It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

I must admit that I like this show of very sentimental reasons. I was only five and loved this show really much. For a month ago i bought the DVD containing series 1. I forgot that the episodes lasted 25 minutes. Seeing it again tells how good the production value is of this series. It is really fast paced and contains a lot of humor. Qua ambiance you can compare this with the "Sharpe" series). OK, you have to love period drama's and you have to like swashbuckling adventures! If you are in to that stuff,than you will enjoy this series. This show is far better than most shows they make now. Go rent if possible or buy it. You won't regret it.

Why are users giving this wonderful piece of TV a bum rap ?First of all the casting of Richard O'Sullivan was inspired, an actor known solely for one comic role spun over nearly a decade made the character his own. This was ripping boys own stuff. Top entertainment with characterisation as good as you could expect from Richard Carpenter, a man with a track record of success.Each story is well contained within a 25 minute timeframe. I have recently purchased the DVD of series 1 and having watched them all at the rate of 1 a week would recommend them to anyone with an interest in light drama.

Okay, so the other comment about this show may be partially right: this is pretty bad; but it sure doesn't represent the best of British tv in the 70s. Perhaps the writer was confusing it with some of his own, homegrown tv: like the Dukes of Hazzard, which was foisted on UK audiences at about the same time as this was airing.Turpin had its moments - oh and it was nothing to do with Napoleon or the 1800s, either (hence the reason you didn't see any Frenchmen...); it was set nearly a century earlier and Turpin was returning home from the War of the Spanish Succession - same enemy, of course, but then, some things don't change. I believe the series was replaced in the schedules (in the UK) by Robin of Sherwood - that's the one without the American accent.

So simple. Napoleon's blockade in the early 1800s. British smuggler swashbuckling in Normandy and Kent. English officers are the baddies (I don't remember seeing any French baddies).All episodes are the same: escape from the British police, save the idiotic young sidekick, get the girl aka barmaid, kick the captain's butt, the captain is humiliated by the commander, kick the captain and the commander's butts. end.So... what was so great ? ha ha ha the music of course ! The theme is completely amazing. It's been 20 years and the only reason why I remember this crappiest of all piece of ol'rubbish British TV from the late seventies is the music.The French counterpart of this series is called Schulmeister, l'espion de l'Empereur, and it takes place during the same period of history with a former smuggler from Alsace, a fat version of Asterix, turned into an Imperial Commissioner (wow) and enforcing Napoleon's way all over Europe. Much more fun. Jacques Fabri is Schulmeister and Roger Carel is Hamel the sidekick.But the music sucked. Big time.