'The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin' Look Like a Hoot
Hugh Bonneville and Noel Fielding in 'The Completely Made-up Adventures of Dick Turpin' Season 1
Apple TV+.
The 2024 Winter Television Critics Association press tour kicked off on February 5, 2024, the first major TV presentation since the end of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023. Apple TV+ kicked off the event with a full slate of upcoming series and returning hits it had lined up for the first half of the year. Panels ranged from the period drama The New Look, which focused on the post-World War II rise of the fashion industry to Palm Royale, Carol Burnett's return to comedy at 90. But it was the trailer for The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin that had critics hooting.
Like The New Look, The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin is based on a real piece of history. An English highwayman, he started out as part of a gang of deer thieves before graduating to more hardboiled crime, becoming a poacher, burglar, horse thief, and eventually a murderer. (Deer thieving was the slippery slope of the early 1700s.) He was also the subject of Victorian novelist William Harrison Ainsworth's fictional story of a wild overnight 200 km ride on his horse, Black Bess.
Fielding's take on the character is not exactly historically accurate, putting Dick Turpin in the same category as other popular British historical comedies like Drunk History, Horrible Histories, and the like. However, with a brilliant supporting cast and writers, this series looks like Apple TV+ has landed a must watch for fans of British comedies.
Here's the series synopsis:
In The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin, Dick Turpin sets out on a journey of wildly absurd escapades when he’s made the reluctant leader of a band of outlaws — and tasked with outwitting corrupt lawman and self-appointed Thief-Taker Jonathan Wilde. In this irreverent retelling set in the 18th century, Dick is the most famous but least likely of highway robbers, whose success is defined mostly by his charm, showmanship, and great hair. Together with his gang of lovable rogues, Dick rides the highs and lows of his new endeavors, including a brush with celebrity, all whilst trying to escape the clutches of the Thief-Taker.
Fielding brings along an ensemble cast featuring everyone's favorite Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), Tamsin Greig (Belgravia), Asim Chaudhry (The Sandman), Dolly Wells (Inside Man), Joe Wilkinson (Sex Education), Mark Heap (The Trouble With Maggie Cole), Geoff McGivern (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), Ellie White (Black Mirror), Marc Wootton (Drunk History), Duayne Boachie (Blue Story), Samuel Leakey (Treason), newcomer Kiri Flaherty, and Noel's brother Michael Fielding.
Claire Downes (The Outlaws), Ian Jarvis (Inside Llewyn Davis), and Stuart Lane (Around the World in 80 Days) created The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin and wrote all episodes with Jon Brittain, Richard Naylor, and Noel Fielding also listed as writers. Directors Ben Palmer (The Inbetweeners) and George Kane (Crashing) split helming duties across the six-episode season. The series is executive produced by Fielding, Palmer, Kenton Allen and Victoria Grew for Big Talk Studios.
The first two episodes of The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin debuts on Apple TV+ on Friday, March 1, 2024, with one a week to follow through the end of the month.
