The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpinhas been a delightful ride through history, folklore, fantasy, and absurdity these last few weeks. The fifth and penultimate episode, “Tommy Silversides,” premieres today on Apple TV+, and we have a clip which you can watch above. We alsospoke with starNoel Fielding(The Mighty Boosh, The Great British Bake-Off) and producerKenton Allen(Six Shooter, Rev) about the series for a wide-ranging conversation.
Episode five ofthe great Apple TV+ showfinds the leadership of Dick Turpin threatened by a rival who may be even more charismatic and quirky than him. With long, flowing blond hair and a veritable suit of armor, Tommy Silversides and his polished gang ride into town and woo Turpin’s gang over, hoping to win them for himself.Silversides is played by Connor Swindells, who is hilarious here throughout his surprising character arc. Swindells is perhaps most famous for his role as Adam Groff in the hit show,Sex Education. He’s going to appear with Gillian Anderson, his co-star in that show, in April when the Prince Andrew controversy filmScooppremieres on Netflix.Swindells starred in the highest-grossing movie of 2023,Barbie, as well.
“Connor Swindells, that’s a great performance, that is,” reminisced Fielding when thinking of episode five. Swindells is just one of the many great guest stars onThe Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin, which features many of the biggest comedic stars in England. Fielding and Allen spoke with us about the many great guest stars in the show.
The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin Review: Pure Fun
Noel Fielding and Hugh Bonneville lead an absurdist comedy series about charming highway bandits set in the 18th century.
Noel Fielding on the ‘Many Brilliant Performers’ in Dick Turpin
The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin
Swindells is just one example ofDick Turpin’s bountiful cast of comedic actors (including Hugh Bonneville and Joe Wilkinson). In a way, Fielding plays the most grounded character, like a man out of time stepping into the chaos of old folkloric history. It’s a great balancing act.
“That’s what this show needed,” explained Fielding. “becausethere’s so many brilliant performers in it, so many comic actors in it — Tamsin Grieg, Asim Chaudhry, Mark Heap, Ellie White, and the list just goes on and on. It’s crazy, there are so many great actors, and they’re coming in and doing slightly more eccentric plays on those characters.” He elaborated:
“And I felt quite early on, me and Ben [Palmer, a director on the show] talked about Dick trying to anchor it all down and center everything, so he could be the audience’s point of view as well.He’s sort of relaxed, laid back, and charming, so that a lot of those more eccentric and wild characters could kind of oscillate around Dick, and it would make them work. I think if Dick was weird as well, it would kind of be a bit too farcical. So I tried to make him a little bit minimal and a little bit laid back, which sort of fits my style.”
Be sure to check out the fifth episode today. Produced by Apple TV+ and Big Talk Studios, part of ITV Studios,The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpinis created by Claire Downes, Ian Jarvis, and Stuart Lane, and written by Jon Brittain, Richard Naylor, Claire Downes, Ian Jarvis and Stuart Lane, with Noel Fielding. The series is executive produced by Kenton Allen, Noel Fielding, Victoria Grew and Ben Palmer. You can watch it below:
