Why is Lt. Ayres "bad"?
From the episodes I've seen, Sharpe's Gold sticks the most with me because Lt. Ayres, who's acts as one of the antagonistic roles for the episode, really doesn't seem that antagonistic to me.
Yes I know he hanged one of Sharpe's men for what can be considered a minor crime, but he follows strict orders from the provost marshal to punish crimes as, in this case (Stealing a chicken), with death, since the provost marshal intends to see that Wellington's army is free from "Corruption" by the time they invade France; in other words, he's just another soldier following orders set by superior officers, since by the time Wellington orders the provost marshal to hold all current and future desertors in detention we dont really see Ayres doing something that goes againts said orders, as seen when he and his provost take the desertors from El Casco back to the camp in one piece (Or at least till they go back to find Elli and Bess Nugent)
On top of that, he doesn't really show any despicable actions during the episode done out of malice: When he's assigned to go out with Sharpe and his men to conduct the desertors trade, he doesn't object to it and instead seeks Sharpe to state he means to be on good terms with him since he was just doing his job, and during the trip when he sees Sharpe and Elli making out he doesn't even mention it till waay later in the episode while they're looking for Elli and Bess, questioning if Sharpe is really only looking for them cause of Ellie. You can also mention the fact he decided to help Sharpe look for Ellie and Bess instead of going back to camp (Though this might've been for self interest reasons, Im not sure), he proves useful at deciphering what the book dropped by the french calvary captain said thanks to his studies. Lastly, when they were at El Casco's sacrificial place, he was the first to go in to rescue Ellie after the distraction caused by rifles and the french captain, eating a knife that would've most likely killed Sharpe if he was the one going first since Sharpe isn't exacly known for being good at dodging attacks in the previous episodes, though you could also say this was just Ayres being inexperienced compared to Sharpe, as shown earlier in the episode when Ayres alerted the French Calvary that they were spotted by acting erratically.
I feel the only real reason why he's considered as someone "bad" in the episode is just because Sharpe doesn't like him cause he killed one of his men and Sharpe not only was able to do nothing about it but also had to apologize to him and the provost marshal as ordered by Wellington, and as such held a grudge againts him for the whole episode; you could also consider some scenes as him making fun of Ellie's american gun, acting a bit weird during the shooting competition between Ellie and Sharpe, scaring Ellie by telling her more about the sacrificial rituals (Though I feel like this was just him trying to show off his studies) and that scene where he provoques Sharpe by mentioning he was only looking for the women for Ellie since he was making out with her.
Overall I feel like Lt. Ayres was just a character that was labled as "bad" due to having friction with Sharpe, who's our main character and who the story is based off about. Maybe someone who read the books could confirm if in the books it is the same way or something is different that depicts him as more of an actual bad guy?