What on Earth is going on with Noel Fielding and ‘The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin’?

The Noel Fielding-starring highwayman comedy The Completely Made-Up Adventures Of Dick Turpin dropped on Apple TV+ last year and it was a fun watch. It didn’t set the world on fire but provided a good showcase of Fielding’s comedic talents. Now, however, it’s been canceled under bizarre circumstances. Fielding, who also served as co-writer and executive producer, has gone AWOL.

British tabloid newspaper The Sun had all the details first. When the cast and crew returned to work after a Christmas break, they were reportedly told the show was on hold due to “the illness of a key cast member.” That’s Fielding, but no one seems to know what’s happened, what the illness is, and why he isn’t returning to work. The Sun claims he has gone to France, but no reason for this has been given.

A show insider spoke to The Sun and said that the crew working on the show had been left high and dry. “Naturally, the rumor mill is in overtime as to what has happened with Noel, but it must have been very serious to axe the whole show,” they said. “In most circumstances, execs will at least consider pausing filming, but for some reason, they decided to throw in the towel before the situation got any worse.”

Yesterday, The Sun reported that the situation was so dire that crew members were planning to sue Fielding. “Axing a show halfway through production is virtually unheard of—plus there’s a mystery over just what has happened,” an insider said. “It’s left bosses of other shows he is on feeling extremely nervous.” Those other Fielding shows are the wildly popular The Great British Bake Off (or The Great British Baking Show, for all you Americans reading this), which Fielding co-presents, and the panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

According to Deadline’s report on the matter, Dick Turpin was very nearly finished when the plug got pulled. It was 75% done, and some other big British stars were set to appear, including Miranda Richardson, Dawn French, and Jason Isaacs. It’s a real shame we won’t see what they would’ve brought to the show.

It’s worth pointing out that Fielding has previously talked about suffering from alcoholic hepatitis, which affects the liver and can be a very serious condition. So he has had health problems in the past—but of course, there’s no way of knowing what he’s suffering from right now, as he’s simply not commenting on the situation. All anyone can do now is wait and see how the story develops. Hopefully, he will recover.