Sharpe's Sword (TV programme)
| Sharpe's Sword | |
|---|---|
| Written by |
Bernard Cornwell (novel) Eoghan Harris |
| Directed by | Tom Clegg |
| Starring |
Sean Bean Daragh O'Malley John Tams Jason Salkey James Purefoy Emily Mortimer |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Running time | 100 min. |
| Release | |
| Original release | 1995 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Sharpe's Battle |
| Followed by | Sharpe's Regiment |
Sharpe's Sword is a 1995 British television drama, the eighth of a series screened on the ITV network that follows the career of Richard Sharpe, a fictional British soldier during the Napoleonic Wars. It is based on the novel of the same name by Bernard Cornwell, though it is set a year later (1813) than the book.
On the French-Spanish frontier, a French patrol led by a colonel of Napoleon's Imperial Guard overtakes a carriage containing a priest and three nuns. The priest is the confessor of El Mirador, Wellington's best secret agent; he is tortured into revealing the spy's identity. Then, he and two of the nuns are killed, but the youngest (Emily Mortimer), a novice, gets away.
Major Sharpe (Sean Bean) and his riflemen show up and rout the French, taking a captain captive, while the colonel is killed. Sharpe finds a piece of paper filled with cryptic numbers on the prisoner and suspects that his captive is actually the colonel in disguise. However, he is unable to convince his superior, nor his fellow officer, Captain Jack Spears (James Purefoy); the Frenchman is allowed to give his parole and is not imprisoned. The young woman (referred to simply as "the Lass"), having lost her faith and being rendered mute by the horror she has witnessed, attaches herself to Sharpe.
Back at camp, Wellington's spymaster, Major Mungo Munro (Hugh Ross), has received word that Napoleon himself has sent Colonel Leroux (Patrick Fierry) of the elite Imperial Guard to capture El Mirador. Munro assigns Sharpe the task of killing the colonel, but refuses to divulge the spy's identity. He sends Sharpe and the South Essex Regiment to the town where El Mirador is based.
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