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Rumpole Of The BaileyRumpole of the Bailey is a television series created and written by British writer John Mortimer, QC and starring Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an ageing London barrister who defends any and all clients. It has been spun off into a series of short stories (and one novel, adapting a Rumpole telemovie), and two radio series. Rumpole loves the courtroom. Despite attempts by his friends and family to get him to move on to a more respectable position for his age, he only enjoys the simple pleasure of defending his clients at The Old Bailey, London's criminal court. He often quotes Wordsworth and secretly calls his wife Hilda "She Who Must Be Obeyed", a reference to the novel She by H. Rider Haggard. The stories combine Rumpole's humour with mystery and drama. Rumpole's first television appearance was on December 3 1975 in a BBC One Play for Today with Leo McKern in the title role. The BBC was not interested in developing the play into a series, but in 1978 it transferred to ITV as an hour-long Thames Television production with McKern returning to the role and Peggy Thorpe-Bates as Hilda. Hilda was later played by Marion Mathes. Other regular cast members included : - Patricia Hodge as Phillida Erskine-Brown, "the Portia of our Chambers";
- Peter Bowles as Guthrie Featherstone, the former Head of Chambers who later becomes a Judge, with usually hilarious results;
- Julian Curry as Claude Erskine-Brown, Phillida's husband, "opera buff and hopeless cross-examiner",
- Peter Blythe as Samuel Ballard, Head of Chambers in later series, whom Rumpole referred to as "Soapy Sam" and addressed as "Bollard".
- and Richard Murdoch as Uncle Tom, "the oldest member of chambers, who has not had a brief as long as any of us can remember".
Each season (seven in all, plus a television movie) was accompanied by a book adaptation, also written by John Mortimer. Although the television series ended on December 3 1992, exactly 17 years after the broadcast of the pilot episode, the books have continued, now containing original stories. The pilot episode and the first two television series' were adapted for BBC Radio 4 in 1980. starred Maurice Denham as Rumpole and Margot Boyd as Hilda. As Leo McKern and Maurice Denham died one day apart in 2002, McKern on July 23 and Denham on July 24, the role of Rumpole went to Timothy West when four new 45-minute plays were broadcast by BBC Radio 4 in the autumn of 2003. Rumpole and the Primrose Path also starred Prunella Scales as Hilda. External links - Horace Rumpole at The Thrilling Detective Website (includes comprehensive list of television episodes and books)
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