DID YOU KNOW? Sean Bean

Sean, 59, plays Inspector John Marlott in The Frankenstein Chronicles (10.45pm, ITV) and here, we delve into his past to find out some things you might not know about the actor…

His real name is Shaun Mark Bean, and he grew up on a council estate in Sheffield.

His career-making role in TV series Sharpe (1993-2008) came when he replaced an injured Paul McGann, who had first been cast as the Napoleonic Wars-era military man.

He has been a fan of Sheffield United since he was eight years old, and has a ‘100% Blade’ tattoo on his left shoulder, after the club’s nickname.

On his right shoulder, he has a tattoo of the word ‘nine’ in Elvish, referring to the fact that his character was one of the original nine companions of the Fellowship in the three Lord Of The Rings films

(2001-03). Seven other companions – Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom,

Billy Boyd, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan and Viggo Mortensen – have the same tattoo. He auditioned for the role of James Bond in 1987’s The Living Daylights; he lost out to Timothy Dalton, but did later secure a role in a Bond film – he played evil agent 006,

Alec Trevelyan, in GoldenEye in 1995.

He has been married five times, and has three children. His current wife is Ashley Moore, whom he married in June 2017. He has a chronic fear of flying, and avoids it where possible. During the filming of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy in New Zealand, while other stars took a helicopter between sets, Sean would sometimes hike the distance instead.