Dick Turpin

Fantastic production design. Finely crafted stories. Inspired casting.

I watched it when I was a kid. I remember counting the days between the weekly airings. Heck, for me he was almost bigger than Robin Hood. So all in all I am probably a bit biased, but I recently bought the box set and found myself binge watching it and being genuinely entertained.

I loved this series when it was first transmitted and recently reacquainted myself with the series on DVD. Is it still worth watching?

First of all, this Dick Turpin is presented as an adventurer, friend of the poor, chivalrous to women, the voice of wisdom to his young sidekick Swiftnick.

Impeccably cast, Richard O'Sullivan has a whale of a time as the highwayman, and is hugely entertaining to watch. Michael Deeks (whatever happened to him?) is endearingly dumb as Swiftnick, while Christopher Benjamin is the blustering baddie, although more of a Lestrade than a Moriarty to O'Sullivan's Holmes!

The prints currently available on DVD really are awful though for a series which is less than thirty years old; this aside, if you are in the mood for some boy's own adventure, this is the series to watch. Enjoy.

Okay, so the other comment about this show may be partially right: this is pretty bad; but it sure doesn't represent the best of British tv in the 70s. Perhaps the writer was confusing it with some of his own, homegrown tv: like the Dukes of Hazzard, which was foisted on UK audiences at about the same time as this was airing.

Turpin had its moments - oh and it was nothing to do with Napoleon or the 1800s, either (hence the reason you didn't see any Frenchmen...); it was set nearly a century earlier and Turpin was returning home from the War of the Spanish Succession - same enemy, of course, but then, some things don't change. I believe the series was replaced in the schedules (in the UK) by Robin of Sherwood - that's the one without the American accent.

So simple. Napoleon's blockade in the early 1800s. British smuggler swashbuckling in Normandy and Kent. English officers are the baddies (I don't remember seeing any French baddies).

All episodes are the same: escape from the British police, save the idiotic young sidekick, get the girl aka barmaid, kick the captain's butt, the captain is humiliated by the commander, kick the captain and the commander's butts. end.

So... what was so great ? ha ha ha the music of course ! The theme is completely amazing. It's been 20 years and the only reason why I remember this crappiest of all piece of ol'rubbish British TV from the late seventies is the music.

The French counterpart of this series is called Schulmeister, l'espion de l'Empereur, and it takes place during the same period of history with a former smuggler from Alsace, a fat version of Asterix, turned into an Imperial Commissioner (wow) and enforcing Napoleon's way all over Europe. Much more fun. Jacques Fabri is Schulmeister and Roger Carel is Hamel the sidekick.

But the music sucked. Big time.

Why are users giving this wonderful piece of TV a bum rap ?

First of all the casting of Richard O'Sullivan was inspired, an actor known solely for one comic role spun over nearly a decade made the character his own. This was ripping boys own stuff. Top entertainment with characterisation as good as you could expect from Richard Carpenter, a man with a track record of success.

Each story is well contained within a 25 minute timeframe. I have recently purchased the DVD of series 1 and having watched them all at the rate of 1 a week would recommend them to anyone with an interest in light drama.