Sharpe's Revenge (TV programme)

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Sharpe's Revenge

Title screen from Sharpe's Revenge
Genre Military drama
Running time 100 min.
Director(s) Tom Clegg
Writer(s) Bernard Cornwell (novel)
Eoghan Harris
Starring Sean Bean
Daragh O'Malley
Abigail Cruttenden
Music by Dominic Muldowney
John Tams
Country of origin Flag of United Kingdom United Kingdom
Language(s) English
Release date(s) 1997
Preceded by Sharpe's Mission
Followed by Sharpe's Justice
IMDb profile

Sharpe's Revenge is a British television drama, part of a series that follows the career of Richard Sharpe, a British soldier during the Napoleonic Wars. The adaptation is based on the novel of the same name by Bernard Cornwell.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Sharpe participates in the Battle of Toulouse, at the end of the Peninsular War. On the other side are French General Calvet (John Benfield) and Sharpe's nemesis, Ducos (Féodor Atkine), who is in charge of Napoleon's treasury. During the fighting, Sharpe encounters and humiliates Ducos, but lets him escape with his life. Napoleon loses the war and is sent into exile.

Before the battle, Sharpe had given his wife Jane (Abigail Cruttenden) power of attorney over his entire fortune of 10,000 guineas, just in case. She extracts a promise from him that this will be his last fight, that he will ask Wellington for a transfer back to England. However, Sharpe is insulted by another British officer and engages in a duel (deliberately shooting his opponent in the buttocks to teach him a lesson). Infuriated by the quickly-broken promise, Jane is persuaded by her friend, Lady Molly Spindacre (Connie Hyde), to run away to London and spend some of her husband's money in revenge.

Things get out hand when Jane meets and becomes enfatuated with the handsome Lord Rossendale (Alexis Denisof). They become lovers, and he convinces her to invest her money in various projects and pay off his gambling debts. Eventually, she runs out of money, at which point her "friend" Molly deserts her.

Meanwhile, Ducos is ordered by Calvet to take the treasure to Paris, but with the war lost, steals it instead, framing Sharpe for the theft and murder of the guards. Sharpe is brought before a military tribunal and jailed pending the arrival of a purported witness, Colonel Maillot (Stephane Cornicard), the officer in charge of the treasure's escort. In actuality, the Frenchman had rebuffed Ducos' offer to share the loot and had gone home to Normandy in disgust.

Sharpe's friends, Sergeant Patrick Harper (Daragh O'Malley) and Captain Frederickson (Philip Whitechurch), break him out of prison and all three head off to find Maillot. They arrive too late; he is murdered on Ducos' orders shortly before. Sharpe is wounded by Maillot's widowed sister, Madame Lucille DuBert (Cécile Paoli), when she mistakes him for one of her brother's killers. While he recuperates, they become romantically involved.

In Paris, Frederickson learns the whereabouts of Ducos and is found by Calvet. Sharpe joins forces with the Frenchman and his loyal Imperial guardsmen. Together, they storm Ducos' fortress in Naples. Sharpe shoots his nemesis at long range and Calvet recovers the treasure. Between them, Calvet and Madame DuBert clear Sharpe's name, freeing him to deal with his errant wife.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] External links