Oh dear, what a let down this was. The two redeeming features were the scenery (courtesy of the Indian Tourist Board)and some apparently authentic dialogue. On British TV the programme was shown in two parts, the first of which dragged, though there was some reasonable action in the second. I suspect that the influence of Sharpe author Bernard Cornwell was confined to providing the characters, because the plot borrowed countless clichés from Westerns of the 1950s. There were several insults to one's intelligence. The most notable was Sharpe's supposedly inspirational speech to the soldiers and villagers as they awaited the final onslaught by the baddies. The references to Napoleon and Waterloo would have meant something to the few remaining British soldiers, but nothing at all to the Indian troops and villagers - even supposing they (the latter especially) understood English. Then there was Harper curiously being cured of kidney stones and Simmerson's remarkable recovery from delirium and his sudden warmth for Sharpe (and where did he get his smart general's uniform from, after the pursued soldiers and civilians had been carrying next to nothing after crossing the river). The portrait of Sharpe's daughter in the locket looked more like a colour photograph than a painting.
Sean Bean was beginning to show his age, seemed to go through the motions with his acting and was not at all an inspiring leader.
EDIT 14 years later: I've just watched "Sharpe's Peril" again and think that I was too harsh with my original rating of 4, which I've upgraded to 6. But my original reservations remain. Added to them is the meme so common in the series of an attractive young woman being in an improbable situation of extreme hazard. Even Sharpe and Harper seemed to be an inadequate escort for Beatrice. And Dragomirov joins the two heroes in not including headgear with their uniforms - which, with his being shaven-headed one would have thought was essential under the Indian sun.
Sean Bean was beginning to show his age, seemed to go through the motions with his acting and was not at all an inspiring leader.
EDIT 14 years later: I've just watched "Sharpe's Peril" again and think that I was too harsh with my original rating of 4, which I've upgraded to 6. But my original reservations remain. Added to them is the meme so common in the series of an attractive young woman being in an improbable situation of extreme hazard. Even Sharpe and Harper seemed to be an inadequate escort for Beatrice. And Dragomirov joins the two heroes in not including headgear with their uniforms - which, with his being shaven-headed one would have thought was essential under the Indian sun.