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: the Complete Series Megaset [Dvd to cart. $10.32, good condition, Sold by Goodwill Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hillsboro, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2006.
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Seller's Description:
Good. May have very light or no surface scratches. Case and cover artwork are included but may show minimal signs of wear. If applicable: Digital copy or ultraviolet codes may be expired or not included. Slipcover may not be included.
Add this copy of Rumpole of the Bailey: the Complete Series Megaset to cart. $26.13, very good condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2006.
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Very Good. Very Good condition. dvd. 14 disc set. Case Like New. Slipcase Like New. Discs 12 and 14 slightly scratched. Quality guaranteed! In original artwork/packaging unless otherwise noted.
Add this copy of Rumpole of the Bailey: The Complete Series Megaset [14 to cart. $38.95, very good condition, Sold by Victoria's Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Penn Valley, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by A&E Home Video.
Add this copy of Rumpole of the Bailey: the Complete Series Megaset to cart. $85.99, like new condition, Sold by TerBooks rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Daphne, AL, UNITED STATES, published 2006 by A&E Home Video.
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.