Novelist John Mortimer drew deeply from his memories as the son of a divorce lawyer and his own four-decade career as Queen's Council to create the delightful British legal drama series, Rumpole of the Bailey. Leo McKern starred as Horace Rumpole, a disheveled, irreverent barrister working out of Number 3, Equity Court in London's Old Bailey. An unreconstructed liberal and tireless champion of the underdog, Rumpole specialized in hot-potato cases that most other lawyers wouldn't touch, numbering among his clients several ...
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Novelist John Mortimer drew deeply from his memories as the son of a divorce lawyer and his own four-decade career as Queen's Council to create the delightful British legal drama series, Rumpole of the Bailey. Leo McKern starred as Horace Rumpole, a disheveled, irreverent barrister working out of Number 3, Equity Court in London's Old Bailey. An unreconstructed liberal and tireless champion of the underdog, Rumpole specialized in hot-potato cases that most other lawyers wouldn't touch, numbering among his clients several two-bit criminals, political radicals, pornographers and other such controversial characters. Once in the courtroom, the highly theatrical Rumpole bowed to no one, confronting and confounding the prosecution and the judges with his iconoclastic approach to jurisprudence and his long-winded quotations from "The Oxford Book of English Verse." The principal enemy in Rumpole's life was terminal pomposity on the part of his colleagues--or, as he preferred to call it, "judge-itis." In the privacy of his home, Rumpole enjoyed good food and at least one bottle of red wine per day. What he did not enjoy was the incessant badgering of his wife Hilda (played first by Peggy Bates-Thorpe, then by Marion Mathie), otherwise known as "She Who Must Be Obeyed." The daughter of a celebrated Head of Chambers, Hilda demanded that Rumpole at least try to curry enough favor to follow in her father's footsteps, and was sore annoyed when the likes of dithery Guthrie Featherstone (Peter Bowles) and self-absorbed Samuel Ballard (Peter Blythe) were appointed Head of Chambers instead. Others in the case included Patricia Hodge as Rumpole's fellow barrister Phyllida Trant, a feisty feminist who for reasons that defied logic (at least so far as Rumpole was concerned) settled for a conventional marriage to her dull colleague Claude Erskine-Brown, played byJulian Curry; Moray Watson as George Frobisher, Rumpole's best friend; Rosalind Landor and Abigail McKern (the star's daughter), respectively cast as Rumpole's idealistic students Fiona Allways and Liz Probert; and a variety of grouchy, gimlet-eyed judges, including Justices Bullingham (Bill Fraser) and Graves (Robin Bailey). The weekly, hour-long Rumpole of the Bailey was launched over the BBC on December 3, 1975 as a one-shot presentation on the "Play for Today" drama anthology. The series proper ran from April 3 1978 to December 3, 1992 (save for a few lengthy hiatuses) on the rival ITV1 network. In America, Rumpole of the Bailey was added to the PBS anthology Mystery beginning February 12, 1980. Hal Erickson, Rovi
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Add this copy of Rumpole of the Bailey, Set 1-the Complete Seasons 1 & 2 to cart. $1.60, good condition, Sold by Books For Life rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Laurel, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2004.
Add this copy of Rumpole of the Bailey: Set 2-The Complete Seasons Three to cart. $2.99, like new condition, Sold by Something Special 8192 rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Acworth, GA, UNITED STATES, published 2004 by A&E Home Video.
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Seller's Description:
Fine in fine packaging. 4 discs. Language: English. Run time: 60 mins. Originally released: 1978. DVD in like new condition-comes with 4 discs-in original packaging.
Add this copy of Rumpole of the Bailey, Set 1-the Complete Seasons 1 & 2 to cart. $3.00, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Movies rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2004 by A&E Entertainment.
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Seretta Wilson, Martin Fisk, Tony Caunter, Jonathan Coy, Patricia Hodge, Julian Curry, Joanna Van Gyseghem, Peter Bowles,... Very good. 1980 Run time: 600. Providing great media since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Digital copy/codes may be expired or not included. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Rumpole of the Bailey, Set 2-the Complete Seasons 3 & 4 to cart. $3.00, good condition, Sold by Dream Books Co. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Denver, CO, UNITED STATES, published 2004.
Add this copy of Rumpole of the Bailey, Set 1-the Complete Seasons 1 & 2 to cart. $3.00, good condition, Sold by Bookmans rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Tucson, AZ, UNITED STATES, published 2004 by A&E Entertainment.
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Seller's Description:
Leo McKern, Peggy Thorpe-Bates, Peter Bowles, Joanna Van Gyseghem, Julian Curry. Good. 1980 Run time: 600. Buy with confidence-Satisfaction Guaranteed! Satisfaction 100% guaranteed.
Add this copy of Rumpole of the Bailey, Set 3-the Complete Seasons 5, 6 to cart. $4.79, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Movies rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2005 by A&E Home Video.
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Seller's Description:
Leo McKern, Robin Bailey, James Grout, Peter Bowles, Marion Mathie, Jonathan Coy, Camille Coduri, Patricia Hodge, Julian... Very good. 2005 Run time: 900. Providing great media since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Digital copy/codes may be expired or not included. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Rumpole of the Bailey: Complete 1st and 2nd Seasons to cart. $4.99, good condition, Sold by St. Vinnie's Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Eugene, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2002.
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Good. DVD This item shows wear from consistent use but remains in good readable condition. It may have marks on or in it, and may show other signs of previous use or shelf wear. May have minor creases or signs of wear on dust jacket. Packed with care, shipped promptly.
Add this copy of Rumpole of the Bailey, Set 1-the Complete Seasons 1 & 2 to cart. $4.99, fair condition, Sold by Arroway Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Narberth, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by A&E Entertainment.
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Fair. Size: 7x5x1; Includes 4 DVDs (Disk 2 is cleaned with surface scratching, other disks are clean) and artwork in the 4 original plastic cases and slipcase.
Add this copy of Rumpole of the Bailey, Set 3-the Complete Seasons 5, 6 to cart. $5.00, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Movies rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2005 by A&E Home Video.
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Leo McKern, Marion Mathie, Robin Bailey, James Grout, Peter Bowles, Joanna Van Gyseghem, Julian Curry, Patricia Hodge, Peter... Very good. 2005 Run time: 900. Providing great media since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Digital copy/codes may be expired or not included. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of Rumpole of the Bailey: Complete 1st and 2nd Seasons to cart. $5.19, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Movies rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2002 by Hbo Home Video.
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Seller's Description:
Leo McKern, Peggy Thorpe-Bates, Albert Welling, Robin Halstead, Shelagh Stephenson, Carl Andrews, Patsy Smart, Gordon... Very good. 1980 Run time: 728. Providing great media since 1972. All used discs are inspected and guaranteed. Digital copy/codes may be expired or not included. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
this is very interesting. I enjoyed this very much.
Joann S
Feb 14, 2014
Rumpole Forever!
Rumpole of the Bailey hasn't been on my local PBS stations for ages; had almost forgotten about him. Then as I tried to come up with a joint Xmas gift for me and my husband, I must have been looking thru a catalog and this was the perfect solution. My husband was very pleasantly surprised. I believe these sets may have more episodes than we saw on TV many years ago so that's a nice bonus. As always with Alibris, the Dvds and their boxes are in excellent condition and came in a timely manner.