“In England, he's as famous as Robin Hood,” The Great British Bake Off co-presenter Noel Fielding said about Dick Turpin, the character he plays in the new Apple TV+ adventure comedy series, The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin. “We're aware that in America, most people haven't heard of Dick Turpin. But he was real. He was quite a nasty sort of murdering criminal. So, we've reimagined him as an inclusive pacifist. He's a vegan.”
(Stewart Cook/Getty Images for Apple TV+)
Noel Fielding was joined on stage at the TCA Winter Press Tour by his fellow executive producer, Kenton Allen, who likened the real Dick Turpin’s legacy to that of American cowboys Billy the Kid and Jesse James, the legends of whom are more spectacular than the outlaws they’re inspired by. “In the '70s, there was a kids' TV series, a drama series based around the adventures of Dick Turpin,” Kenton Allen shared. “For the pop culture fans amongst you, there was an Adam and The Ants song called ‘Stand and Deliver’ in the '80s, which kind of mythologized this dandy aspect of Dick Turpin.” During the creative process, as soon as Noel Fielding’s name was mentioned as an option, Kenton knew the show had found it’s voice. “It was such a brilliant collision of the wrong attitude with the wrong character, but this sort of magic happened.”
“I can't help but get involved,” Noel added about taking on a creative role, not just as an executive producer, but also as a writer. “I managed to sort of bore into the writing process like a maggot through soft cheese. I was straight in. I was like, “What about this, what about that?’ I do like to get involved in the writing.” That also helped with Noel Fielding’s typical preparation process for a role. “I’ve never learned a script in my life, even ones that I wrote,” he joked, adding that the entire cast was encouraged to improvise at times. “We always try to get the script on the first couple of takes and then muck about because you never know, something good might come along.”
“A lot of our references for the show were films that we grew up with as kids, like, The Princess Bride," Kenton Allen revealed. “And the Monty Python films, just something joyously anachronistic and adventurous and different to anything else that's out there.” There’s also a Pirates of the Caribbean quality to the series. “It's difficult not to be influenced a little bit by that because I think it's such a huge franchise,” Noel Fielding shared. “Johnny Depp's so amazing in it that you're aware of it, even if you're not immediately influenced.”
The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin is undoubtedly British, and while the series goes out to a global audience through Apple TV+, that wasn’t something the creative team necessarily focused on. “There are certain things that just work in comedy for a global audience,” Noel Fielding explained. “We did cut out any references that we thought were too English probably, apart from Dick Turpin himself, who no American's ever heard of. So, it didn’t start off very well. But I think in a weird way, because Americans don't really know who Dick Turpin is, it's a bit of a blank canvas as well. You get the gist of who he is quite quickly, and then it's not like you guys know the history of him. And it's not a drama, so it's not serious. I think we can take liberties with that.”
“We really wanted to show the world, and particularly the U.S., the enormous wealth of British comedy actors,” concluded Kenton Allen about many of the casting choices. “We have an insanely good arrange of cast, from Hugh Bonneville and Tamsin Greig, you might know from Episodes, Greg Davis, who is a huge British star, Ellie White, who's like the next Kristen Wiig out of the UK, Asim Chaudhry, who is an incredibly funny guy… When you come to the show, you're going to love all the other actors and all the guest actors… Connor Swindells, who's in Barbie, plays Tommy Silversides in episodes five and six. And, hopefully, you don’t just get this guy and fall in love with him, but you'll fall in love with the ensemble and all the amazing guest stars that come on. Hugh Bonneville, very different to his Downton Abbey role, showing us what a brilliant comic baddie he is.”
Sample the best of British comedy with The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin on Apple TV+. The first two episodes are now streaming, with new episodes every Friday.