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Dick Turpin
Armada, London, 1979
dedication: To Poll Maggot
The blurb on the back:
Your money or your life!
Richard O'Sullivan was always intended for comedy and, after a series of cheeky kiddie roles and a dalliance with the Doctor series, he really hit his strides in the 1970s with TV sitcom Man About The House and its second spin-off, Robin's Nest (the first, of course, was George and Mildred). And then there seems to have been a certain career confusion. Ideally he should have either gone completely against type in a Robert Lindsay doing GBH kind of way, or else done a Richard Briers and found another comedy vehicle, refining his style further. Instead he took on this kids' drama series, which was certainly lightweight but wasn't played for laughs, leaving us all a bit lost about how to respond to O'Sullivan's undoubted screen charisma. He was still roguish, still lovable, but no longer self-deprecating - in fact, he seemed to be cast as a kind of 18th century Robin Hood, a folk hero in permanent rebellion against the forces of corrupt tyranny and legalised oppression. Despite its curious status, the show was a success, running for more than 30 episodes over four series, and - once you shook off the image of Robin Tripp in knee-breeches - O'Sullivan was well up to the role, looking like a more sensitive Oliver Tobias. And the programme, written by Catweazle creator Richard Carpenter, was a decent piece of work. As indeed is this novel - a perfectly fine bit of historical children's drama of the kind that Leon Garfield might have knocked out when times were quiet. Enormous liberties are taken with history, but Mr Carpenter points out in the Introduction that he's more interested in the legend than the truth, so you can't really complain, and nor would you wish to. There was apparently a second volume, Turpin and Swiftnick, but I don't have a copy to share with you, I'm afraid.  Richard O'Sullivan engaged in thoroughly convincing fisticuffs ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 3/5 HIPNESS QUOTIENT: 2/5 from the maker of...
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