''Sharpe's Peril'' is a 2008 British TV film, usually shown in two parts, which is part of
an ITV series based on
Bernard Cornwell
Bernard Cornwell (born 23 February 1944) is an English author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his long-running series of novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also writ ...
's historical fiction novels about the English soldier
Richard Sharpe during the
Napoleonic Wars
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Napoleonic Wars
, partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
, image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg
, caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
. Unlike most parts of the TV series, ''Sharpe's Peril'' and the preceding ''
Sharpe's Challenge'' are not based on Cornwell's novels. Both are set in 1817, two years after Sharpe has retired as a farmer in Normandy, so chronologically they come after ''
Sharpe's Assassin'' (1815) and before ''
Sharpe's Devil'' (1820–1821). In ''Sharpe's Challenge'' and ''Sharpe's Peril'', Sharpe and his comrade-in-arms,
Patrick Harper, are called out of retirement and asked to go to India.
Plot
The story continues from where ''
Sharpe's Challenge'' left off. On their way home to England,
Richard Sharpe (
Sean Bean
Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean; 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he made his professional debut in a production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1983 at The Watermill Theatre. Retaining his ...
) and
Patrick Harper (
Daragh O'Malley) reluctantly agree to escort Marie-Angelique Bonnet (
Beatrice Rosen) to the hill fort of Kalimgong, where her fiancé, Major Joubert (
Pascal Langdale), is stationed. They encounter a baggage train heading to Madras, made up of soldiers from the King's and the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
's armies, commanded by the young Ensign Beauclere (
Luke Ward-Wilkinson), engineer Major Tredinnick (
David Robb
David Robb (born 23 August 1947) is a Scottish actor.
Early life
Robb was born in Wandsworth, London, the son of David Robb and Elsie Tilley. He grew up in Edinburgh and was educated there at the Royal High School, where he played Henry II i ...
), and
Subedar
Subedar ( ) is a military rank in the militaries of South Asia roughly equivalent to that of a warrant officer. Historically classed in the British Indian Army as a Viceroy's commissioned officer, the rank was retained in the Indian Army an ...
Pillai (Rajesh Khattar). Included in the train is a redcoat prisoner named Barabbas (
Amit Behl), an Indian princess (
Nandana Sen
Nandana Dev Sen is an Indian-born American actress, screenwriter, children's author, and child-rights activist. Her first film role in Bollywood was Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ''Black'' (2005), starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee, in ...
) and her retinue, and Tredinnick's pregnant wife (
Caroline Carver). When the train is attacked by forces of the bandit Chitu, the Subedar is wounded. They are saved by the timely arrival of Colonel Dragomirov (
Velibor Topic) and his cavalry squadron. With no one more qualified, Sharpe is forced to take command.
Trouble comes from within the train as well. Sharpe discovers that Barabbas is in fact the son of
Obadiah Hakeswill, the man who murdered Sharpe's first wife. Flying into a rage, Sharpe almost kills Barabbas on the spot, stopped only by Harper's intervention. They also face opposition from Colour-Sergeant Wormwood (
Steve Speirs), a British soldier who dislikes Sharpe's methods and fosters feelings of resentment among his men, which grows when Sharpe punishes two of Wormwood's men for drunkenness and attempted rape.
Arriving at Kalimgong, Sharpe and Harper find the entire garrison killed, with the exception of the fort's commander,
General Sir Henry Simmerson (
Michael Cochrane), Sharpe's old enemy. Strung up naked in the courtyard, Simmerson's mind is addled with the heat and he seems to only speak nonsense, such as "save the harvest." Major Joubert is not among the dead, to Marie-Angelique's relief, but neither are the Company ledgers that reveal what has been stolen from the fort. The Subedar dies.
Continuing on, the train finds a farming village destroyed by bandits, the entire harvest stolen, and everyone dead but a young girl who witnessed the attack. Between what the girl saw and Simmerson's addled ramblings, Sharpe realises that not only were these people growing opium for the company, but Colonel Count Dragomirov and Major Joubert were responsible for the slaughter in the village and at Kalimgong, using bandits as scapegoats.
The train is forced to leave mounts and wagons behind when the bridge over a river is found to be destroyed. While crossing, they are attacked by Dragomirov and his men. Joubert grabs Marie-Angelique and rides off with her. Sharpe tries to pursue, but Wormwood uses the chaos to try to kill Sharpe, managing only to wound him in the shoulder. Harper drags Sharpe to safety.
Dragomirov's troops retreat. Once his wound is treated, Sharpe takes a horse and leaves to rescue Marie-Angelique, putting Harper in command of the train. When Sharpe finds Joubert, they fight. The weakened Sharpe is disarmed, but Marie-Angelique shoots and kills Joubert with his own pistol. However, Dragomirov's cavalry find them and take them to their field headquarters on the Indian plains. Meanwhile, during the night, the seriously wounded Tredinnick sneaks away, as he is slowing down the train. He tries to ambush Dragomirov, but his shot misses, and Dragomirov stabs him and leaves him for dead. Lance Naik Singh (
Raza Jaffrey) finds Tredinnick and hears his dying words: Dragomirov's lie that Sharpe is dead.
Dragomirov shows Sharpe around his field headquarters, where Indian slaves produce opium. He offers Sharpe Joubert's position and promises to keep Sharpe's people prisoner rather than kill them, but Sharpe turns him down. Later, Dragomirov threatens to give Marie-Angelique, who has been dosed with opium, to his men, so Sharpe agrees to lead Dragomirov to the train and convince Harper to surrender. During the night, Dragomirov has Sharpe chained in a pit with cobras, but he gets free, rescues Marie-Angelique, and catches up with the train. Dragomirov follows, but Sharpe uses gunpowder to create a roadblock.
When the train comes to a village, Mrs. Tredinnick goes into labour. Sharpe has no choice but to stop and defend the place. He gets the village's leader, the real Chitu (Ulhas Tayade) and the rest of the residents on-side for the upcoming battle. Singh repairs a very old cannon. Wormwood wants to desert, but his two cronies decide to fight alongside Sharpe. That night, Sharpe apologises to Barabbas for his earlier treatment and agrees to let him fight, but later, Wormwood frees Barabbas and tells him that Sharpe plans to execute him in the morning. Both Barabbas and Wormwood ride away separately. Wormwood joins Dragomirov and tells him all about Sharpe's defences.
When Dragomirov attacks the next day, Sharpe's men resist strongly. Beauclere is fatally wounded while defending the women. Wormwood kills one of his former comrades (with the other also perishing in the battle), but Harper kills him in a hand-to-hand fight. At the last moment, British Indian cavalry arrive, led by Barabbas, who had ridden the entire night to bring reinforcements. Sharpe duels Dragomirov and kills him.
After the battle, Sharpe says his goodbyes to Marie-Angelique, who talks of visiting Sharpe's farm in Normandy, and to Simmerson, with whom he has an almost-friendly conversation, before he and Harper ride off for home.
Cast
*
Sean Bean
Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean; 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he made his professional debut in a production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1983 at The Watermill Theatre. Retaining his ...
- Colonel
Richard Sharpe
*
Velibor Topić - Col. Count Vladimir Dragomirov
*
Daragh O'Malley - Sergeant Major
Patrick Harper
*
Beatrice Rosen - Marie-Angelique Bonnet
*
Raza Jaffrey -
Lance Naik Singh
*
Steve Speirs -
Colour Sergeant
Colour sergeant (CSgt or C/Sgt) is a rank of non-commissioned officer found in several armies and marine corps.
Australia
In the Australian Army, the rank of colour sergeant has only existed in the Corps of Staff Cadets at the Royal Military ...
Silas Wormwood
*
Nandana Sen
Nandana Dev Sen is an Indian-born American actress, screenwriter, children's author, and child-rights activist. Her first film role in Bollywood was Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ''Black'' (2005), starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee, in ...
- Maharani Padmini
*
Chucky Venice - Private Daniel Deever
*
Michael Cochrane - Sir
Henry Simmerson
*
Caroline Carver - Mrs Tredinnick
*
Pascal Langdale - Major Philippe Joubert
*
Rajesh Khattar - Subedar Pillai
*
Jonathan Moore - Reverend Watkin
*
David Robb
David Robb (born 23 August 1947) is a Scottish actor.
Early life
Robb was born in Wandsworth, London, the son of David Robb and Elsie Tilley. He grew up in Edinburgh and was educated there at the Royal High School, where he played Henry II i ...
- Major Tredinnick
*
Luke Ward-Wilkinson - Ensign the Hon. Percival Beauclere
*
Amit Behl - Corporal Barabbas Hakeswill
*
Ryan Pope - Private Joshua Quilter
*
Jonny Coyne - Private Croop
*
Ulhas Tayad - Chitu
*
Payal Ghosh - Padme
*
Himani Malhotra - Dhara
*
Freyanshi Manoj Punamiya - Little Girl
*
David Henry - Viscount Sedgefield
Production history
At a book signing in Bath on 11 October 2006, Bernard Cornwell revealed that there were plans by ITV to film two more episodes. When asked about the stories, Cornwell said that he believed that they were producing two new stories specially for television. Filming of ''Sharpe's Peril'', produced by Celtic Film/Picture Palace/Duke Street Films, began on 3 March 2008 in India (in
Orchha and
Khajuraho
Khajuraho () is a city, near Chhatarpur in Chhatarpur district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. One of the most popular tourist destinations in India, Khajuraho has the country's largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples, famous ...
), and finished in late April.
The film was created both as a 2 x 90 minute version (circa 2 x 69 minutes without adverts, i.e. 138 minutes in total) and a single 100 minute version.
UK broadcast history
Part one was first aired on
ITV (
ITV1
ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 ...
and
UTV) on 2 November 2008 and part two on 9 November 2008, although
STV, the holders of the Northern and Central Scottish licensees of ITV, decided not to screen ''Sharpe's Peril'', but instead use the time slots for its own drama ''Missing'' from 2006.
''Sharpe's Peril'' was released on DVD on 10 November 2008 in the UK. This 2 disc set comes with both versions of ''Sharpe's Peril''. There has also been a making-of documentary produced for ''Sharpe's Peril'', which is included on the DVD, and was shown on
ITV3
ITV3 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. The channel was first launched on Monday 1 November 2004 at 9 pm, replacing Plus (British TV channel), Plus ...
after the main show had finished on 9 November.
Reception
DVDTalk.com gave it 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "a dramatic improvement over its predecessor, Sharpe's Challenge (2006)."
References
External links
*
''Sharpe's Peril''at Sharpe Film official website
at South Essex.co.uk
Celtic FilmsPicture Palace website about ''Sharpe's Peril''
{{Sharpe Films
2008 British television episodes
2000s historical films
2000s war films
British English-language television shows
Fiction set in 1818
Films directed by Tom Clegg (director)
ITV television dramas
Napoleonic Wars naval films
Peril
Imminent peril, or imminent danger, is an American legal concept that defines the term as "certain danger, immediate, and impending; menacingly close at hand, and threatening." In many states in the US, a mere necessity for quick action does not co ...
War television films