Sharpe's Company (TV programme)

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Sharpe's Company
Based on Sharpe's Company
by Bernard Cornwell
Screenplay by Charles Wood
Directed byTom Clegg
Starring Sean Bean
Daragh O'Malley
Hugh Fraser
Michael Byrne
Pete Postlethwaite
Assumpta Serna
Theme music composerDominic Muldowney
John Tams
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
Producers Malcolm Craddock
Muir Sutherland (exec.)
Running time102 minutes [1]
Original release
Network ITV
Release25 May 1994 (1994-05-25)
Related

Sharpe's Company is a British television drama, the third of a series that follows the career of Richard Sharpe, a British soldier during the Napoleonic Wars. This episode is based on the 1982 novel of the same name by Bernard Cornwell.

Contents

Plot

It is 1812. General Wellesley is ready to invade Spain from Portugal but two formidable fortresses stand in the way. Ciudad Rodrigo is taken, but Colonel Lawford is severely wounded and forced to relinquish command of the South Essex Regiment, depriving Captain Sharpe of an influential friend.

Colonel Windham, the new commander, brings his own officers, so Sharpe is demoted to lieutenant and is humiliated by being put in charge of the baggage and losing command of his "chosen men" to an aristocratic officer who purchased the commission of the South Essex's Light Company. Worse, one of the reinforcements is Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill, an old enemy from Sharpe's days in India.

Meanwhile, Sharpe's lover, Teresa, tells him that he has a baby daughter living with her family in Badajoz, the second fortress town. Not knowing who she is, Hakeswill tries to rape her, but proves no match for her. Teresa then slips into Badajoz to spy on the French and to see her baby.

To cause trouble for Sharpe, Hakeswill steals from the officers and plants a picture frame belonging to Windham in the kit of Sharpe's right-hand man, Sergeant Harper. When it is found, the colonel has Harper flogged. Later, during a night skirmish, a turncoat French soldier escapes the besieged town, bearing a dispatch and a letter from Teresa, but he is shot and killed. Sharpe recovers the letter, which contains a map showing where she is staying, but on his way back Hakeswill tries to shoot Sharpe in the confusion, but kills a young ensign.

Eventually the walls of Badajoz are breached, but the first assault falters. Sharpe rallies the men and leads them into the town. Hakeswill gets to Teresa first due to the letter he stole from Sharpe. Harry Price, one of Sharpe's officers, intervenes and is shot and apparently killed by Hakeswill while trying to protect Teresa. (Price reappears, in Sharpe's Waterloo , this time played by Nicholas Irons.) Sharpe is not far behind and stops Hakeswill, who is wounded in the process, but Hakeswill still manages to get away. Hakeswill then rapes and murders the widow of one of the company's soldiers, before retrieving his cache of stolen goods and deserting.

For his bravery and because many of the other officers have been killed, Sharpe gets back command of his Light Company. Harper is exonerated when he finds the missing portrait of Windham's wife hidden in Hakeswill's shako and returns it to the colonel.

Cast

Related Research Articles

Sharpe is a series of historical fiction stories by Bernard Cornwell centred on the character of English soldier Richard Sharpe. The stories formed the basis for an ITV television series featuring Sean Bean in the title role.

<i>Sharpe</i> (TV series) British television historical drama series (1993–2008)

Sharpe is a British television drama series starring Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe, a fictional British soldier in the Napoleonic Wars, with Irish actor Daragh O'Malley playing his second in command, Patrick Harper. Sharpe and Harper are the heroes of the Sharpe series of novels by Bernard Cornwell; most, though not all, of the episodes are based on the books. Produced by Celtic Films and Picture Palace Films for the ITV network, the series was filmed mainly in Crimea, with recordings of other episodes in Turkey, England, Portugal and Spain. The two final episodes were filmed in Jaipur, India.

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<i>Sharpes Peril</i> 2008 British television film

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's historical fiction novels about the English soldier Richard Sharpe during the Napoleonic Wars. 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.

References

  1. "SHARPE - SHARPE'S COMPANY". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 2 April 2020.