Sharpe's Waterloo (TV programme)

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Sharpe's Waterloo
Written byCharles Wood
Bernard Cornwell (characters)
Directed byTom Clegg
Starring
Theme music composerDominic Muldowney
John Tams
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducersMalcolm Craddock
Muir Sutherland (exec.)
EditorKeith Palmer
Running time100 minutes
Original release
Release21 May 1997 (1997-05-21)
Related

Sharpe's Waterloo is a British television drama, the 14th part of a series that follows the career of Richard Sharpe, a fictional British soldier during the Napoleonic Wars. The adaptation is based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Bernard Cornwell.

Plot

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In 1815, war breaks out as Napoleon returns to France from exile on Elba. Richard Sharpe (Sean Bean) can't resist the chance to finally see his enemy and breaks his promise to his French lover Lucille (Cécile Paoli) to fight no more. However, unlike his adulterous wife Jane (Abigail Cruttenden), she forgives him and accompanies him to the battlefield, where he finds employment as a lieutenant colonel on the staff of Prince William of Orange (Paul Bettany) and makes the acquaintance of his aide de camp Colonel Rebecque (Oliver Tobias).

Scouting south of Quatre Bras, Sharpe spots French troops. The Dutch cavalry he sends to alert the Allied command are killed by French cuirassiers pursuing Sharpe. Lord Rossendale (Alexis Denisof) joins the staff of Lord Uxbridge (Neil Dickson), Wellington's second-in-command, bringing his lover, Sharpe's estranged wife Jane, with him to Brussels. Polite society refuses to accept Jane but Rossendale learns that Sharpe is also quartered in Brussels. At the Prince of Orange's camp, Sharpe is reunited with his former sergeant major and best friend, Patrick Harper (Daragh O'Malley), and two of his long-time "chosen men": Hagman (John Tams) and Harris (Jason Salkey).

Sharpe scouts the French forces again and alerts the Duke of Wellington (Hugh Fraser) at a ball in Brussels that Napoleon is on the move. Sharpe encounters Jane and Rossendale at the ball, and challenges Rossendale in front of the guests. Rossendale refuses to fight and wets himself and Sharpe demands his promise to repay the money Jane stole from Sharpe. They encounter each other again on the battlefield and Rossendale draws a pistol but lacks the courage to fire. Sharpe takes Rossendale's sword and pistol and breaks them then coerces Rossendale into writing a promissory note for Sharpe's money. Rossendale lies to his fellow officers about the destruction of his sword and pistol, but later confesses the truth to Witherspoon who tells him the only way to regain his lost honor is to fight like a demon in the coming battle.

During the battle of Waterloo, Lucille prays for Sharpe's safe return and Jane writes in her diary that she is pregnant with Rossendale's bastard child. Sharpe commands the defence of a crucial farmhouse at La Haye Sainte, which is defended by the King's German Legion and the 95th Rifles, saving the life of a King's German Legion officer, Macduff, in the action. Believing that La Haye Sainte has fallen, Prince William orders an English regiment to reform from square to line and re-capture the farm. French cavalry catch the British in the wrong formation, destroy the unit and capture its colours, while Sharpe watches in disgust. Mindful of Prince William's incompetence which cost the lives of Harris and Hagman, Sharpe observes the Prince gallop away, leaving his men to be slaughtered by the French. Sharpe shoots the prince at long range from a secluded spot, wounding him. On another part of the battlefield, Rossendale is killed by French cuirassiers.

Sharpe takes command of his old unit, the Prince of Wales' Own Volunteers, when its commanding officer becomes a casualty. At the climax of the battle, Napoleon sends in his elite Imperial Guard. Sharpe repels this last-ditch assault, much to Wellington's delight. When the Prussians belatedly arrive to reinforce the British, Wellington orders Sharpe to take the regiment in pursuit of the retreating enemy. Sharpe glimpses Napoleon as he rides off in defeat.

Cast

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