By JOHN DEMPSEY
BBC America has engineered one of the biggest co-productions
in its
seven-year history, four-hour movie
"Sharpe's Challenge" starring Sean
Bean as a swashbuckling 19th century
British officer.
Project is an extension of the series of 14 telepics on England's
ITV, with Bean appearing as the character featured in a series
of
novels by Bernard Cornwell.
Expectation is that BBC America will
buy reruns of the telepics from
producers Picture Palace/Celtic Films Entertainment, but neither
side addressed that issue in the announcement of the pic.
Although based on the Cornwell character,
"Sharpe's Challenge" is an
original screenplay by Russell Lewis. Producers Malcolm Craddock
and
Muir Sutherland will lense the project on location in North
India, where Sharpe will have to contend with a powerful maharajah;
nothing less than the fate of the British empire hangs in the
balance.
The dollar investment in "Challenge"
is on a par with BBC
America's stake in the six-hour musical thriller "Viva Blackpool,"
scheduled for October, and two original movies from the playwright
Stephen Poliakoff: "Friends & Crocodiles" and "Gideon's
Daughter,"
slated for 2006. Unlike "Challenge," these three projects
are all co-
productions with parent BBC.
Finally, in August, September and October
2005, information began to
appear which indicated negotiations
were finally coming together. Picture
Palace updated their website with this
information:
STOP PRESS.....New SHARPE drama to film
in Rajasthan, India in
November 2005, starring Sean Bean (TROY,
LORD OF THE RINGS,
GOLDENEYE). After five seasons of 14
action-packed adventure
films which averaged an audience share
of 47% on UK television
and which still sell in over 50 territories
- the award-winning SHARPE
returns as a 2 x 90' serial - SHARPE'S
CHALLENGE. A Picture Palace /
Celtic production for ITV. The fate
of an Empire and the life of a
General's daughter lie in one man's
hands....
On October 5th, the final t's were crossed
and the i's were dotted, and