Author's wife takes Sharpe role

Lakshmi and Rushdie were married in New York in 2004

Padma Lakshmi, actress wife of author Salman Rushdie, is to star alongside Sean Bean in a fresh instalment of ITV1's popular period drama Sharpe.

Sharpe's Challenge, currently shooting in Rajasthan, India, is the character's first TV appearance for seven years.

Set in 1817, two years after the battle of Waterloo, the two-part mini-series sees Sharpe investigating a Maharaja who is threatening British interests.

Lakshmi plays Madhuvanthi, a beautiful Regent who tries to seduce him.

According to reports, the former model and cookery writer has already filmed her role in the drama.

Sharpe's Challenge - which also stars Toby Stephens - is the second Sharpe drama not to be based on a novel by the character's creator Bernard Cornwell.

It will be screened in the US on BBC America, the BBC's commercial US digital channel.

Lakshmi, who married Rushdie in April 2004, has previously appeared in the Mariah Carey film Glitter and in an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise.