Dick Turpin

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Richard O'Sullivan as Dick Turpin terrorising the rich with his sidekick Swiftnick. As dashing highwaymen they win the hearts of many women and used to have me rushing in from playtime as a young girl!

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Michael Johnson

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Do You Remember Dick Turpin?

Roxxy on 2011-05-06 17:58:23

Loved it, it was a must for me from '78 to '80 when it was broadcast. The series was created by Richard 'Ghosts of Motley Hall' Carpenter, who cleverly set it in late 1739 & 1740, after the date that the real-life Dick Turpin was hanged. He thus did not have to worry about incorporating any real historical facts into the series. Michael Deeks played Swiftnick, with Christopher Benjamin as the odious squire Sir John Glutton and David Daker as his ex-amy mercenary Captain Spiker. The series opens when Dick is demobbed from the marines after serving in the Caribbean, to find that his parents have been evicted from their farm by the vile Squire Glutton and died of starvation. Dick vows revenge, becoming an outlaw with Sir John firmly at the top of his hit list. Alfie Bass played the kindly but two-faced itinerant peddlar Isaac Rag. Episodes featured apperances from Susan Hampshire, Donald Pleasance, Patrick Macnee and the irreplacable Wilfred Hyde-White. Richard O'Sullivan's Turpin was a far cry from the vicious, brutal murderer and rapist that the real historical man actually was. 'Swift Nicks' was a real 18th Century highwayman, although in actuality he & Turpin never met. Michael Deeks once came (uninvited) to a party of my sisters in '83- he was horrible! VERY arrogant and up himself. He and his rude horse-faced girlfriend swept in and sat at the far end of the room all evening long, speaking only to each other and helping themselves from the kitchen without asking. Fortunately, he has never attained the huge thespian glory that he no doubt considered to be his due.