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For The Love Of StoriesBig Finish produce fantastic full-cast audio dramas for CD and download.

Turpin: Volume 01: Essex Pistols
Big Finish Originals

1A. Turpin: Volume 01: Essex Pistols

Available July 2026

Written by Darren Rapier Mat Braddy

 
This release contains adult material and may not be suitable for younger listeners.

From US $22.56

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Impatient butcher Richard Turpin wants his share of the emerging wealth of the new United Kingdom. After poaching for easy profits, he finds himself on the run and falls in with the vicious Gregory Gang. As his comrades are sent to the gallows, Turpin evades the hangman and becomes the country’s most wanted man.

1. Never Mind the Bullock
Essex, 1730. Richard Turpin is twenty years old, newly married, and already looking for shortcuts. His story begins not with a highway robbery, but with a stolen horse and a wife left to answer for it.

2. Lucky Bleeder
Turpin runs. Betty doesn't. As Mason, the relentless Keeper of Epping Forest, closes in on the butcher's shop, Turpin finds himself deep in the forest with a gang of outlaws and a choice to make: go back for his wife, or stay ahead of the rope.

3. Anarchy in the Merry Kingdom
The Gregory Gang sharpens its tactics. Forget livestock. The real money is in the houses of the wealthy, and Turpin has the nerve to kick the doors in. But Mason is watching every road out of Essex, and the gang is about to learn what happens when the militia catches up.

4. Chit Faced
Two weeks of chaos. The gang is on a relentless spree, Smith is closing in on Betty, and someone inside the crew is being squeezed to talk. The episode ends at Hainault Lodge, Mason's own house, in the middle of the night, with the gang and the law finally face to face.

5. Rat Trap
Turpin breaks orders and heads back to town. A bad idea. Morris is turning the screws on Wheeler. Betty barely escapes with the baby. And a high-stakes heist at the Shelly household ends in violence that changes everything. The forest is the only place left to run.

Recorded on: 8-12 December 2025
Recorded at: The Soundhouse

 

Producer Lizzie Worsdell said: "Working on Turpin over the last two years has been so much fun. This is a story about someone everyone thinks they know but really don't. It's a bold, unexpected re-telling of Dick Turpin unlike anything you’ve heard before.

"The recording was a joy and the performances are some of the strongest I've seen at Big Finish. The range across the cast is phenomenal. Dónal Finn, who’s brand new to Big Finish, gives an incredible lead performance, and his chemistry with Jemima Rooper is a joy to hear. I've loved every minute of working with Ken, Mat and Darren, it's been a blast, and I can't wait for Big Finish listeners to dive into this original story.”

Writer and director Darren Rapier added: "Ever since discovering the real-life story of Richard Turpin, of which there are many factual accounts and reports of the time, I've been keen on telling this story - rather than the dashing highwayman cliché. When I discovered Mat was keen on doing the same, we started talking about creating something together.

"The true story has more in common with the Kray twins than Robin Hood, and this is something we were eager to get across. Audio has allowed us to tell this epic tale in a fast and chaotic fashion. We like to describe it as a period action drama."

And, executive producer and writer-director Mat Braddy said: "Working with this cast has been an absolute joy. Dónal Finn and Jemima Rooper are extraordinary together, and Greg Wise brings such elegance and danger - everyone involved has helped make these characters feel utterly alive. One of the great freedoms of audio is that you don’t have to worry about a visual budget; you can let the imagination soar, and the performances do all the work.

"What constantly amazed us was the history itself. The real Richard Turpin story is darker, stranger and more fascinating than the myth, and it's astonishing it hasn't been told properly before. I'm from Essex and I live in the very places where this happened, so telling a story set on my own home patch has been a huge thrill. I can’t wait for people to hear it."

  • Product Format: 0-digital download
  • Duration: 150 minutes
  • Physical Retail ISBN: n/a
  • Digital Retail ISBN: 978-1-80240-895-9
  • Production Code: BFPTURP01
Previous release in this range: Transference Chapter 1 (excerpt)
Next release in this range: Turpin: Volume 02: Damned and Delivered
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