Dick Turpin (1979–1982)

The eighteenth century, swashbuckling adventures of Britain's legendary highwayman. When he returned from military service in Flanders, Dick Turpin discovered he had been cheated out of his... See full summary »

Creators:

Richard Carpenter, Sidney Cole, Paul Knight

Stars:

Richard O'Sullivan, Michael Deeks, Christopher Benjamin

Cast

Series cast summary:
Richard O'Sullivan	...	Dick Turpin (31 episodes, 1979-1982)
Michael Deeks	...	Swiftnick (31 episodes, 1979-1982)
Christopher Benjamin	...	Sir John Glutton (14 episodes, 1979-1980)
Billy Dean	...	Tim Cook (14 episodes, 1979-1981)
David Daker	...	Captain Nathan Spiker (13 episodes, 1979-1982)

Storyline

The eighteenth century, swashbuckling adventures of Britain's legendary highwayman. When he returned from military service in Flanders, Dick Turpin discovered he had been cheated out of his inheritance by an unscrupulous landowner. Bitter and penniless, Turpin took to the open road as a highwayman. Possessed of a decided Robin Hood complex, he spent much of his time meddling in other peoples' troubles. His partner on the road was young Nick Smith ("Swiftnick"), and his perpetual enemy was villainous Sir John Glutton.

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Plot Keywords:

highwayman | robbery | horse | buddy | sword | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Biography | Drama | History

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 January 1979 (UK)

Company Credits

Production Co:

London Weekend Television (LWT)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min 30 min (31 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in The Story of the Costume Drama: A Call to Arms (2008)

User Reviews

Britain's finest

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.