Sean Bean: Sheffield actor's top-rated films and TV shows based on audience reviews

The acclaimed actor, who grew up in Handsworth, will appear alongside Nicola Walker in the four-part series about a couple approaching their 27th wedding anniversary.

Written by Stefan Golaszewski, creator of the comedy drama shows ‘Mum’ and ‘Him and Her’, the first episode is due to air on BBC One on Sunday, August 14, at 9pm.

He is also the narrator of Project Yorkshire: A Playground Like No Other, an epic cinematic love letter to God’s Own County which was released to coincide with Yorkshire Day on Monday, August 1.

Below we take a look at the top 11 films and TV shows he has appeared in based on the audience scores awarded via the movie ratings website Rotten Tomatoes.

Broken – 100 per cent audience score

This 2017 BBC drama is one of just two movies or TV shows featuring Sean Bean to achieve a perfect audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

He plays Father Michael Kerrigan, a ‘modern, but maverick’ Catholic priest facing challenges personal and parochial, in the show which he also executive produced.

Food: Sheffield chip shop popular with Sean Bean reopens as pizza restaurant

It also boasts an impressive 85 per cent ‘fresh’ rating, based on aggregated critics’ reviews.

The Vicar of Dibley – 100 per cent audience score

Sean Bean plays himself in this 1999 episode of the hit comedy, titled Spring, appearing to Geraldine (Dawn French) in a dream and telling her not to marry David.

Wolfwalkers – 98 per cent audience score

Sean Bean provides the voice of Bill Goodfellowe in this enchanting 2020 animated family film about a young apprentice hunter and her father travelling to Ireland to help wipe out the last wolf pack. Everything changes when they encounter a free-spirited girl from a tribe rumoured to turn into wolves at night.

It has a 99 per cent critics rating, with TIME Magazine’s Stephanie Zacharek writing that ‘tts spell is irresistible’.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – 95 per cent audience score

Sean Bean plays Boromir in this 2001 instalment of the multi-Oscar-winning film franchise based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel, which grossed $315.5 million at the box office.

It was also a hit with critics, achieving an average score of 91 per cent.

Robot Chicken – 93 per cent audience score

Sean Bean voices three characters including Dr. Doom in Catdog on a Stick, a 2014 episode of the Emmy Award-winning American adult stop-motion animation series created by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich.

Accused – 92 per cent audience score

Sean Bean plays Simon Gaskell in the 2012 episode Tracie’s Story. The BBC series was created by Jimmy McGovern, with each episode following a different character who ends up in the dock accused of a crime.

Time – 92 per cent audience score

Sean Bean appears opposite Stephen Graham in this gripping and hard-hitting 2021 BBC prison drama, also created by Jimmy McGovern. He plays Mark, a convict racked with remorse as he struggles to adjust to life behind bars.

It’s his only TV appearance to have earned a perfect score from the critics too.

The Martian – 91 per cent audience score

Sean Bean plays Mitch Henderson in this 2015 film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon as an astronaut who becomes stranded on Mars.

The film also impressed critics, achieving an identical 91 per cent rating based on their reviews, with the Daily Mirror calling it ‘one of the best films of the year’.

The Oath – 91 per cent audience score

Sean Bean plays Tom Hammond in this 2018 TV drama about a criminal gang made up of corrupt police officers.

Curfew – 89 per cent audience score

Sean Bean plays The General in this 2019 TV drama about a group of amateur drivers from all over the world competing in an illegal night-time street race.

Sharpe’s Sword – 89 per cent audience score

This 1994 instalment of the feature length ITV drama series is the top-rated of Sean Bean’s many outings as Sharpe, a fictional British soldier fighting in the Napoleonic Wars, based on the novels by Bernard Cornwell.

How do Sean Bean’s other most famous film and TV roles fare on Rotten Tomates?

Some of Sean Bean’s most notable work fails to make the grade, based on Rotten Tomatoes’ audience reviews.

Game of Thrones, in which he plays Lord Eddard ‘Ned’ Stark. achieved an 85 per cent audience rating and 89 per cent from critics.

When Saturday Comes, the 1996 film in which Stones Brewery worker Jimmy Muir must battle his alcohol addiction to achieve his dream of starring for Sheffield United, only has a 65 per cent audience rating.

His 1995 outing as the villain Alec Trevalyan in James Bond film Goldeneye achieved an 83 per cent audience rating and 80 per cent from critics.

Two of his films – Red Riding: 1974 and The War Requiem – both received 100 per cent critics’ scores but left other viewers underwhelmed, getting 76 per cent and 62 per cent audience ratings respectively.

The lowest audience rating for any Sean Bean film is nine per cent for 2012’s Soldiers of Fortune, in which he plays Davidov. It was also panned by critics, getting a paltry 14 per cent aggregate rating.