Sharpe's Justice

Sharpe's Justice
Title screen from Sharpe's Justice
Written by	Patrick Harbinson Bernard Cornwell (characters) John Tams (uncredited)
Directed by	Tom Clegg
Starring	Sean Bean Daragh O'Malley Abigail Cruttenden Alexis Denisof
Theme music composer	Dominic Muldowney John Tams
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Malcolm Craddock Muir Sutherland (exec.)
Running time	100 min.
Release
Original release	1997
Chronology
Preceded by	Sharpe's Revenge
Followed by	Sharpe's Waterloo

Sharpe's Justice is a British television drama, the 13th of a series that follows the career of Richard Sharpe, a fictional British soldier during the Napoleonic Wars. Unlike most of the other installments of the series, this episode was not based on a novel by Bernard Cornwell. A key scene in the story is based on the Peterloo Massacre of 1819, reset here to Keighley in Yorkshire, in 1814.

It is 1814. There is peace in Europe as a defeated Napoleon is sent into exile on the island of Elba. Major Sharpe (Sean Bean) is assigned to head the Scarsdale Yeomanry in his native Yorkshire, depriving him of a chance to settle the score with his adulterous wife Jane (Abigail Cruttenden) and her lover, Lord Rossendale (Alexis Denisof).

Sharpe and Regimental Sergeant Major Harper (Daragh O'Malley) are met on their arrival by George Wickham (Douglas Henshall), an officer in the Yeomanry. As he escorts them to town, they are ambushed and shot at. Sharpe pursues (but does not catch) one of the men, who turns out to be his close childhood friend, Matthew Truman (Philip Glenister).

Wickham takes Sharpe to meet Sir Willoughby Parfitt (Tony Haygarth) and Sir Percy Stanwyck (Philip Anthony), wealthy businessmen who own many cotton mills between them. Parfitt tells Sharpe about the post-war unrest. The discharge of men from the army has flooded England with unemployed workmen; the increased competition and a reduced demand for cotton gives Parfitt an excuse to lower wages. He is opposed by Truman, a rabble rouser who stirs up the discontented, poverty-stricken masses.