Life for travellers in the 18th century was a perilous one - you never knew when your coach would be held up by some dastardly highwayman, lying in wait to tell you a bad joke or two.....
In this adventure, Sid James plays Dick Turpin, our anti-hero. Disguised during the day as the mild-mannered Reverend Flasher, he dons his highwayman garb at night, and manages to run rings around King George's Bow Street Runners, most notably Captain Fancy (Kenneth Williams), Sergeant Jock Strapp (Jack Douglas), and Kenneth Connor as the lowly but stupid constable.
Helping Turpin (or 'Big Dick', as he is of course known) is Barbara Windsor as Harriet, his young housemaid and sidekick, and Peter Butterworth as Tom.
The head of the Runners, Sir Roger Daley (Bernard Bresslaw) insists on an arrest - especially after he and his wife are held up, and are forced to arrive at their destination stripped naked!
The unfortunate Captain Fancy tries to find Turpin, but in enlisting Reverend Flasher's help, he kind of doesn't give himself much of a chance!
Talbot Rothwell's script is pretty standard Carry On fare, with innuendo and slapstick the humour of choice whenever it is called for. The stars give their all, most notably Hattie Jacques as Martha, Reverend Flasher's housekeeper (who is never quite certain whether the Reverend is as holy as he makes out), and Joan Sims as Madame Desiree, the leader of a troupe of dancers known as Les Oiseaux Des Paradis (humourously mispronounced several times too often during the film....)
Overall, it's a pretty funny film, but sadly it never quite hits the heights of some of the earlier efforts.
British director responsible for every film in the Carry On series. Started as an assistant editor before debuting with the childrens' film Circus Friends. Thriller Timelock followed, but the success of 1958’s bawdy Carry On Sergeant launched one of the most successful series in British cinema. Thomas directed 30 Carry On films up until 1978’s Carry On Emmannuelle, returning in 1992 to deliver his final film, Carry On Columbus. Other films include the Carry On-esque Nurse on Wheels and The Big Job, plus the big screen version of Bless this House.
