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The criminal highwayman Dick Turpin has become a romantic figure over the years but now the man behind the myth is exposed. The 18th-century robber has enjoyed an idealised reputation as a gentleman and a swashbuckling hero who stole from the rich and was as devoted to the ladies as he was his horse Black Bess. But the truth appears to be something much more sinister. This documentary special sheds new light on the thief and suggests that he was a brutal, thuggish criminal who was anything but gallant.