sharman is a british television crime drama series, based on the nick sharman books by london-based author mark timlin, that first broadcast on 5 april 1995. broadcast on itv, the series stars clive owen in the title role of sharman, a private detective operating out of a private office in south london. the series began in the form of a pilot, based on the novel "the turnaround", before being developed into four further feature-length stories, each based upon one of timlin's novels; only the final episode, "pretend we're dead", differs from the plot of the original novel; aside from the final scene, the remainder of the plot is an original composition by writer mick ford.