The Problems With Sharpe's Challenge and other lesser episodes

I finished watching Sharpe last night. I got the complete collection for Christmas. It’s a hugely enjoyable show and probably the best mainstream British television drama ever (Our Friends in the North isn’t really mainstream). It’s also a serious slice of 90’s nostalgia, and for me Sean Bean’s rough and ready Richard Shapre is as iconic as 007 or Dave Lister.

That’s not to say it’s a perfect show; there are some frequent and notable flaws. Firstly Sean Bean’s acting ability can’t always match the quality of the writing and during some of the more wordy 19th Century dialogue he struggles to give it any kind of emotional weight, you can tell he is not comfortable with saying it therefore it’s not always believable. However, in every other aspect Bean is perfect as Sharpe and the show is NOT just about period drama it’s mainly about action and boys-own adventure with a bit of sex and a fair amount violence.

The second flaw also does a lot to add to the charm and personality of the show. Major historical battles that featured hundreds of thousands of men are staged using about twelve Ukrainian extras and a distinct absence of long or establishing shots! That said though, the battles and action sequences in general are usually very effective and entertaining and some of the stunt work is exceptional, as are the costumes and make up.

The third persistent flaw in the show is the makers disregard for continuity of characters and a willingness to abandon the procedural nature that made the show so popular, and just plain brilliant, in the early days. This lack of continuity (or you could even say respect) for the minor characters is mostly manifested in the chosen men, who for me, are a great aspect of the show. Some of the chosen men drift in and out from week to week and characters who you like one week and not in it the next and just disappear without explanation. This is most obvious towards the end of the series with Hagman and Harris who aren’t given a lot to do and are missing from a couple of episodes.

There is also quite a shift in quality and tone from the start of the series to the end (of the original run) with Sharpe’s Rifles, Eagle, Company, Enemy, Honour, Gold, Battle and Sword all being focused on Sharpe and the Chosen Men’s adventures; with plenty of action and not much of the (slightly monotonous) period dramatics that were prevalent in the later stages of the show.

These episodes (or movies) represent the golden age and very best of Sharpe; before it got bogged down with recurring plot lines that weren’t that interesting. Sharpe jumped the shark with Sharpe’s Regiment in 1996. It wasn’t’ a bad episode but it was the first that abandoned the procedural nature of the show. There were good moments such as Sharpe and Harper (his loyal colleague) pretending to be simple soldiers in the ranks again and also the very end of the show where Shapre gets his first sighing of France. But overall it was definitely downhill from Regiment onwards. Although subsequent episodes like Siege and Waterloo were excellent, the episode Mission was generic (although still very enjoyable) Justice was disappointing and Revenge (apart from the first twenty minutes) was abysmal. All these lesser episodes focused heavily on Sharpe’s disastrous relationship with wife Jane who ran off with another man and stole all of Sharpe’s money. It could have been quite an interesting storyline but the makers dragged it out for what seemed like an eternity. Thankfully, Sharpe’s Waterloo was a return to form (although it still didn’t reach the heights of say, Battle.) with more focus on Shapre, his Chosen men and the action and adventure side of things. Waterloo would have been a fitting send of..

In 2006 Sharpe returned to our screens with Sharpe’s Challenge which was set in India two years after the events of Waterloo. Unfortunately, in my opinion, Challenge was also disappointing; which is made even more so by the fact that there is a good Sharpe movie in there somewhere.

There were several major problems with Challenge. Firstly the format; all the other movies were approximately 100 minutes long and shown in one complete part. Challenge was a whopping 140 minutes and was split into two parts; which was a fatal mistake as it made the story overly long and bloated in places. The makers also (criminally) abandoned the iconic opening credits and music, which don’t look or sound dated, so I really don’t understand that decision.

I believe there is a shorter version of Challenge, which although I haven’t seen I should imagine is much better than this bloated two part movie. Another major problem was the recycling of old characters, Bickerstaff in Challenge was identical to the legendary Hakeswill of the original series, also the equally brilliant character of Simmerson was brought back to little effect as some kind of ridiculous caricature of his previous self.

Also for the most part in Challenge, Shapre and Harper were pretending to be from the ranks again (ala Regiment) and were holed up in an enemy fort which basically neutered Sharpe from doing anything until the last ten minutes of the movie. The bad guys (and girls) were all pretty forgettable as well (although Toby Stevens is a good actor – and shows it).

There are some good points to Challenge though, it’s great to see Sharpe back (albeit having aged significantly) on our screens and the movie clearly had a much bigger budget than previous entries so the action was fittingly epic and the locations and cinematography as a whole were brilliant. Overall though, some poor decision making from the makers and the network executives (two instalments mean double the advertising revenue) meant that Challenge was a disappointing entry in the Sharpe series. However, Sharpe will return later this year with Sharpe Peril and I for one, will be watching.

To summarize, Sharpe is a brilliant show and Richard Sharpe is a brilliant character.