When the Apple TV show The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin was announced, it marked Noel Fielding’s return to acting. In recent years, he had become best known as host of Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off and panellist on random comedy shows. Bar the odd guest role and voice work, he hadn’t properly stretched his acting muscles in years.

With Noel, 52, in the titular role, it became a huge hit after its launch in spring 2024, and a second series was commissioned. However, when it came to returning to the set after Christmas break, Noel failed to show up, and it was subsequently revealed he was suffering from health issues, which resulted in the entire series being axed. This left the entire cast and crew, including Downton Abbey’s Hugh Bonneville, out of work and appeared to come as a surprise to everyone involved. 

At the beginning of the year, a source told the Times: “Noel has said that he can’t film anymore and so there was no choice but to stop.” 

They said the decision was not “taken lightly” and would not have reached “this extreme result” if other possible efforts had not been “exhausted. People have been very concerned about Noel’s well-being and given him time to recover, but there are also significant repercussions,” they said.

At the time representative for Noel commented: “This is a private and confidential matter regarding our client’s health. We are saddened by the decision to cease production but we cannot make any further comment on this matter.”

Eight months later, Noel has yet to reveal what the health issue was and has rarely been seen in public following the announcement of the cancellation. However, he did return to screens for Celebrity Great British Bake Off in March this year and is back on August 20 for a new series of the civilian version of the show.

His return to screens is of little solace to fans of his take on Dick Turpin. Although the show was said to be close to completion at the time of its cancellation, it appears unlikely that fans will ever get to see it at this stage.

Noel did give some insight into his feelings for the show when he admitted he had a hairy moment on set and feared he would die. In one scene, his character Dick Turpin is due to be hanged, and the Mighty Boosh star confessed he had a “feeling” about it.

Despite knowing safety measures were in place, he admitted: “I had a rope around my neck and like a trapdoor system is going to drop and I was going to be hanged, and they assured me I was on a wire, but you know, the mental weirdness of that, the feeling.

“You’re just like, ‘Oh god, I hope this rope isn’t an inch too short… ‘ you’ve got your hands behind your back, you’ve got a rope around your neck, and the floor’s going to give. It’s quite scary. So now I know what it will be like to be hanged. But luckily, I was saved at the last minute.”