Apple TV+ Kills 'Dick Turpin' Mid-Production
The 2023 Dual Writers and Actors Guild strikes in Hollywood were ultimately won by the writers and actors, who secured significant protections and pay restructuring to reflect the rise of streaming. The strikes also gave studios cover to (in business terms) "right-size" their current crop of shows in production, with mass cancellations and removals of already greenlit projects across the board, including Starz's Dangerous Liaisons, MGM+'s Chapelwaite, multiple series on HBO and Max, and multiple series on Netflix. However, one production studio did not trouble themselves with thoughts of money as Apple TV+ let all its shows continue.... until now.
Running down the streaming services available to Anglophiles at the top of 2025, I noted that Apple TV+ was eventually going to start taking steps to reduce spending, not because the company is running out of money, but because the lavish spending combined with poor returns has made the streaming service the butt of jokes in Hollywood. Apple has already taken steps to try and resolve its extremely low subscriber numbers, doing an old-school Free Weekend like HBO used to do back in the day and putting its cult hit Severance on Roku to try and get viewers hooked ahead of Season 2. But apparently, cuts are coming as well, starting with the series that has one of the most SEO-hostile titles currently active: The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin.
While our reviewer didn't love the first season, a lot of critics did, and star Noel Fielding's cult following also seemed to give the show a guaranteed floor. However, conflicts with Fielding's availability had put a strain on filming, and as of January 15, 2025, production on the already greenlit Season 2 was shut down.
Broadcast UK broke the news, the same outfit that initially had the exclusive on the show's renewal, so it's a pretty solid report despite Apple TV+ not responding to requests for comment. Fielding told Telly Visions last winter in an interview that the reason the series had wound up at Apple TV+ wasn't due to any issues with other streamers (like Netflix, which would, one assumes, have been happy to host it since Fielding also stars in The Great British Baking Show). He and his producer, Kenton Allen, were close with one of Apple's newer hires, who had formerly worked at Channel 4, and she was responsible for the two deciding to go with Apple TV+.
What happens next remains to be seen. This could be a move by Apple to get Fielding back on track and behave, and tomorrow, we'll all receive a press release calling this a "misunderstanding." It could be designed to push Fielding into quitting and blowing up production. Or, since the show is already closer to finished than not, Fielding could call Netflix and take Dick Turpin elsewhere. (It wouldn't be the first time Netflix took another streaming service's leavings and spun them into gold.)
However, Apple TV+ seems to be finally setting some boundaries on productions. One only hopes a slew of mass cancellations of the rest of its British (and British-ish) fare doesn't follow.
The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin Season 1 is still streaming on Apple TV+.
