between love and fighting for her country, Harry must find his place in the world, and Lois seizes new opportunities the war throws up.
The conflict overturns everything for Harry’s snobbish mother Robina, played by Lesley Manville, and for Douglas (Sean Bean), Lois’s pacifist father.
Her firecracker younger brother, Tom, played by Ewan Mitchell, joins the navy and finds himself under fire in one of the first major battles of the war.
Oscar winner Helen Hunt’s character is American journalist Nancy.
She is in Berlin risking her life trying to help her neighbours, the Rosslers, from the attentions of the Nazi regime, while in Paris, Nancy’s nephew, medic Webster, refuses to leave the city and the man he loves.
The Europe-spanning series is set to journey through the first year of the war, from ordinary life in Manchester to the beaches of Dunkirk.
World On Fire begins tonight on BBC1 at 9pm
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