Using academic testimony, dramatic reconstruction and twenty-first century science, this programme shatters one of history’s greatest myths.

We tell the real story of Richard Turpin, dispelling the buccaneering, softhearted robber of legend with the equally action-packed story of a dedicated and ruthless 18th century career criminal. Turpin’s taste for the high-life eventually led him to the gallows, amid a confusion of shoot-outs, false identity, bizarre coincidence and family treachery.

For most of his criminal career Turpin operated not alone on the highways of England but was one thuggish element of the notorious Essex Gang.

We examine how the Turpin myth was created and use cutting edge equine science to expose one of history’s greatest escapes, that of Turpin’s 24-hour ride from London, along the spine of England on his loyal steed Black Bess, as pure fiction.  

Following his execution, Turpin’s dead body was buried but then exhumed and paraded through the streets of York before being buried again, along with Black Bess. However, there are inconsistencies. The forensic services unit of Glasgow University’s Archaeological Research Division help in the investigation of whether in death Turpin managed to evade the authorities one last time.

Turpin learned all he knew about highway robbery from a man who displayed all the bravado that he lacked, the genuinely charismatic and daring Tom King. The two men robbed together, yet in a Whitechapel shoot-out Turpin shot and killed his partner. Was this simply an accident?

In a dramatic climax we will reveal that whilst Turpin’s heroics may never have occurred, there is a near-forgotten highway robber who, fifty years before Turpin was plying his trade, actually did make the daring ride from London to York. He did this in order to escape the clutches of a law enforcement machine desperate to curb the menace of the highwaymen.