Sean Bean is back as the swashbuckling hero in Sharpe's Challenge, an action packed mini-series to be shot on location in Rajasthan, India. Two years after the Duke of Wellington crushes Napoleon at Waterloo, dispatches from India tell of a local Maharaja, Khande Rao, who is threatening British interests there. Wellington sends Sharpe to investigate on what turns out to be his most dangerous mission to date. When a beautiful general's daughter is kidnapped by the Indian warlord, the tension mounts, leaving Sharpe no option but to pursue the enemy right into its deadly lair. Deep in the heart of enemy territory he also has to keep at bay the beautiful but scheming Regent, Madhuvanthi, who is out to seduce him. The fate of an Empire and the life of a General's daughter lie in one man's hands...

France 1813
Col. Cresson and Gen. Calvet plan to capture Wellington's intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Ross. Gypsies are camping with the British, their women are causing a stir among the soldiers and Sharpe has settled into married life. Jane, however, is bored and looking to the future. She wonders how Sharpe will take to the social life back in England.
Col. Brand also arrives in the camp, he operates behind enemy lines and plans to destroy Calvet's powder supply. Sharpe is to act as his back up. They also need the services of explosives expert, Maj. Septimus Pyecroft. A war correspondant and poet, called Shelligton, has also arrived and becomes enamoured with Jane.
When Ross and Sharpe meet Pyecroft, he has a gypsy girl with him who was the only survivor from an attack on her family. In the camp, she recognises her family's horses among those belonging to Maj. Brand's men. Another gypsy girl, sets herself at Harris, but when he goes to her tent in the evening, he discovers her and her family dead. When he reports the murder, he finds himself chief suspect and is confined to camp. Sharpe asks him to watch over Jane while he is away.
Shellington accompanies Sharpe, but tires of war and is escorted back to camp. The murderers are uncovered and rounded up, and Sharpe also discovers there is a French spy in the camp.

Filming has started on BBC Two’s critically acclaimed drama The Last Kingdom, from Carnival Films. The second series, adapted by BAFTA-nominated and RTS award-winning writer Stephen Butchard from Bernard Cornwell’s bestselling series of novels, is to return to BBC Two next year, with Netflix joining as a co-production partner.
The emotionally complex and compelling landscape of revenge, rivalry, hostility, corruption, love, sex, loyalty and friendship, forms the backdrop to a gripping adventure based on Cornwell's novels, The Lords Of The North and Sword Song – part of the hugely popular bestselling franchise The Last Kingdom.
Set in the year 878, the second series returns as fearless and instinctive warrior Uhtred continues his fight for his native land of Northumbria. Uhtred, having given his sword to King Alfred, despite his upbringing by the invading pagan Danes, embarks on his voyage north to reclaim his own fate: to avenge Earl Ragnar’s death and recapture his ancestral lands of Bebbanburg.
Alfred’s conviction to create a united England is stronger than ever, and he sets his sights on the wild lands of the north, which have fallen into chaos and rebellion. It is a dangerous time for Saxon and Dane alike, but Alfred champions a new king - a Christian Dane - to unite the tribes. However, this king has been enslaved, and Uhtred becomes embroiled in a rescue mission, which brings him face to face with an enemy of old.