‘He’s a pacifist, he can’t ride a horse, he can’t fight...’
◆ Noel Fielding and Hugh Bonneville talk to Rachael Davis about surreal, history-inspired comedy The Completely Made-up Adventures Of Dick Turpin
We all know a little bit about the infamous outlaw Dick Turpin. Thief, poacher, highwayman – his exploits became the stuff of legend after his execution by hanging in 1739. But you’re encouraged to forget everything you’ve read in the history books for The Completely Made-up Adventures Of Dick Turpin, a wild and wacky new Apple TV+ series starring The Mighty Boosh and Great British Bake Off ’s Noel Fielding.
As the name suggests, this story is an absurdist, surreal and wonderfully ridiculous one, only somewhat based on Dick Turpin lore, following Dick as he embarks on a series of wild escapades when he’s made the reluctant leader of a band of outlaws.
A vegan and a pacifist, Fielding’s Turpin makes for an unlikely antihero, his success in highway robbing coming more from his flamboyant charm and excellent wardrobe than his stealth or cunning. He meets his match when he’s tasked with outwitting the corrupt lawman and Thief Taker General Jonathan Wilde, who will stop at nothing to bring Dick to justice.
“When [production company] Big Talk called me and said: ‘Do you want to play Dick Turpin?’ I immediately said yes,” says Fielding, 50. “And then I thought about him afterwards and thought, is it because of Adam Ant? Probably more than the actual character – I feel like Adam Ant took that character and turned him into a sort of fashion icon and a dandy – I love Adam Ant,” he adds, referring to the 1981 music video for Stand And Deliver.
“We had a bit of fun with the character... It all came from the fact that his dad was a butcher, and he hated working in the butchers. So we thought: ‘Great, he’s a vegan’. And he’s a pacifist. He can’t ride a horse, he can’t fight. He’s quite creative. How’s he going to lead this gang of rogues?
“And then it all came from there really, we thought the tension of him being in this criminal world but being quite a nice, easy-going, laid-back guy would work.”
Hot on Turpin’s heels throughout the series is hugh bonneville’ s Wilde, who in real life operated on both sides of the law, posing as a vigilante criminal-catcher while running his own empire of crime and using his role to get rid of his rivals.
“I think anyone who’s studying 18th-century history would be best to avoid this programme in terms of their research,” laughs Bonneville, 60, best known for starring in Downton Abbey. “I think the name Jonathan Wilde is about accurate; I think that is historically
accurate, but that’s about where it stops. And he was the Thief Taker General – he was in charge of, I believe, doing right by the king and making sure taxes were paid and baddies were locked up.
“Whether he himself in real life had childcare issues, I don’t know – the running gag is that [his son] Christopher has to come with him. Which makes me speculate on what’s happened to Mrs Wilde... I think she’s run off with her yoga teacher, but we never quite explored that hinterland! But the anachronisms of doing contemporary gags set against a historical backdrop is always good fun.
“So yes, everything from the veganism and the pacifism to Dick’s determination that we’re going to be buddies, like in a buddy movie, and I’m determined that we’re not – and of course then we end up being forced together, literally, for one episode – was just a lot of fun, playing on some of those themes that leap across the centuries.”
Fielding teases: “Being handcuffed together is such a great double act idea, It’s brilliant, they could be Laurel and Hardy. We tried to use classic double act sort of vehicles...”
The universality of the comedy in Dick Turpin is exemplified by the array of British comedic talent in the cast.
There’s Friday Night Dinner’s Tamsin Greig and Mark Heap; The Windsors’ and Stath Lets Flats’ Ellie White; stand-up and TV comic Joe Wilkinson; the Nativity! films’ Marc Wootton; Taskmaster’s Greg Davies; and People Just Do Nothing’s Asim Chaudhry, to name but a few.
“It’s a real tapestry of comedic talent to play against,” Bonneville says.
Fielding adds: “You sort of meet people along the way – I’d done Buzzcocks with Greg Davies, and I’ve always wanted to use him in some capacity, and then Mark Heap I met on Upstart Crow… I think he’s got the best timing of anyone I’ve ever met. He’s also absurd. He’s a very absurd man.
“There are certain comedians that would definitely fit into this world, like Asim Chaudhry and Joe Wilkinson. There are people that are already doing quite unusual comedy, and then it’s great to pull them all into this world. I think they had fun, and they get to wear brilliant outfits.”
Brilliant outfits tend to come with the territory whenever Fielding is involved, and Dick Turpin is no exception.
“I got a bit of a shock – I read in the script that we were gonna get in disguise at one point, but I hadn’t quite anticipated... a Spanish nun, bull-fighting nun turned up at one point. So the costume department had a good laugh,” says Bonneville.
“When we did a screening of it and I came out as the nun, there was a round of applause,” laughs Fielding. “I just thought: ‘This is what people expect from me at this point’. I made a rod for my own back! But the costumes were great: big leather thigh high boots and frilly shirts. It’s always fun to wear those kinds of things. You feel like you’re properly acting when you wear things like that!”
Anyone who’s studying 18th-century history would be best to avoid this programme in terms of their research
The Completely Made-up Adventures Of Dick Turpin lands on Apple TV+ with the first two episodes on Friday 1 March, followed by new episodes every Friday.