Sean Bean: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

4. John Dawson - Red Riding: 1974 (2009)

'Yorkshire Noir' was the moniker given to this trio of Channel 4's feature length films exploring a fictionalised version of the North of England when the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, was purportedly at large. The reality that these films, based on David Peace's novels, explores looks at deep rooted corruption weaving through the police and the very wealthy, using the actions of the likes of Sutcliffe and Bean's character, John Dawson, to cover up their own foul deeds in the quest for power and influence. In a cast full of characters with questionable motives, Bean delivers a duplicitous and menacing performance that is one part gruesome killer and one part calculated businessman willing to do anything to make money and prevent the world from knowing about his lascivious, twisted actions. Some other villains Bean has played have some redeeming qualities or perhaps were good at some point but no such niceties are afforded to Dawson who is a straight up manipulative killer.