Rumpole's Return

Rumpole's Return was a one-off Christmas special broadcast in December 1980, between seasons two and three of Rumpole of the Bailey. At a little over twice the length of a regular episode, it has room for several subplots and even - a rarity for Rumpole - an action sequence.

Rumpole begins the special unhappily retired and living with his family in the USA, but he soon finds an excuse to Return to his chambers to get involved with the main plot - a seemingly unwinnable murder. New barrister Ken Cracknell has taken Rumpole's place in his old chambers and thinks the way to be rid of Rumpole for good is for him to take on and lose this defence brief.

The murder itself involves a religious cult based in the USA, with a certain resemblance to Scientology - I have to assume this was a topical reference, with Scientology being in the news around the time this was made thanks to the 1978 court case United States v Hubbard. What with Rumpole being back in the UK, he enlists the help of his son Nick to investigate the American headquarters of the Not Scientologists, resulting in a scene where Nick has to escape from their compound. The recasting of Nick from his original actor David Yelland to the more overtly athletic Ian Gelder makes a bit more sense with this scene in mind, though it is equally possible that Yelland was simply unavailable at the time.

A subplot about Rumpole defending a "dirty books" case on behalf of guest actor Alan Lake (Chel in Aftermath, which was made the same year as this) seems to further undermine his confidence when he loses the case, and this takes yet another knock when the murder trial begins and Rumpole sees the judge presiding is none other than his old nemesis, Judge Bullingham. This is probably the Mad Bull's most antagonistic and most memorable appearance in the series - not a coincidence that the two go together.

Placed here after only the first two seasons, when Rumpole was still occasionally seen to lose important cases, it's just about credible that his pulling off a magnificent win under such circumstances might still be a surprise to audiences, but had it come any later in the series then it wouldn't have been - the appeal of Rumpole is now becoming not if he will win his case, but how will he? It's difficult to pinpoint exactly when the transition is made, but Rumpole's Return is as good a point as any other.

In spite of the name promising us further adventures of Horace Rumpole, it would be almost three years before Rumpole would Return again.

Big Gay Longcat reviews The Avengers: A Touch of Brimstone

This 1966 episode of The Avengers (the proper Avengers, that is, not Captain America and his friends) is considered a classic of the series for good reason - it is especially memorable for one reason, and that reason is a naughty one at that!

Alongside Patrick Macnee as John Steed and Diana Rigg as Mrs Emma Peel, the baddy-of-the-week is played by Jason King himself, Peter Wyngarde, in the first of his two appearances in The Avengers. Purr.

Steed had better look out, or he might not be the most handsome manny in his own show any more. But then Wyngarde should know, if anyone does, that if you come at the King, you best not miss.

It starts with us watching Peter Wyngarde watching television. He is enjoying some expensive luxury noms as the programme he's watching shows a cigar exploding in the face of a Russian manny, and he seems amused by it. Wyngarde does, I mean, not the Russian manny. This prototype version of Game For A Laugh still needs some fine tuning if you ask me. We don't know who Wyngarde is playing yet, or what he wants, which establishes an air of mystery to draw in and intrigue viewers early on. As if the mere presence of Wyngarde isn't enough to do that already!

Steed tells Mrs Peel there have been other pranks played on diplomats and politicians recently, so now they are on the case. Steed already suspects a manny called "the Honorable John Cleverly Cartney," presumably on the grounds that if he is played by Peter Wyngarde he must be the baddy, so he sends Mrs Peel to investigate him.

"I've come here to appeal to you, Mr Cartney."

"You certainly do that."

Smoove. He invites her to come with him to Paris, like he is already playing Jason King. Mrs Peel is just leaving when Lord Darcy enters. With it being another 30 years before Colin Firth would become synonymous with that name, there's a different Colin playing him - Colin "Inspector Lestrade" Jeavons. Once Mrs Peel has left, Carney and Darcy discuss another prank they are planning.

Mrs Peel describes Cartney to Steed as "handsome, and dynamic, very compelling, quite fascinating." That describes Peter Wyngarde alright. Purr. (Although it also describes me. Maybe Mrs Peel has met me?) They dash off to where the next clue has led them but, because Brian Clemens wrote this episode, they are too late and a manny has been killed just before they get there.

"Well it's no joke anymore."

says Steed.

Cartney is busy having kiffs with Sara Bradley, who is played by Carol Cleveland, later to become much more famous from her appearances in Monty Python's Flying Circus. Naughty Cartney! He's too busy to meet with Darcy, but then a little later on he isn't too busy to meet Mrs Peel. Very naughty Cartney!

It is therefore Steed who meets with Darcy, and gets him drunk enough to tell him the plot. Darcy had to help with Cartney's prank because of the rules of their club, called "the Hellfire club," but he didn't mean to kill anybody so now he feels guilty about it.

A soon as Steed finds out about the club we cut to it, where lots of mannys are having noms and kiffs and getting up to who knows what naughtiness just out of shot, doubtless all too naughty to show on TV. Who knows, maybe even some manly handshakes? Scandalous! Cartney, Sara and Mrs Peel come in and Cartney joins in the fun, while Mrs Peel looks on unimpressed.

Darcy bursts in and demands to speak to Cartney, who responds by giving him a patented Wyngarde stare. Then he agrees to have a meeting with Darcy, but only after him and his henchmannys have had time to put on their scary masks and hoods.

This is all just an excuse to get Darcy to stand in a spot where they can drop him down a trapdoor. Frequent Health & Safety violations are another way in which the club behaves naughtily.

Mrs Peel introduces Steed to Cartney and gets him an invitation to the next meeting of the naughty Hellfire club. One of the henchmannys tells Steed

"We believe in the power of evil, Mr Steed. We believe in the ultimate sins. Have you ever committed an ultimate sin, Mr Steed?"

They give Steed a couple of tests before he is allowed to join their club. The first one is to drink a big cup of what we may infer (it is not stated, presumably so as not to be a bad influence on the viewers at home) is incredibly strong alcohol. Steed enjoys this so much he asks for more - this is Steed we're talking about, after all.

The second test is to blow a pea out of the way of a henchmanny with an axe. Steed also manages this one easily, much to the surprise of the baddys. I wouldn't have managed it, but then I'm a cat made from socks. The henchmannys are all impressed by Steed, except for Cartney who is annoyed at Steed stealing the scene.

Steed pretends to leave, but really stays behind to secretly listen to their plotting, and so finds out that their big "coup" is to take place the next night.

The next night, Steed and Mrs Peel get dressed up to go back to the club. The henchmannys get up to their naughtiness again, but Cartney is missing so Mrs Peel goes to look for him and to find out what they need a load of fireworks for. She sees that the fireworks are really "T.N.T. High Explosives." Cartney appears and gets his "ladies-in-waiting" to take Mrs Peel away for a costume change.

Sara tells Steed that Cartney's plan is to "topple the government and then take over" by using tunnels under the house that lead all the way to Chequers "Culverston House" where "there's a cabinet meeting there tonight."

"Not for long. One big bang and they'll all be gone..."

As poorly thought out as this plan appears to be (Step 1: Blow up the government. Step 2: Take over the government), Steed rushes off to try to foil it. He doesn't get far before Cartney returns and announces

"I give you the queen of sin - Mrs Peel."

Mrs Peel is dressed very differently from before, and even has a snake! I think there's some naughty subtext on display here, but I can't quite see it for all the naughty text in the way.

Steed is so surprised that he forgets he's supposed to be saving the government and stays around to enjoy the next scene. He gets in a swordfight with a henchmanny called "Willy" (lol) who is supposed to be the best in the club at fighting, while Cartney goes after Mrs Peel with a whip - for a different sort of fight, I suppose, mew.

The swordfight is a properly dramatic scene, with lots of moves that wouldn't be out of place in a classic historical swashbuckling film. Mrs Peel gets in a fight with a henchmanny that is more in the usual tongue-in-cheek tradition of The Avengers, with her mimicking his moves after she has handled him easily (I mean beaten him. I mean defeated him), but then Cartney arrives for a more serious fight using his whip.

This being the room with the trapdoor in it, he is eventually hoist with his own petard when he whips the lever to open the trapdoor, just as he happens to be standing on it. I guess it just goes to show... if you come at the queen of sin, you'd best not miss then either. Mew.

Well with that, it's all over bar the unfunny pre-end-credits skit - which for this episode is particularly unfunny even by the standards of this show, barely even qualifying as a skit. We don't need to stay to see the rest of the henchmannys defeated - with Wyngarde out of the picture, everyone involved and viewers at home alike have all rapidly lost interest in continuing with proceedings. And who can blame them?

Rumpole of the Bailey, Season Two (1979)

If the first season of Rumpole of the Bailey, having fully established the lead and his family, only began to develop the supporting cast, the second season goes a long way towards finishing the task. Peter "A" Bowles, Julian Curry and Patricia Hodge each appear in five of the six episodes as Rumpole's fellow barristers Guthrie Featherstone QC MP, Claude Erskine-Brown and Phyllida Trant respectively.

This core cast of comic foils helps fully establish the series staple format where the events of the main plot, Rumpole's case-of-the-week, is mirrored by an out-of-court sub-plot involving the supporting characters. An example of this can be seen in Rumpole and the Course of True Love, where the sordid story of a teacher accused of sleeping with one of his pupils is contrasted with Erskine-Brown getting Miss Trant pregnant, and the episode ends with them marrying.

Changing attitudes since this was made in the late 1970s can be seen in the way the teacher, played by Nigel Havers, is treated far more sympathetically by the script than one would expect him to be in an equivalent drama made today, with the programme going out of its way to demonstrate that he was seduced by the girl, conniving with her boyfriend (also a school pupil) to get their hated teacher into trouble.

Also appearing in that episode were John "Sir Arnold" Nettleton and Peter "Sir Frank" Cellier, both familar to me from Yes Prime Minister.

Other guest appearances of note in season two include Derek Farr and Tony Caunter, who played the Ensors senior and junior respectively in the first season of Blakes 7, only a year before going on to be in this.

On the bench, Judge Bullingham (Bill Fraser) makes his second appearance, but the main adversary for Rumpole this season is found in the form of Judge Vosper (Donald "Krasis" Eccles) in three episodes, though he does not return again after season two.

It's difficult to pick a single standout episode from this set of six because the standard is so high for all of them. The fourth episode, Rumpole and the Fascist Beast, sees Rumpole defending a parliamentary candidate for an (unnamed) far-right party who stands accused of inciting racial hatred. When Rumpole gets him off by making the jury see him as a joke, a dreamer, and a relic of the bygone age of the British Empire, he commits suicide - another example of something that is becoming a familiar format point of Rumpole, where the defendant would rather have been found guilty than not guilty.

Roger Sloman is in this playing one of the fascists. He was also a fascist in a 1976 episode of Crown Court that I happened to watch recently, which is either a coincidence or else an unlucky bit of typecasting. Does he perhaps look, or sound, like a typical 1970s neo-nazi?

We get a format-breaker for the third episode, Rumpole and the Show Folk, where Rumpole is the only regular character to feature since the story is set outside of London, away from Rumpole's chambers and the Old Bailey. The absence of Featherstone, Erskine-Brown, etc. (not to mention Hilda Rumpole!) is filled by several guest characters - Eleanor "exquisite" Bron is an actress accused of murdering her actor husband, John Wells a fabulously camp theatre manager (who almost manages the impossible task of stealing the show from McKern), and Bernard "Marcus Scarman" Archard as a local barrister.

Probably the most dramatically powerful moment of the season comes here when, after having concluded his case for the defence and while he and his client are waiting for the jury to reach their verdict, Rumpole realises that his client is probably guilty after all; that the actress gave a performance that even fooled Rumpole.

There is also a cat in this episode, so of course it was great!

The last episode, Rumpole and the Age for Retirement, teases the audience with the possibility that Rumpole will retire for good, bringing the series to a permanent end. This sets the precedent for future season finales to fake out the viewers with the prospect of similar final ends (season four's Rumpole's Last Case being the most obvious of these). Rumpole's family, friends and colleagues from his chambers, and even Judge Vosper, all conspire to present Rumpole with retirement as a fait accompli, with him and Hilda set to move to America to live with their son Nick. I can't see it lasting, and not just because the next episode is called Rumpole's Return...

A change does come to the series when one of the chambers regulars, Rumpole's friend George Frobisher (Moray Watson), leaves to become a judge. Having been in eight episodes across the first two seasons, we will see him again only a couple of times more. This shakes up the status quo, permanently, and is a hint of things to come.