Beatrice Rosen is Marie-Angelique
"My whole life I have wanted to do a period movie so to have fulfilled this ambition was just one of the great things about the job," enthuses Beatrice.
But it wasn’t all plain sailing.
"The conditions were really hard. We were filming in crazy heat; 45 degrees most of the time. In addition I was wearing a corset and several layers of petticoats which made it even hotter."
"Add to that sitting on a horse in the sun all day feeling sick and it did spoil the experience at times!"
Beatrice, who has recently been seen in the Batman movie Dark Knight, had to learn to ride for the part of feisty Marie-Angelique.
"It was a lot of fun learning but my horse wasn’t very cooperative a lot of the time. It was exciting riding across the terrain in India though. I loved it there; such a beautiful country and kind-hearted people."
Describing her character, Beatrice says: "Marie-Angelique has a very strong personality. Her father lost her in a bet playing cards with a Major. She isn’t at all happy that she has to marry this man but he is handsome and accomplished so she decided to make the best of the situation."
"However when she discovers his true colours she is devastated. Then she also has a love-hate relationship with Richard Sharpe. He is the first man to ever say no to her and there is a strong attraction between them."
"She is very modern for the time; up front and strong-willed. She doesn’t like authority; being told what to do. Marie-Angelique has been a great character to play as she goes through every emotion which makes it so interesting as an actress. She goes from being a little spoilt princess who everyone panders to and evolves into a woman who would stay up all night to nurse the sick and help them get better."
"It is when she’s under pressure that all her good personality traits come out. She proves that she is brave and gutsy."
And even though she admits to never having seen an episode of Sharpe, Beatrice enjoyed filming with the man himself, Sean Bean.
"I had never worked with him before but he was really easy going. A very reserved, thoughtful man always polite and extremely nice to everyone. It was a pleasure acting with him, that’s for sure."