Sharpe's Peril (TV programme)

Sharpe's Peril
British DVD cover
Based on	The Sharpe stories by Bernard Cornwell
Written by	Russell Lewis (screenplay)
Directed by	Tom Clegg
Starring	Sean Bean Velibor Topic Daragh O'Malley Michael Cochrane Raza Jaffrey Beatrice Rosen
Theme music composer	Dominic Muldowney John Tams
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of episodes	2
Production
Producer(s)	Stuart Sutherland Malcolm Craddock Muir Sutherland Paul Frift
Running time	138 minutes (2 x 90 minutes minus adverts)
Release
Original network	ITV, UTV
Original release	2008
Chronology
Preceded by	Sharpe's Challenge

Sharpe's Peril is a British TV film from 2008, 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. Contrary to most parts of the TV series, Sharpe's Peril isn't based on one of 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 Waterloo (1815) and before the final novel Sharpe's Devil (1820–21). In Sharpe's Challenge and Sharpe's Peril, Sharpe and his comrade in arms, Patrick Harper, have been temporarily called out of retirement and asked to go to India.

The story continues from where Sharpe's Challenge left off. On their way home to England, Richard Sharpe (Sean Bean) 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's armies, commanded by the young Ensign Beauclere (Luke Ward-Wilkinson), engineer Major Tredinnick (David Robb), and Subedar Pillai (Rajesh Khattar). Included in the train is a redcoat prisoner named Barabbas (Amit Behl), an Indian princess (Nandana Sen) 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.