So I am watching Sharpe, and it hit me that they are all using muskets and rifles that take 20 seconds to reload, cause lots of smoke, aren't that accurate and give away your position. On all of these points bows would surely have been superior (possibly apart from accuracy.) so why weren't they still in use at this time? (or were they and just not portrayed in the series?)
You might want to look at these FAQs, some of which I've answered.
Edit: Also those rifles don't take twenty seconds to reload. Due to the rifling, rifles would take up to two minutes each to reload and would have to be rerifled after a number of shots or scrapped because of excessive rifling.
Archery needed a long time of training and a good condition to draw the bow. In England, skeletons of longbowmen usually have an abnormally big arm because they needed to draw the string back. Muskets and the sort needed only aiming practice, the ammunition was easy to mass produce, and anyone could use it.