Rumpole of the Bailey, Season One (1978)

In 1975 the Play for Today of Rumpole of the Bailey was made by the BBC and told a self-contained story about the character and his family. Three years later Rumpole returned, this time on ITV in a long-running series that saw seven seasons broadcast between 1978 and 1992.

Eventually this series settled down into a somewhat cosy formula, but there is as yet little evidence of this final form in the first season, which is only the first part of a bridge from the original Play for Today 'pilot' episode to the familiar Rumpole of the later years.

Unlike all the subsequent seasons, which would be set near-contemporaneously with the years in which they were made, the first season is set over the course of 10 years from 1967 to 1977, as is made clear from on-screen captions seen shortly after the opening titles. While most characters seem to change little over the course of the decade, this is crucial for the development of the Rumpole's son Nick, who goes from a senior schoolboy in the first episode to a university graduate, engaged to be married, and about to embark on an academic career by episode three.

The third episode, Rumpole and the Honorable Member, is the standout story of the season, and one that is tough to imagine coming any later in the series' run. In it, Rumpole defends an MP accused of rape, which he does by (as was a standard practice for defence barristers at the time) attacking the character of the accuser. The cross-examination scene is the most brutal of the entire series, with Rumpole pulling no punches, and it makes for a difficult viewing since this is supposed to be 'our hero' doing this.

What makes it even worse is when it later comes out that the accused is guilty after all, meaning Rumpole had been attempting to discredit an innocent and honest person. He is left having to defend his actions to his future daughter-in-law (who was horrified at having witnessed the cross-examination in court) by arguing that the accused was entitled to be defended until he was proved guilty (that is what "innocent until proven guilty" means). This is true enough, but that doesn't make it any easier to watch.

The MP Rumpole was defending was played by Anton "Susan died a year ago, Number Six" Rodgers in a guest appearance. Speaking of The Prisoner, we are introduced in the first episode to Guthrie Featherstone QC MP, a recurring character played by Peter "A" Bowles. As a fellow barrister in Rumpole's "chambers," he is sometimes an ally and sometimes a rival to Rumpole. Appearing in four of the six episodes, he benefits from possibly the most character development of any of the supporting cast in chambers, potentially matched only by Claude Erskine-Brown (Julian Curry), also appearing in four episodes but not really heavily involved in the plots of any of them. Never mind, Erskine-Brown will get his chance in later seasons - aside from Rumpole himself, he is the barrister we will see the most of, across all seven seasons.

Other one-off guest appearances of note include Jane Asher as Rumpole's client in the second episode, Rumpole and the Alternative Society, appearing alongside one of her colleagues from The Stone Tape, Tom CHAAAAADBON, here playing a police detective. Also in that same episode is Peter "Count Grendel " Jeffrey as an old friend of Rumpole's.

While Rumpole of the Bailey would feature several memorable recurring judges throughout the length of the series (each with an adversarial attitude to Rumpole that often made them more of an opposition to him than the other barristers), the only one to be seen here in the first season is Judge Bullingham, "the Mad Bull." This head start, combined with the distinctive snarling characterisation from Bill Fraser, arguably makes him the most memorable of all the judges Rumpole would face over his career.

In the final episode of the season, Rumpole and the Heavy Brigade, Rumpole is set up to fail by two conniving brothers, played by Bruce "Pirate Captain" Purchase and Derek "Greg Sutton" Newark, who employ Rumpole to defend their third brother, who stands accused of a murder they themselves were responsible for. Trevor "Professor Litefoot" Baxter also appears as a solicitor whose loyalties are divided between the two villainous brothers who are paying him, and the accused brother with whom his sympathies lie.

The brothers' plot is foiled when Rumpole successfully defends the case, leading the police to look for the real killers. A triumphant Rumpole realises that he was only chosen for the case because of his eccentric mannerisms and disheveled outward appearance (which includes his old and battered hat that he wears in spite of derogatory comments from judges), and that without these his client might have been found guilty.

Far from covering up a hollow interior life, Rumpole's eccentricities conceal that he is a seeker after justice and a defender of those in need of him. This is a thematic reversal of the ending of the Play for Today, and sets Rumpole up for his new life as a continuing character and, eventually, a television institution.

Play for Today: Rumpole of the Bailey (1975)

The TV series Rumpole of the Bailey ran on ITV from 1978 to 1992, but it started out as this one-off Play for Today on the BBC. From the very first scene he appears in, Horace Rumpole is there and fully formed as a character, embodied by Leo McKern in the only role that could possibly overshadow his Number Two (in my mind, at least). This scene also features the first use of his catchphrase (one of many), referring to his wife Hilda as "She Who Must Be Obeyed."

With only an hour to tell a complete story, the only characters from the later TV series who appear here are the members of the Rumpole family. Both wife Hilda and son Nick are written quite differently, in service of the plot being told here, their characterisation later being softened considerably to make them suitable for an ongoing series. Hilda especially is very different, and it is impossible to imagine series-Hilda as a quiet alcoholic, sinking a bottle of gin in one night as her only way of escaping from her domestic situation.

This is because while the main plot is ostensibly a comic tale about the crime Rumpole is the defence barrister for, his struggle to get his client off in the face of the evidence against him, and his subsequent victory in court, the sub-plot is a tragic one as the Rumpoles' son Nick, now grown up, leaves for a job in America and so his parents face having an 'empty nest' and a hole in their lives. Rumpole can fill this gap with his job, but where does that leave Hilda?*

The tragic side would remain present in the TV series through its first two seasons, often as an undertone (before disappearing entirely by the end of the third), but never to such an extent as here. This is probably due to the larger cast of characters made possible in a long-running series, and one where many of the other characters, such as Rumpole's fellow barristers, would largely be comic foils for Rumpole to play off. We get close to this here when Vernon Dobtcheff makes an appearance as the prosecuting barrister opposing Rumpole in court, and he is shown to be no match for the experienced Rumpole's many tricks of the trade.

While Rumpole is the member of the family who comes closest to their final TV series form, there is a crucial difference in the character we see here, hidden by the fact he is played by McKern (both Hilda and Nick would be recast) in such a similar way to series-Rumpole. The Rumpole of the Play for Today could never have sustained a full series, because all his eccentricities and character tics are revealed to us here to be an act; a front that he puts on to enable him to get through the day and do his job. They are to him what the gin is to Hilda.

While there are some hints of this self-awareness in the series version (again, in the early seasons only), the eccentricities are mostly played for real, since, after all, the character is much more fun that way, and it suits the lighter tone of the more overtly comedic series. But what this means is that the character of Rumpole has already been deconstructed, before his TV series even began.

Predeconstructed, if you will.

* The TV series would solve this by retconning Hilda as having friends and an extended family (who didn't get on with Rumpole), as well as meddling in her husband's job due to her father having been a barrister. Essentially an entirely new backstory and characterisation.