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Rumpole of the Bailey

850 statements
168 feature instances
76 referencing feature instances

Rumpole of the Bailey	type	TVTItem
Rumpole of the Bailey	label	Rumpole of the Bailey
Rumpole of the Bailey	page	RumpoleOfTheBailey
Rumpole of the Bailey	comment	A Thames Television production for ITV series, intermittently from 1978 to 1992, following an episode of The BBC's Play for Today, focused on the professional and personal life of one Horace Rumpole, barrister at law (played by Leo McKern).Rumpole's unhealthy personal habits, disdain for societal expectation, and general sharp-tongued iconoclasm earn him few marks among his peers or family. Despite his successes, he is something of an embarrassment to his class-conscious chambers. At home, he has to endure the well-meaning haranguing of his wife, semi-affectionately referred to by Horace as "She Who Must Be Obeyed", a reference to the H. Rider Haggard novel She; one of Rumpole's simple vices is a love of English literature. Although ostensibly mysteries in many cases, the cases he undertakes are very unlike the standard Whodunnit, Agatha Christie murder mystery — in some cases, Rumpole's task is merely to prove how his client didn't commit the crime (more often assault, fraud or theft than out-and-out murder) rather than ferret out the true culprit (although he frequently does so anyway). And, like the Sherlock Holmes cycle, sometimes no crime has really been committed at all.Yet Rumpole is his own man, and holds dearly to those rules he considers inviolate. Despite the detriment to his career, he never prosecutes. His job is to secure a "not guilty", and this he does with extreme regularity, even if it means antagonizing judges, refusing to make deals, or uncovering more than his client would prefer revealed in court.The show often strikes a well-balanced, perceptive note between the often ridiculous emphasis to which society demands the appearance of moral behaviour, and how it differs from the common sense, deeply personal, and more authentic morality represented by Rumpole. His mildly amused contempt for the trappings of "polite society" only serve to highlight his profoundly ethical nature.The character is loosely based on the actual courtroom career of barrister Sir John Mortimer CBE QC, Rumpole's creator and author, who often took on controversial and "lost hope" causes (such as defending the Sex Pistols' use of the word "Bollocks" on the cover of their one and only album — he won by proving the word had been used in common and cherished literature as far back as Chaucer).John Mortimer adapted many of the show's episodes into book form, and after the show was cancelled continued to write and publish new Rumpole stories, which frequently featured plots Ripped from the Headlines, or as close to it as you can get for a book. Many Rumpole stories have also been adapted for BBC Radio.Compare and contrast Garrow's Law, which is much like Rumpole, but in Georgian London.
Rumpole of the Bailey	fetched	2023-10-06T11:45:41Z
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Rumpole of the Bailey	processingComment	Dropped link to GrandFinale: Not a Feature - ITEM
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_10dcbe05	type	Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_10dcbe05	comment	Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: They may fight and argue but in Rumpole's words "they'd rather have war together than a lonely peace". There are several indications that Hilda is secretly proud of her husband, despite her loud disappointment that's he not a judge or a QC, although she'd never say so to her face. Lampshaded in "Rumpole and the Married Woman", where Rumpole notes that the couple in his divorce case stayed together because "they didn't want to be alone."
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_1282bf4f	type	No Celebrities Were Harmed
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_1282bf4f	comment	No Celebrities Were Harmed: The "Ostlers" of the (fictional) town of Gunster in "Rumpole and the Right to Silence" bear a (lampshaded) resemblance to the Freemasons. "Justitia" in "Rumpole and the Golden Thread" is a clear Expy for Amnesty International... And a semi-autobiographical reference to one Mortimer's own cases.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_129749df	type	All Men Are Perverts
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_129749df	comment	Liz Probert, daughter of "Red Ron" Probert, a left-wing Labour leader of a North London borough council; she takes after her father. As for why Hearthstoke was talking to Probert about change in the chambers, he argued that the fact they were both young would make them both favor modernisation. However, it's pretty clear that he just wants to get into her pants (or is it her robes when discussing barristers?).
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_13556074	type	Brotherhood of Funny Hats
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_13556074	comment	Brotherhood of Funny Hats: In "Rumpole and the Right to Silence", he finds that the city of Gunster is dominated by the Ancient Order of Ostlers (described as "like the Freemasons, only more so"), who have a secret grip and swear by "the Great Blacksmith and Forger of the Universe."
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_1434e55c	type	Amazingly Embarrassing Parents
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_1434e55c	comment	Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: In the Play for Today episode, Rumpole slowly realizes that that's how his son regards them.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_19769f50	type	Defeat Means Friendship
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_19769f50	comment	Defeat Means Friendship: Rumpole's underhand defeat of Phyllida Trant in their first courtroom encounter in Rumpole and the Married Lady. Referred to quite a bit in later episodes.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_1989b0c	type	Comic-Book Time
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_1989b0c	comment	Comic-Book Time: Rumpole is somewhere in his mid-sixties when first introduced, and never really gets any older. (See the Other Wiki for a detailed rundown of the series' flexible chronology.) Strangely, this only applies to Rumpole and his wife. The young female lawyer introduced just passing the bar in the first stories is an experienced judge in late middle age by the end, and many other characters also age, retire, and so forth. Even stranger, the timeline of the series works just fine if you assume Rumpole was born in the 1910s (putting him in his 20s at the beginning of World War II (in which he served in the RAF groundstaff),note Just old enough to have just started a legal career, or about to in his 50s at the beginning of the seriesnote Old enough to have a son about to leave school and to think about becoming head of chambers or taking silk and his 70s around the endnote A late retirement, but it's hardly unusual for lawyers who really love the job to remain in harness well into their 70s). Incidentally, Leo McKern was born in 1920.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_1a68cbdc	type	Character Name and the Noun Phrase
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_1a68cbdc	comment	Character Name and the Noun Phrase: Just about every episode title.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_1f268108	type	Mystery Writer Detective
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_1f268108	comment	Mystery Writer Detective: Played with in "Rumpole At Sea", where a mystery writer tries to play detective after a mysterious event on the cruise ship, and comes up with an entirely inaccurate theory about what happened.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_229f6872	type	A Day in Her Apron
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_229f6872	comment	A Day in Her Apron: Rumpole faces a more realistic form of this when Hilda takes "industrial action" in "The Summer of Discontent." The house doesn't get enough time to go to pot, but Rumpole sets fire to his beef.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_22cf536c	type	Chekhov's Gun
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_22cf536c	comment	Another literal Chekhov's Gun appears in Rumpole and the Show Folk; whilst demonstrating with a gun in court, Rumpole notices that the hammer is extremely prone to going off accidentally when cocked, which becomes relevant when the defendant testifies to the gun going off accidentally in self defence. Subverted when it's revealed the defendant did actually murder the victim in cold blood and was just very good at covering her tracks.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_26863eec	type	Unusual Pop Culture Name
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_26863eec	comment	Unusual Pop Culture Name: The Erskine-Browns named their children Tristan and Isolde after Claude's favourite opera. The questionable wisdom of naming a brother and sister after two legendary lovers goes oddly unremarked.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_26b5058e	type	Lame Rhyme Dodge
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_26b5058e	comment	Lame Rhyme Dodge: Rumpole's habit of talking to himself frequently asserts itself at the wrong time, leading to some rapid backtracking.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_2a090d00	type	Lampshade Hanging
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_2a090d00	comment	At the beginning of the series, Claude Erskine-Brown is a somewhat pompous but nevertheless effective barrister with a thriving civil practice. By the end, he's an incompetent and completely un-self-aware milquetoast. Lampshaded when Erskine-Brown complains to Rumpole about how he's been reduced to "scraping the bottom of your [i.e. Rumpole's] barrel." Also, at the beginning of the series, Erskine-Brown is an all-around devotee of classical music in general and opera in particular, whereas at the end he focuses exclusively on Wagner.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_2d4a6d8c	type	Sophisticated as Hell
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_2d4a6d8c	comment	Sophisticated as Hell:
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_2d7ef923	type	Mistaken for Cheating
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_2d7ef923	comment	Mistaken for Cheating:
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_2dc0d2bf	type	Hidden Depths
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_2dc0d2bf	comment	Hidden Depths: Claude Erskine-Brown appears to be a foppish, reactionary twit...and he is. However when Phyllida Trant discovers that they're going to have a baby she assumes he'll expect her to become a housewife as a result only to find out he never even considered asking her to give up her career and is quite willing, even overjoyed, to share parenting duties.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_302fd82f	type	Unconventional Courtroom Tactics
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_302fd82f	comment	Unconventional Courtroom Tactics: When Rumpole is invited to lecture on law in one episode, one of his colleagues remarks that he knows very little about law but everything there is to know about how to distract the jury while one's opponent is summing up. And unlike most seen on television, they generally aren't the sort of thing that could get one charged with contempt of court; Mortimer was a practicing lawyer and knew just what you could reasonably expect to get away with in a court of law.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_306dece3	type	Office Golf
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_306dece3	comment	Office Golf: Uncle Tom's primary occupation, besides making bizarre comments at Chambers meetings and completely misunderstanding anything anyone says within earshot of him.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_31ae6183	type	Got Me Doing It
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_31ae6183	comment	Got Me Doing It: Rumpole repeatedly calls the young Charles Hearthstoke "Hearthrug". At one point, he does it in front of Mr Justice Featherstone, who once follows suit.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_31b5d604	type	Forging the Will
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_31b5d604	comment	Forging the Will: One story revolves around a forged will; Rumpole is retained by the true beneficiary to represent her in challenging the false will. (He's initially reluctant to venture into a civil court case, but he can't resist a good forgery.)
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_32da548d	type	Arch-Enemy
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_32da548d	comment	Arch-Enemy: Many judges don't like Rumpole, but none are so vehement in their dislike as Judge Roger Bullingham, known to Rumpole as "the Mad Bull". He doesn't like defense barristers in general, but he has a special contempt for Rumpole.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_331d9f32	type	Silent Snarker
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_331d9f32	comment	Silent Snarker: A lot of Rumpole's snark is actually delivered in voiceovers, audible only to viewers. One of the running gags is the frequent discrepancy between Rumpole's internal snarking and his external restraint. For instance, from "Rumpole and the Old, Old Story":
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_33db913f	type	Open Mouth, Insert Foot
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_33db913f	comment	Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Mr Justice Featherstone has this problem; Rumpole even mentions it by name in his worst instance ("Rumpole and the Tap End").
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_33f095a8	type	Jaded Washout
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_33f095a8	comment	Jaded Washout: Rumpole. He's still a competent barrister but his most famous days were the Penge Bungalow Murders after WWII. His practice is not as successful as it once was, he's considered an embarrassment by his peers, and a disappointment to his wife.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_355007c3	type	Brilliant, but Lazy
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_355007c3	comment	Brilliant, but Lazy: Rumpole is a fantastic barrister and advocate, but his practice is noted to have frequent lulls, and by his own admission he knows little about actual law. If he applied himself or expanded into other areas, he'd be much more financially secure (his bank account is often overdrawn).
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_35ae6a23	type	Lethal Chef
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_35ae6a23	comment	Lethal Chef: Rumpole, as evidenced by the flaming bits of meat in "Rumpole and the Summer of Discontent."
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_35db4433	type	French Cuisine Is Haughty
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_35db4433	comment	French Cuisine Is Haughty: La Maison Jean-Pierre, run by Jean-Pierre O'Higgins, in "Rumpole a la Carte" is an epitome — but it's not quite so stuffy after Rumpole defends him.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_35fb4e55	type	Declining Promotion
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_35fb4e55	comment	Declining Promotion: Rumpole's habit of turning down more lucrative law practices, and promotions seems all find and admirable until you remember he how often his bank account get overdrawn. In Rumpole and the Last Resort he has no money to pay utilities because a particular seedy solicitor is refusing to pay him his due from a back case. It also means he really doesn't have much money for a pension so he can't retire from the Bar, even if he wanted to. Since Rumpole refuses to take QC, he's therefore a "junior" barrister and often finds himself sitting second chair on cases to QCs and he often works to have them removed from the case (usually by impressing the client well enough that they just want Rumpole as their brief) so he can defend them properly.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_37065c74	type	Hangover Sensitivity
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_37065c74	comment	Hangover Sensitivity: There's at least one episode of wherein Rumpole, after a night of "carousing" with Henry the clerk, has to come in to court shading his eyes.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_38d02d44	type	Batman Gambit
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_38d02d44	comment	Batman Gambit: Rumpole executes a magnificent one in "Rumpole and the Last Resort." The gambit was focused on the solicitor Blythe, who at once owed Rumpole nearly £2,500 in fees going back as ten years earlier (at a time when Rumpole was late on his utility bills and overdrawn at his bank) and was a material witness in the fraud case he was defending. Blythe was known to hold out payment to barristers until they died, then wheedle the widow into settling the payment for a small fraction of the original fee. On top of that, Blythe had a tendency to have "just slipped out of the office" every time somebody called the office; he was more or less nowhere to be found. After Rumpole fails to convince Judge Bullingham to grant an adjournment in the fraud case to find Blythe, he decides to fake his own death: he collapses in the middle of his application to Bullingham, sends a message to Chambers (supposedly from his wife) informing them that he is dead, and hides in his house for some time (possibly a week or more) until Blythe shows up at the door, offering Mrs. Rumpole the same pittance of a settlement he usually offered. She declines, forces him to sign a check for the exact amount Rumpole was owed, and then lets in Private Detective "Fig" Newton, who hands Blythe a subpoena. Finally, when Blythe is forced to take the stand and the fraud case recommences, Bullingham starts something of a eulogy for Rumpole. At this point, Rumpole appears in the courtroom and begins his questioning of a terrified Blythe. In the meantime, Chambers had gotten rather excited by the prospect of the death of Rumpole, with "Soapy Sam" trying to use it as an excuse to take on Guthrie Featherstone's well-connected nephew, and Claude Erskine-Brown hoping to take possession of Rumpole's umbrella stand: all of which Rumpole heard about and used to make a point about his Chambers. Rumpole executes a few on Ballard, most notably in "Rumpole and the Age of Miracles", where he tricks "Soapy Sam", sitting in judgment in an ecclesiastical court, that the ghost of a saint that supposedly haunts the hotel where they are staying is warning the judge in the case (i.e. Ballard) of a great injustice to come. The trick Liz Probert pulls on Claude Erskine-Brown falls under this, as well (see Mistaken for Gay below). A nasty one is played on Rumpole in "Rumpole and the Golden Thread", where he's called to a fictional African nation to defend a former student of his from a capital charge by a corrupt government. He finds his client surprisingly uncooperative despite the stakes, but nonetheless keeps investigating and finds the evidence that will clear his name. Unfortunately, the alibi that proves his client's innocence is proof of his second marriage with a woman from a different ethnic group. Rumpole's client was actually counting on being condemned, which would have caused his faction to revolt and break him out of prison, but instead the knowledge of the love affair results in him being killed by his own people shortly after being acquitted. The government was counting on Rumpole to find and use the evidence of innocence, as this way they got to have the appearance of a "fair" trial yet eliminate a thorn in their side while keeping their own hands clean. Hilda and Liz Probert join forces in the final episode, "Rumpole on Trial," to trick Rumpole out of giving up his career. All it takes is Hilda detailing all the things they're going to do together now that he's retired.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_3aec9e5e	type	Properly Paranoid
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_3aec9e5e	comment	Properly Paranoid: Hilda in "Rumpole and the Reform of Joby Jonson," as Rumpole concedes at the end.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_3c0a4666	type	Noodle Incident
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_3c0a4666	comment	Noodle Incident: Rumpole's greatest professional success, the case of the Penge Bungalow Murders, was a Noodle Incident for almost three decades before recently being told in a novel surprisingly named Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_3cb1d38d	type	Bad Boss
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_3cb1d38d	comment	Bad Boss: Sam Ballard as Head of Chambers. He's extremely judgmental about what choices his colleagues make in their personal and professional lives, especially Rumpole. He obsesses over very petty matters in Chambers, and his greatest concern is the public reputation and image of Chambers. On many occasions he's tried to force Rumpole out, so his office can be taken by a more financially lucrative or "respectable" barrister.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_3fac55ce	type	Old-Fashioned Copper
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_3fac55ce	comment	Old-Fashioned Copper: Detective Inspector Brush, depicted most negatively.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_437f9500	type	Empty Nest
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_437f9500	comment	Empty Nest: Rumpole and Hilda are going through this in "Rumpole and the Married Lady" with their son having graduated college, gotten married and emigrated to America. Hilda worries about the state of their marriage, even lamenting that without their son around then what did that make them? Rumpole has slumped into depression at the start, having not gone to work at chambers for some time and just sitting around in his dressing gown all day. It is a bitter divorce case that Rumpole has to deal with in court that manages to break them out of it, making them realise their own troubles are not so bad.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_43c5a4b7	type	Court-martialed
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_43c5a4b7	comment	Court-martialed: In the episode "Rumpole and the Bright Seraphim", Rumpole is asked to defend a soldier in a court-martial and has some difficulty with the differences from the civilian courts he's used to operating in.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_447b77a5	type	"Fawlty Towers" Plot
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_447b77a5	comment	"Fawlty Towers" Plot: A good number of the B-Plots fall into this category. The one about sexual harassment in "Rumpole and the Eternal Triangle" fits particularly well.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_450c5a85	type	Alternate Continuity
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_450c5a85	comment	Alternate Continuity: The books, though they began as adaptations of the TV series, had some very minor differences from the series, and kept being published long after the series had ended. The recent BBC Radio 4 plays featuring Benedict Cumberbatch. They feature a much younger Rumpole, but they are all reworked stories from the television series that featured Leo McKern's much older Rumpole.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_4604fd4d	type	Worthy Opponent
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_4604fd4d	comment	Worthy Opponent: Often stated by Rumpole whenever he's up against a good barrister. Judges are not actually barristers' opponents, but there are some judges whom Rumpole cannot stand both personally and professionally (he thinks they're hostile to the defence). Of these, Mr. Justice Graves, though in court he seems entirely to reciprocate Rumpole's attitude, indicates to others outside court that he has a certain respect for his principles and advocacy skills, and acknowledges that life would be duller without him. Jean-Pierre O'Higgins specifically picked Rumpole to defend him because Rumpole had given as good as he got when they quarrelled in O'Higgins restaurant.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_47fea76b	type	Butt-Monkey
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_47fea76b	comment	Butt-Monkey: If somebody is getting the short end of the stick, you can bet good money that it's either Claude Erskine-Brown, Guthrie Featherstone, or Sam Ballard.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_4af55b78	type	Credits Gag
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_4af55b78	comment	Credits Gag: The seventh (and final) series has two, in which the standard caricature of Rumpole is replaced: "Rumpole and the Children of the Devil" has Rumpole having fun with a scary mask, and "Rumpole and the Eternal Triangle" has Rumpole wearing a tuxedo and conducting an orchestra.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_4b39c18	type	Taking the Heat
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_4b39c18	comment	Taking the Heat: "Rumpole and the Sporting Life"
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_4bdbca25	type	Irregular Series
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_4bdbca25	comment	Irregular Series: Released intermittently from 1978 to 1992.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_4e3d253b	type	Downer Ending
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_4e3d253b	comment	Downer Ending: Several examples, but few with long-lasting consequences. One of the most notable occurs at the end of "Rumpole and the Man of God", where Rumpole's involvement in a case long ago causes him to permanently fall out with George Frobisher, who had consistently been Rumpole's best friend up to that point in the series. In his later appearances, Frobisher is noticeably frostier and more curt with Rumpole, the only barrister to whom he had been close enough that they were on first-name terms.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_4e52a624	type	Screw the Money, I Have Rules!
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_4e52a624	comment	Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Rumpole's attitude towards prosecuting, taking silk, and becoming a judge. He is tempted, every now and then, but he always falls back to his old habits. In "Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation," he has taken on a civil libel suit defending the editor of a London tabloid, the highest-paying case of his career, which promises to fund his retirement. Then he discovers the entire lawsuit is a fraud cooked up between his client and the plaintiff (to extract money from the co-defendant, the corporation that publishes the tabloid; the plaintiff—a writer of sappy romance novels—and Rumpole's client are actually lovers). Rather than continue with the case, he blackmails the client into making sure the case is dropped, and instructs his solicitors to return the client's money.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_4f4372e9	type	Early-Installment Weirdness
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_4f4372e9	comment	Early-Installment Weirdness: In the original Play for Today episode, Rumpole initially advises his client to plead guilty, believing his case is hopeless, and only changes his mind when the client insists that he didn't do it. In the series proper, Rumpole's motto (others even call it his religion) is "never plead guilty" - he never even considers the possibility of advising his client to do so unless they explicitly tell him that they did it, and even then he prefers to withdraw from the case and let another barrister take over. The only exception occurs where a serious charge to which the client pleaded not guilty is dropped mid-trial when Rumpole provides new evidence, leaving the client willing to plead guilty to a lesser charge that he'd always admitted to.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_518de95b	type	Always Murder
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_518de95b	comment	Always Murder: A rare exception to the rule for mystery stories. Very rarely does someone actually end up dead in Rumpole's cases — in fact the very first story revolved around a random wounding, and the first episode of the regular series (the one that introduced the Timsons and the Malloys) was about a "robbery with violence" (i.e. a mugging in this case).
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_539a29a3	type	Common Nonsense Jury
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_539a29a3	comment	Common Nonsense Jury: "Rumpole a la Carte." Rumpole all but openly advocates a nullificatory verdict (the prosecution had objectively proved its case by any reasonable standard — health-code violations at restaurants are strict-liability offenses requiring only a showing that the offending item was present in the restaurant, and nobody doubted that a live mouse had been present on a plate of food at that restaurant). He wins.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_54856973	type	Accuse the Witness
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_54856973	comment	Accuse the Witness: This seems to be Rumpole's favorite tactic, from very early in his career as revealed in Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. However he always makes sure he has evidence to back up these attacks first.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_561dab6b	type	Mistaken for Gay
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_561dab6b	comment	Mistaken for Gay: One of Liz Probert's boyfriends (Dave Inchcape) makes it into Chambers because Claude Erskine-Brown believes that he's gay. This led to a rather hilarious exchange when Claude was attempting to interview the man and was alluding to him being gay, but Dave thought he was talking about him being a barrister.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_565106b3	type	Women Are Wiser
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_565106b3	comment	Women Are Wiser: Female barristers and judges (e.g., Liz Probert, Fiona Allways, Phillida Erskine-Brown, Mrs. Justice Appleby) are always shown as intelligent and highly competent at their jobs, and foes worthy of Rumpole's steel. Bumbling barristers and dimwitted judges are always male. Even female criminals (such as April Timson in "The Female of the Species" or the killer in "The Angel of Death") are shown as far more skillful and composed than the foolish, cowardly male crooks Rumpole usually defends and exposes. Also barristers' wives are usually included as well; Hilda Rumpole and Marigold Featherstone are, while often terrible snobs, a force to be reckoned with.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_566f1565	type	10-Minute Retirement
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_566f1565	comment	10-Minute Retirement: In the opening of "Rumpole's Return", Rumpole has apparently retired from the law after Judge Bull has caused him to lose ten cases in a row. Rumpole finds the good life in the sun to be interminably boring though, and a letter from Phyllida asking for some information on blood splatter evidence is taken as an opportunity for him to jump back into the law and trials.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_5aa8d3d8	type	Friendly Enemy
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_5aa8d3d8	comment	Friendly Enemy: The members of Number 3, Equity Court often find themselves on opposite sides of a case, but are friendly enough to each other, usually.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_5b168317	type	RecycledPlot
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_5b168317	comment	Recycled Plot: After BBC Radio 4 did an adaption of Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders with Benedict Cumberbatch as the young Rumpole, they began producing more plays featuring Benedict's Rumpole that were just reworked version of John Mortimer's old scripts.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_5ccead6e	type	Cake Toppers
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_5ccead6e	comment	Cake Toppers: Claude and Phyllida Erskine-Brown's wedding cake at the end of "Rumpole and the Course of True Love" features the groom in a barrister's gown and clerical bands and the bride in a wedding dress—and both in barristers' wigs. In "Rumpole and the Quality of Life", the cake at Sam Ballard's wedding to Marguerite "Matey" Plumstead, Matron of the Old Bailey, is topped with a man in barrister's garb and a woman dressed as an old-fashioned nurse in a blue gown, white apron with red cross, and white hat.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_5d09da4c	type	For Your Own Good
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_5d09da4c	comment	For Your Own Good: In "Rumpole and the Reform of Joby Jonson," Sam Ballard, in an uncharacteristic Hurricane of Puns, kindly explains to Claude Erskine-Brown that no, he couldn't possibly recommend Claude for promotion to QC. The result is an equally uncharacteristic What the Hell, Hero?.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_5f5aa5af	type	Bulungi
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_5f5aa5af	comment	Bulungi: Narenga, a Central African Commonwealth Realm with complex and often deadly tribal politics, in "Rumpole and the Golden Thread". One of Rumpole's old pupils, who has become Minister of the Interior, invites Rumpole to defend him in a case of capital murder; the absence of a jury — an institution abolished by the British during the colonial period — drives Rumpole mad.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_60200c6	type	Former Teen Rebel
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_60200c6	comment	Former Teen Rebel: Sam Ballard. In the later novels and short stories, he and his teenage rock group get back together for jam sessions. Ironically, Rumpole thought spilling the beans on his dread past would embarrass him, but instead people in chambers conclude he is less stuffy than they thought.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_60f992e8	type	Florence Nightingale Effect
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_60f992e8	comment	Florence Nightingale Effect: How Marguerite ("Matey") gets Sam Ballard to marry her.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_664bc28f	type	British Brevity
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_664bc28f	comment	British Brevity: The series aired from 1978 to 1992 for a grand total of 42 episodes broadcast over seven series, and one feature-length special aired between series two and three, plus the pilot aired on BBC in 1975.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_68069489	type	Nipple and Dimed
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_68069489	comment	Nipple and Dimed: Averted, as the series aired after the Watershed. A stripper in "Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation" and an artist's model in "Rumpole and the Quality of Life" are both depicted with their assets clearly displayed.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_680f950	type	Gilligan Cut
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_680f950	comment	Gilligan Cut: In "Rumpole at Sea," Hilda wants to take a sea cruise. Rumpole doesn't. He tells her to get one thing clear, that he is not going on any cruise, no, no, NO... [ship's foghorn blows].
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_6bda9a30	type	Meaningful Name
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_6bda9a30	comment	Meaningful Name: When Rumpole visits Nuranga, a former British colony, the rather old-fashioned British High Commissioner is named Sir Arthur Remnant. An occasional theme with the series' Judges: Judge Bullingham is a very bullish sort of person, Judge Graves is described as being so serious minded as to be barely alive (and has a somewhat somewhat skeletal look to him) and Judge Twyburne is one of the few remaining judges who ever sentenced someone to death before the UK abolished the death penalty for murder in 1965 and has a name similar to the famous Tyburn gallows.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_6d332aea	type	Driven to Suicide
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_6d332aea	comment	Driven to Suicide: One of the characters in "Rumpole and the Official Secret" winds up throwing himself under a train. In "Rumpole and the Facist Beast" Rumpole's client is acquitted but ends up being made a fool of in the process and dismissed by his far right political party for supposedly humiliating their cause. He decides he can't stand it and shoots himself.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_6d892421	type	Teacher/Student Romance
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_6d892421	comment	Teacher/Student Romance: In the episode "Rumpole and the Course of True Love", the case Rumpole is defending is a young high school teacher who slept with his student.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_6ec4232f	type	Casting Gag
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_6ec4232f	comment	Casting Gag: Peter Cellier as Sir Frank Fawcett, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, in "Rumpole and the Official Secret", doubtless referencing his recurring role as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury Sir Frank Gordon in Yes, Minister. The Attorney General in the same episode, Donald Pickering, played Sir Richard Wharton in Yes, Minister too.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_6ee10e0	type	My Greatest Failure
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_6ee10e0	comment	My Greatest Failure: Judge Twyburne once sentenced a man to death for murder shortly before the death penalty was removed for murder in 1965 and the young man was later proven to be innocent. This has clearly preyed on his mind ever since and, when Rumpole brings it up, the guilt leads to him favouring the defence in Rumpole's case.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_72852a93	type	Henpecked Husband
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_72852a93	comment	Henpecked Husband: Rumpole. His nickname for Hilda is "She Who Must Be Obeyed". Sam Ballard Claude Erskine-Brown is in the same boat, but Phyllida tries to be subtler about it. And Guthrie Featherstone, whose wife is constantly pushing him to the next-higher position.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_733e007a	type	Unwitting Pawn
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_733e007a	comment	Unwitting Pawn: Sam Ballard has a habit of falling for the traps Rumpole lays for him.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_7426582d	type	Token Minority
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_7426582d	comment	Token Minority: Lampshaded and eventually subverted in Rumpole and the Fascist Beast; Rumpole takes on Indian Latif Khan as a pupil, much to the surprise of everyone in chambers and to the disgust of his racist defendant (it's left unclear as to whether Rumpole deliberately took on an Indian to either annoy his client or make his client look better in court). However, it's clear that Khan has been coerced up the ladder by his rich father and he's dismissive of Phyllida after she attempts to bond with him over their "oppressed minority" status... because she's a woman.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_754df088	type	Put on a Bus
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_754df088	comment	Put on a Bus: Nick Rumpole moves to America to become a Professor of Sociology first at Baltimore then Miami. He isn't seen after the first two series. Judge Bullingham was written out after his actor passed away after series four. However, this does not apply to books where Judge Bullingham was still a regular supporting character up to the very end. David Inchcape is not so much as mentioned after "Rumpole On Trial", opening the way for Liz to be hit on by other men.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_76d233f9	type	Straw Feminist
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_76d233f9	comment	Straw Feminist: Liz Probert (mostly in the later novels and short stories). The following quote from "Rumpole and Portia" demonstrates her attitude (after Phillida was seen having lunch with another man in the park).
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_786bf97f	type	Real Life Writes the Plot
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_786bf97f	comment	Real Life Writes the Plot: A number of storylines are a Whole-Plot Reference lifted from the headlines; for instance Rumpole and the Children of the Devil tackled the spurious accusations of ritual Satanic abuse that created a moral panic.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_7b454a57	type	White Sheep
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_7b454a57	comment	White Sheep: In "Rumpole and the Barrow Boy", one of the Timsons goes to school, studies, and gets a high-paying finance job in the City... and is the one set up to be blamed for financial irregularities at his place of employment by his father-in-law-to-be, who is not happy at finding out about young Timson's family, even though he's never done anything wrong himself.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_7d14c988	type	A Tankard of Moose Urine
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_7d14c988	comment	A Tankard of Moose Urine: Rumpole's favoured "Pommeroy's Plonk" lives up to the name; the wine's "nose" suggests the terroir of a stretch of land between a garage and a pissoir. (A pissoir, for the unfamiliar, is exactly what it sounds like.)
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_7e24733a	type	TheHumphrey
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_7e24733a	comment	The Humphrey: Rumpole is a heroic variation- he knows and exploits the politics and follies of the legal system, but tries to pursue justice when possible.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_7e95adeb	type	High-Class Call Girl
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_7e95adeb	comment	High-Class Call Girl: Played with in "Rumpole and the Old Boy Net": Rumpole's clients were a middle-aged couple who ran a brothel for a high-class clientele. None of the actual prostitutes were in any way significant, and they weren't call girls (working as they were at a brothel), but the general idea (of a high-class prostitute) applies.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_7f0f19e5	type	I Coulda Been a Contender!
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_7f0f19e5	comment	I Coulda Been a Contender!: Rumpole is a variation in that his wife is disappointed that he hasn't achieved greater financial and career success, nor become head of chambers like her father was. Rumpole, on the other hand, is perfectly happy where he is, and has no interest in becoming a "Queer Customer" or "Circus Judge."
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_8077793f	type	Open Secret
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_8077793f	comment	Open Secret: Hilda knows perfectly well that Rumpole calls her She Who Must Be Obeyed.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_823c6e3e	type	Large Ham
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_823c6e3e	comment	Large Ham: Rumpole's modus operandi for much of his dealings with other people, and particularly his advocacy. He's called out on it by some theatrical actors in Rumpole and the Show Folk.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_82785455	type	Plea Bargain
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_82785455	comment	Plea Bargain: Despite his maxim "never plead guilty" he does at times engage in plea-bargaining, particularly when he knows the judge to be sympathetic. He tries at this — and Phyllida Trant, who was prosecuting, quite agreed — in "Rumpole and the Course of True Love," but George Frobisher couldn't guarantee that the client wouldn't do prison time. "Rumpole and the Tap End" starts with just one of these, where he got an attempted murder reduced to actual bodily harm before Featherstone, and the client was bound over. That is where the trouble began, however...
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_82d57ef5	type	Boarding School
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_82d57ef5	comment	Boarding School: Because Rumpole went to a third-rate public school, he doesn't have an "Old Boy Net" — which turns out to be why Sam Ballard (who went to Marlborough, as did Featherstone) becomes Head of Chambers instead of Rumpole.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_8391b1c7	type	Artistic License â€“ Law
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_8391b1c7	comment	Artistic License – Law: Averted. This is noted as one of the most realistic legal dramas ever produced. The writer and creator John Mortimer, QC was an actual practicing barrister in addition to being a writer, and thus knew legal life, extremely well. He would get up at 4:00 in the morning to write the scripts and then go to work at court. He eventually retired from the Bar to focus on writing full time.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_83b464fb	type	Straight Man
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_83b464fb	comment	Straight Man: Just about everybody plays this part for Rumpole.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_84df9a79	type	Second-Face Smoke
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_84df9a79	comment	Second-Face Smoke: Rumpole does this to some of the more priggish characters, especially Ballard.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_8a817c2a	type	Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_8a817c2a	comment	Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Played with and discussed in “Rumpole and the Honourable Member”. Rumpole treated everything about the case with the same level of sobriety and respect that he would any other crime (read: very little). However, this wasn’t shown to be because he didn’t regard rape as a serious crime but rather because he believed a man who’s innocent of rape (as he always assumes his clients to be innocent) deserves just as thorough a defence as one who’s innocent of petty theft. At the same time, Rumpole acknowledged that everyone in the courtroom would regard the crime differently particularly because it was a rape. Nick's fiancée Erica is shocked by the way he would attack the alleged victim which led Rumpole to challenge her on whether it’s fair that a lower standard of proof (the victim’s word) should exist for rape as opposed to other crimes. It's clear Rumpole's attitude created a falling out between father and son, leading to Nick moving to America.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_8b3fe1cb	type	Flaw Exploitation
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_8b3fe1cb	comment	Flaw Exploitation: Phyllida Erskine-Brown exploits Sam Ballard's sexual hypocrisy in order to get Claude his promotion to QC.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_8bb316cf	type	Video Inside, Film Outside
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_8bb316cf	comment	Video Inside, Film Outside: Eventually dropped, in Season 4, when it went all-video.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_8bc451a1	type	Cruise Episode
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_8bc451a1	comment	Cruise Episode: "Rumpole at Sea", in which Rumpole and She Who Must Be Obeyed go on a second-honeymoon cruise.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_8c23b321	type	Harmless Villain
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_8c23b321	comment	Harmless Villain: The Timson clan, very, very low-level crooks ("minor villains" is what Rumpole likes to call them) whom Rumpole defends on a regular basis (they appear to be his primary source of income, and at one point he refers to himself as being "CT — Counsel to the Timsons."). They are quite proud that they never resort to violence, only what Rumpole and Mortimer call "ordinary decent crime."
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_8da65890	type	Commuting on a Bus
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_8da65890	comment	Commuting on a Bus: Guthrie and Phyllida, after the first two series. Their actors had other commitments but they still mananged to appear in every season in some compacity.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_94332264	type	Busman's Holiday
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_94332264	comment	Busman's Holiday: "Rumpole at Sea".
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_99b2613a	type	Oop North
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_99b2613a	comment	Oop North: Mr Justice Oliphant is very proud of being from there, and it drives Rumpole to distraction.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_9c4a7090	type	Springtime for Hitler
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_9c4a7090	comment	Springtime for Hitler: "Rumpole and the Heavy Brigade" has Rumpole hired in one of these by a pair of gangsters, convinced that his reputation as Incompetence, Inc. following a run of poor cases in district court will ensure their stuttering brother will go down in order to cover up their own crimes.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_9c8701b5	type	A Day in the Limelight
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_9c8701b5	comment	A Day in the Limelight: "Hilda's Story," collected in Rumpole and the Angel of Death.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_9dab0a6e	type	Continuity Nod
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_9dab0a6e	comment	Continuity Nod: Several, especially later in the series. They often occur when a character who was formerly a regular but now isn't (e.g. Guthrie Featherstone or Phyllida Trant) shows up.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_9e1f8fde	type	Good Lawyers, Good Clients
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_9e1f8fde	comment	Good Lawyers, Good Clients: Subverted. While it is true that almost all of Rumpole's clients that we see are in fact innocent of the crime they're on trial for, they are very frequently guilty of some other crime. This is particularly true of the Timsons, a clan of South London "minor villains" who make their living off of petty larceny and fencing, and whose fees seem to pay a fair chunk of Rumpole's own bills. There's also more than one Downer Ending where Rumpole's client tells him after he's got them off that they were in fact guilty and thanks to the double jeopardy rule there's nothing he can do about it.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_9fda81a7	type	The Summation
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_9fda81a7	comment	The Summation
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_a24670a4	type	Benevolent Boss
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_a24670a4	comment	Benevolent Boss: Guthrie Featherstone, when he was Head of Chambers in the first two series. He had a much more friendly relationship with Rumpole and the other barristers than Sam Ballard ever did.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_a293102a	type	Eek, a Mouse!!
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_a293102a	comment	Eek, a Mouse!!: In "Rumpole a la Carte". Admittedly, a plate in a three-Michelin-star restaurant is the last place you would expect to find a live mouse, but do you really have to stand on your chair and shriek?
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_a5d92fce	type	Celibate Hero
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_a5d92fce	comment	Celibate Hero: According to the novels, the Rumpoles had sex exactly once, on their honeymoon, which explains how they managed to have a child. Other than that, no, and Horace has only been Mistaken for Cheating. Although he was tempted by the feminine wiles, of Kathy Trelawney and Elizabeth Casterini.. But not enough to get him to betray his professional ethics.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_a7850fbf	type	Only Known by Their Nickname
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_a7850fbf	comment	Only Known by Their Nickname: T. C. Rowley, called Uncle Tom by even an ultra-stuffy character like Ballard.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_a7aef9ff	type	Obfuscating Stupidity
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_a7aef9ff	comment	Obfuscating Stupidity: Rumpole occasionally uses this when he's trying to get something, especially if he's trying to get it from Hilda.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_a7fa2fa4	type	Crossing the Burnt Bridge
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_a7fa2fa4	comment	Crossing the Burnt Bridge: Subverted with "Rumpole's Last Case" which seemed like it was going to set this scenario up. Rumpole, believing he was going to be rich and able to retire from the legal profession, took the time in his closing arguments to say exactly what he thought about Judge Bullingham. He didn't get to finish those arguments, however. Ultimately, Phyllida managed to convince the judge that Rumpole was actually building up to saying some very nice things in the second half of his speech and stopped the judge making his complaint. This also turned out to be Bullingham's final appearance so (as far as we know) Rumpole never had to see him again.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_a80ad52c	type	Hanging Judge
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_a80ad52c	comment	Hanging Judge: Most of the judges Rumpole encounters are not impartial. They tend to act as a second prosecutor. Mr Justice Roger "the Mad Bull" Bullingham "Rumpole and the Sporting Life" features an unusual and literal example in the elderly Mr Justice Twyburne, who once sentenced a man to hang for killing a policeman. The man was later proven innocent, a fact which has preyed on Twyburne's conscience ever since.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_aa4cbf9a	type	My Local
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_aa4cbf9a	comment	My Local: Pommeroy's Wine Bar.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_aa9fcfed	type	Embarrassing Middle Name
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_aa9fcfed	comment	Embarrassing Middle Name: Claude Leonard Erskine-Brown. Rumpole exhibits unbridled joy reciting it when he learns it just before his cross-examination of Erskine-Brown in "Rumpole a la Carte".
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_ab48ea8	type	Preacher's Kid
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_ab48ea8	comment	Preacher's Kid: Rumpole doesn't mention it often, but his father was a vicar, and his childhood home was a vicarage. Naturally, Rumpole has less use for organised religion than anyone else in the series.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_ab67853d	type	In Da Club
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_ab67853d	comment	In Da Club: Bizarrely and briefly. Phyllida Trant talks Claude Erskine-Brown (then just her boyfriend) into going to a fairly typical disco club after what was for her a thoroughly bored night at the opera, where they find none other than Guthrie Featherstone dancing in a tiger-print shirt with Angela, one of the junior clerks at chambers. Well, it was 1979.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_ad641426	type	Trademark Favorite Food
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_ad641426	comment	Trademark Favorite Food: Steak-and-kidney pudding for Rumpole, who makes the mistake of ordering it in a swank French place.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_ae3d6438	type	Deadpan Snarker
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_ae3d6438	comment	Deadpan Snarker: Rumpole, in both his life but especially in his style of advocacy. Phyllida Erskine-Brown is also very good at this — possibly a function of having been trained by Rumpole. And under Mortimer's pen, everyone gets this. See, for instance, this bit from "Rumpole and Portia":
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_af616e40	type	Accidental Misnaming
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_af616e40	comment	Accidental Misnaming: Phyllida Erskine-Brown (née Trant) keeps having to correct people who think her name is "Phyllis".
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b01abe4f	type	Catchphrase
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b01abe4f	comment	Catchphrase: Rumpole has the "Golden Thread of British justice" and "never plead guilty" as personal mantras. Percy Hoskins had variants of "speaking as a man with daughters". This was lampshaded in "Rumpole and The Quality of Life" when he started out "I speak as a man with daughters" and Rumpole, Ballard and Uncle Tom all finished his sentence for him and echoed the word "daughters" around the room.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b0cac376	type	The Usurper
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b0cac376	comment	The Usurper: Rumpole is the senior man in Chambers, and was most likely to succeed his father-in-law as Head of Chambers, until Guthrie Featherstone became QC. In Series Three, Guthrie is about to become a judge and Rumpole looks like he's about to take the job...until Guthrie's old friend Sam Ballard comes into town, looking for a place in Chambers.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b109e518	type	Twisting the Words
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b109e518	comment	Twisting the Words: Inversion or Subversion, depending on your perspective: Rumpole often asks witnesses on the stand who heard someone say something or another if they were sure it had the emphasis they recalled.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b1ed0e0c	type	Rank Up
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b1ed0e0c	comment	Rank Up: Phyllida Trant begins the series as a junior barrister and ends it as a High Court judge.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b2280b66	type	Retcon
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b2280b66	comment	Retcon: Somewhere along the line in the books Judge Roger Bullingham became Judge Leonard Bullingham. Whether or not they are the same charcter is open to fan debate.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b352e864	type	Sexless Marriage
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b352e864	comment	Sexless Marriage: The Rumpoles (see Celibate Hero above). "Rumpole at Sea" suggests that this may not entirely be Hilda's doing.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b572a91c	type	Cold Cash
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b572a91c	comment	Cold Cash: Or rather, cold silver; "Rumpole and the Blind Tasting" begins with the police going through one of the Timsons' freezers and finding Georgian silver tableware in bags of frozen peas.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b5b3599d	type	Amoral Attorney
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b5b3599d	comment	Amoral Attorney: Vanishingly few; most of the lawyers we meet are at worst sanctimonious hypocrites. Featherstone and Ballard prefer prosecution or civil work to defense, and as such when they are assigned to be defense counsel they rarely apply themselves; they don't do their own investigations or even bother to cross-examine witnesses for fear of upsetting the judge, unlike Rumpole who does everything he can to make sure his clients have a fighting chance. The solicitor Perrivale Blythe in "Rumpole and the Last Resort" fits this rather well; he never pays his bills to barristers — hoping to wait until the barrister dies and then settle for a small percentage with the grieving widow — and engages in some other questionable business with his clients besides. Even Rumpole falls in to this from time to time. He uses Phyllida's naivety against her causing her to lose an open and shut case (her first prosecution), and then when she became a Recorder (part time judge) he arranged to sit on one of his cases, clearly hoping for an unfair advantage.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b6cc7fc0	type	Dysfunctional Family
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b6cc7fc0	comment	Dysfunctional Family: the Rumpoles (particularly obvious in the original teleplay, which was darker in tone than the later episodes).
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b82017fa	type	Not-So-Innocent Whistle
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_b82017fa	comment	Not-So-Innocent Whistle: Rumpole puts on one of these in "Rumpole and the Last Resort" when he tries to nonchalantly walk out of his bank after bouncing a cheque. It fools nobody, and his Inner Monologue notes he ought to have just made a dash for it instead.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_bb0c0a4d	type	Fiery Redhead
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_bb0c0a4d	comment	Fiery Redhead: Phyllida (Trant) Erskine-Brown and the first Liz Probert (played by Samantha Bond).
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_bc00493f	type	Precision F-Strike
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_bc00493f	comment	Precision F-Strike: The series is generally devoid of profanity. A notable exception to this is when Hilda complains that Rumpole never told her he was going to be passed over for head of chambers for the newly arrived Ballard QC. Rumpole simply replies that he has ‘fucked it,’ with the line being delivered in such a way that you have to rewatch a few times just to discern that the word said isn’t ‘funked.’
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c0bfb059	type	Against My Religion
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c0bfb059	comment	Against My Religion: Frequently invoked/joked about: whatever religion Rumpole follows, it forbids prosecuting and pleading guilty (unless he knows for a fact that the client did it or if the judge is sympathetic and the client won't get jail time).
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c33ba0a8	type	Chuck Cunningham Syndrome
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c33ba0a8	comment	Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: After actor Richard Murdoch's death in 1990, Uncle Tom vanished without an explanation.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c3648b87	type	Teeth-Clenched Teamwork
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c3648b87	comment	Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: In the final episode, "Rumpole on Trial," Hilda dragoons Ballard into defending Rumpole after he insults Justice Oliphant. Ballard is horrified and Rumpole initially uncooperative, but Ballard for once manages to be effective: he convinces Oliphant that it would look better if he accepted an apology from Rumpole.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c3782352	type	Exiled to the Couch
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c3782352	comment	Exiled to the Couch: Hilda does this to Rumpole when she suspects him of having a fling with the young girlfriend of an elderly artist. Unfairly; he was just at a pub to collect evidence. Rumpole exiles himself after a particular disastrous night at the Scales of Justice Ball, where he tells a "blue" story that offends both Hilda and the prudish Welsh judge he was sitting next to. He ends up living in chambers for a while, to Ballard's displeasure, forcing him to move in with the Erskine-Browns. Eventually the Erskine-Browns get fed up with him (and he gets fed up with young Tristan and Isolde Erskine-Brown's incessant complaints about his smoking), and he ends his self-imposed exile... but not before he forces Ballard to spend a night at chambers himself. Claude Erskine-Brown eventually is himself forced to live with Rumpole after the "Kitten a-Go-Go" flap ("Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation"); at first Hilda takes great delight in annoying Rumpole with Erskine-Brown's holier-than-thou habits, but she eventually tires of his incessant playing of opera tapes.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c389390e	type	Opera
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c389390e	comment	Claude Erskine-Brown's obsession with Opera; Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg gets mentioned a lot.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c4b0faae	type	Can't Hold His Liquor
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c4b0faae	comment	Can't Hold His Liquor: Samuel "Soapy Sam" Ballard, QC, gets absolutely blotto — as in fall-on-the-floor, can't-remember-how-many-drinks-he's had, crazy drunk — after a mere five small glasses of sherry. So, he opts for sparkling water instead.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c69902e7	type	Church of Happyology
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c69902e7	comment	Church of Happyology: In "Rumpole's Return" the defendant believes he has fallen afoul of religious group, based in Florida, which has ordered him to be framed for crime. The church all live in a large compound to which outsiders are forbidden and members are locked in, and joining it requires signing a legal contract giving them all their possessions and money. Scattered around the compound are large paintings of "The Master" who is apparently the only way to paradise.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c75df49a	type	Shout-Out
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c75df49a	comment	Shout-Out: "The Dear Departed" contains several shout-outs to Richard II. Rumpole opens and closes with a quote from the play ("Let's talk of graves, and worms, and epitaphs..."). The solicitors in his will case are Mowbray and Pontefract — Mowbray being the accused knight whose duel opens Richard II, and Pontefract (Pomfret) being the castle where Richard is imprisoned at the end of the play.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c83751cb	type	Description Cut
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c83751cb	comment	Description Cut: A rather subtle one in "Rumpole on Trial". A man in court is quoting from the book of proverbs, "It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house. It is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and an angry woman." Then the scene immediately shifts to Hilda walking down the street...
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c83cd6b8	type	The Nicknamer
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c83cd6b8	comment	The Nicknamer: Rumpole himself. He calls pretty much everyone "old darling" or "old sweetheart". He calls Hilda "She Who Must Be Obeyed." He gives Phyllida Trant the nickname "Portia" (or more completely, "the Portia of our chambers"), after Portia in The Merchant of Venice. He gives Samuel Ballard the honor of not one but two nicknames: "Soapy Sam" (referring to Samuel Wilberforce, a famous public speaker and defender of Christianity in the late 19th century) and the rather less complimentary "Bollard." In the stories, "the Savonarola of our chambers." He calls Liz Probert "Miz Liz". Guess why. He repeatedly calls the young Charles Hearthstoke "Hearthrug." To his face. The solicitor Mr Bernard (who usually handles the Timsons' cases, among others) is known to Rumpole as "Bonny Bernard". He creates a couple of private nicknames for several of the recurring judges. The notable ones are: Judge Roger "The Mad Bull" Bullingham. Mr. Justice Gerald Graves, called by Rumpole "Mr Injustice Graves," "Mr Justice Gravestone," and at on least one occasion "Mr Injustice Death's Head".
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c9eb478e	type	Satchel Switcheroo
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_c9eb478e	comment	Satchel Switcheroo: Rumpole accidentally walks off with Uncle Tom's briefcase, discovering the switch only when he opens it. In court. Hilarity Ensues.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_ca7ec334	type	Two Lines, No Waiting
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_ca7ec334	comment	Two Lines, No Waiting: Pretty much every episode features an A plot — the case of the week — and a B plot revolving around some intrigue in chambers, or some intrigue in Rumpole's household.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_ca95473c	type	Series Continuity Error
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_ca95473c	comment	Series Continuity Error: Rumpole speaks of Professor Ackerman as the famous pathologist from the Penge Bungalow Murders, then in and the Expert Witness it was Dr Dacre, before finally becoming, in the Penge Bungalow Murders story itself, Dr Phillimore.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_caa28b82	type	Cloudcuckoolander
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_caa28b82	comment	Cloudcuckoolander: Uncle Tom, who hasn't had a brief in anyone's living memory, but still happily potters around Chambers playing golf. His chief role in the show is to go off on long semi-relevant recollections of past events whenever anyone discuses anything near him. (It is never explained how he supports himself.)
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_d1ceb951	type	Holier Than Thou
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_d1ceb951	comment	Holier Than Thou: Sam Ballard. One wonders why he didn't become a cleric instead of a barrister.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_d21f3d5d	type	Justified Criminal
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_d21f3d5d	comment	Justified Criminal: Most pitiably, a music hall singer who murdered her violently abusive husband, only to find herself years later on the same cruise ship with the judge who presided over her trial.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_d4d8d831	type	Feuding Families
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_d4d8d831	comment	Feuding Families: The Timsons and the Molloys, two families of South London villians who have not been on speaking terms ever since a Molloy betrayed a Timson in the Streatham Co-op Robbery. More than once in the series, the police attempt to use a Molloy as a "grass" to get the goods on a Timson, rarely with good results.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_d78ea1dc	type	A Lighter Shade of Grey
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_d78ea1dc	comment	A Lighter Shade of Grey: Judge Graves, who more or less takes over as the series' main judge after Judge Bullingham stopped appearing, is also vindictive and prejudicial with a grudge against Rumpole but he's less so than "The Mad Bull" and, going by Rumpole At Sea, he does genuinely have an interest in seeing justice done (albeit badly misdirected in that case) and confesses that he regards Rumpole as a Worthy Opponent and that life would be duller without him. By contrast Bullingham seemed mostly unconcerned with justice so much as getting the chance to punish others and would happily be done with Rumpole forever.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_d8573ef9	type	Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_d8573ef9	comment	Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: How Sam Ballard is able to become Head of Chambers, despite being a new member. He's part of Guthrie's "Old Boy Net".
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_d8efd609	type	Happy-Ending Massage
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_d8efd609	comment	Happy-Ending Massage: "Rumpole and the Judge's Elbow". Featherstone, presiding in this case, thinks he went to a parlor where these were provided, although he didn't partake and wasn't even aware of the possibility. Hilarity Ensues.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_d904a7fd	type	Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_d904a7fd	comment	Can't Live with Them, Can't Live without Them: The ever-antagonistic Rumpoles may not love each other, exactly, but they occasionally show signs of a deep-seated loyalty. Horace learns to dance to make Hilda happy; Hilda fiercely defends Horace in "Rumpole on Trial"; and they prove themselves unbeatable when they join forces in the Batman Gambit discussed above.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_da1c8191	type	Writers Cannot Do Math
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_da1c8191	comment	Writers Cannot Do Math: Used in-universe in "Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation", where Rumpole is cross examing a writer of pseudo-historical fiction on the stand and points out that the ages of her character make no sense as she entirely forgotten to account for the Commonwealth and Oliver Cromwell between the Battle of Naseby and the coronation of Charles II and is thus off by 16 years.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_dd28eb85	type	Black Cap of Death
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_dd28eb85	comment	Black Cap of Death: In "Rumpole and the Golden Thread", when Rumpole visits an African nation which still has the death penalty, the resident British Ambassador is excited to see a capital case because seeing the black cap brought out "adds a certain zest" to the trial. Rumpole is not enthusiastic about seeing it in the least, however.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_deecc9eb	type	Awful Wedded Life
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_deecc9eb	comment	Awful Wedded Life: Rumpole and Hilda really don't get along. How this is subverted to an extent as Hilda mentions that they tried to be a family for Nick's sake when he was a boy.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_e28f88b8	type	Last-Name Basis
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_e28f88b8	comment	Last-Name Basis: Most everybody with respect to everybody else. Vanishingly few people call Rumpole "Horace;" not even Hilda. This is actually accepted practice amongst many members of the Bar, first names generally only being used between barristers who are on a very informal footing. We can see this with Rumpole and George Frobisher, who are (in early seasons) close friends (They have something of a falling-out after Rumpole's first case before Frobisher as a circuit judge) and call each other "Horace" and "George".
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_e3585b3d	type	No Party Given
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_e3585b3d	comment	No Party Given: Averted where applicable. The third episode, "Rumpole and the Honourable Member", features an MP clearly identified as Labour accused of rape by his left-wing "Trot" campaign worker. Another episode, "Rumpole and the Fascist Beast", subverts this by having Rumpole defending a far-right politician from the "British Patriots," which doesn't exist but is clearly based on the National Front or British National Party. Guthrie Featherstone QC MP is clearly identified as having joined the Social Democratic Party shortly before becoming a judge. When Featherstone is still in practice as a barrister, Rumpole often identifies him as a "Conservative-Labour" politician — i.e., too indecisive to be possessed of any great political conviction. It's implied that he joined the Social Democrats mainly because it kept him from having to choose a side. Actually Featherstone was an MP before he joined the SDP. That party was founded by Labour defectors, so it's likely he was originally a Labour MP. Charles Hearthstoke says he's standing as a Tory candidate for his local council when discussing radical change at chambers with... Liz Probert, daughter of "Red Ron" Probert, a left-wing Labour leader of a North London borough council; she takes after her father. As for why Hearthstoke was talking to Probert about change in the chambers, he argued that the fact they were both young would make them both favor modernisation. However, it's pretty clear that he just wants to get into her pants (or is it her robes when discussing barristers?). Phyllida Trant, while chewing out her then-boyfriend Claude Erskine-Brown, mentions his "inexplicable approval of Mrs Thatcher" (or something to that effect) as one thing she's willing to accept, implying that Erskine-Brown is a Tory and that Phyllida isn't.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_e5e6640b	type	Flanderization
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_e5e6640b	comment	Flanderization: At the beginning of the series, Claude Erskine-Brown is a somewhat pompous but nevertheless effective barrister with a thriving civil practice. By the end, he's an incompetent and completely un-self-aware milquetoast. Lampshaded when Erskine-Brown complains to Rumpole about how he's been reduced to "scraping the bottom of your [i.e. Rumpole's] barrel." Also, at the beginning of the series, Erskine-Brown is an all-around devotee of classical music in general and opera in particular, whereas at the end he focuses exclusively on Wagner. Mr. Justice Oliphant went from mentioning "common sense" and his blunt Northern heritage once or twice a trial to practically every line.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_e9a3a1ed	type	Never Learned to Read
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_e9a3a1ed	comment	Never Learned to Read: One episode has Rumpole proving that a confession was coerced because the defendant can't read or write, and thus couldn't have written it/known what he was signing.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_e9e35e8f	type	Exact Words
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_e9e35e8f	comment	Exact Words: Phyllida Erskine-Brown to Sam Ballard: "I'm leaving the Bar."
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_eb251937	type	Dirty Cop
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_eb251937	comment	Dirty Cop: Detective Inspector "Dirty" Dickerson of "Rumpole and the Learned Friends," who runs a sort of protection racket with the "minor villains" in his area of South London (usually by planting evidence of some crime — whether or not they committed it — and then blackmailing them with it) and is all too happy to perjure himself.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_ed43de19	type	Hunting "Accident"
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_ed43de19	comment	Hunting "Accident": "Rumpole and the Sporting Life" revolves around a death that may have been murder or a genuine hunting accident. It was a genuine accident—though not by Rumpole's client, the victim's wife (who intentionally shot her husband's dead body to protect her lover, whom she mistakenly thought had killed him) but by his tenant and neighbour (who had actually killed the victim while illegally shooting pheasants from his window).
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_edeafb2e	type	Malicious Misnaming
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_edeafb2e	comment	Malicious Misnaming: When Rumpole is feeling ill-disposed towards Ballard (which is most of the time), he calls him "Bollard".
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f165cf2c	type	Last-Second Word Swap
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f165cf2c	comment	Last-Second Word Swap: Rumpole almost introduces Hilda as "She who must be obeyed" at a party.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f1ac9897	type	Female Misogynist
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f1ac9897	comment	Female Misogynist: During one of his complaints about the various unreasonable judges he has to work with, Rumpole singles out a female judge as a worse male chauvinist than any of the men.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f1d692eb	type	Stern Old Judge
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f1d692eb	comment	Stern Old Judge: Most of the judges Rumpole deals with that aren't a Hanging Judge or Guthrie Featherstone are this instead.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f5ab45cb	type	Incompetence, Inc.
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f5ab45cb	comment	Incompetence, Inc.: In "Rumpole and the Heavy Brigade", Rumpole has acquired a reputation as such, following a run of poor cases in district court. On return to The Bailey he is then hired as part of a Springtime for Hitler plot by a pair of gangsters hoping to get their stuttering brother convicted to cover up their own crime. However Rumpole is fired up by the return to the Bailey, a number of mean remarks about his dress sense, and the prospect of defending a nice juicy murder rather than common assaults or indecent exposure cases found in district court, and manages to win it instead.
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Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f5e6ed44	type	No Sense of Humor
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f5e6ed44	comment	No Sense of Humor: Sam Ballard and, often, Claude Erskine-Brown. Ballard's humorlessness is usually of the Literal-Minded variety.
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f5e6ed44	featureApplicability	1.0
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f5e6ed44	featureConfidence	1.0
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f5e6ed44
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f6b30338	type	Murder Is the Best Solution
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f6b30338	comment	Murder Is the Best Solution: "Rumpole and the Quality of Life."
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f6b30338	featureApplicability	1.0
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f6b30338	featureConfidence	1.0
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f6b30338
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f9876f7e	type	Faking the Dead
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f9876f7e	comment	Faking the Dead: See Batman Gambit above. And the entire scheme serves as the setup to one TV's greatest Overly Preprepared Gag moments: Rumpole, after it's revealed he's alive: "It must have come as a huge relief for those who heard Rumpole had kicked the bucket, to hear he had just turned a little pail."
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f9876f7e	featureApplicability	1.0
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f9876f7e	featureConfidence	1.0
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f9876f7e
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f9f2c33	type	Running Gag
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f9f2c33	comment	Running Gag: "Speaking as a man with daughters..." Rumpole will recite the romantic poets, but mostly Wordsworth, at the least provocation. Or none. Hilda's obsession with her "Daddy", C. H. Wystan. Claude Erskine-Brown's obsession with Opera; Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg gets mentioned a lot.
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f9f2c33	featureApplicability	1.0
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f9f2c33	featureConfidence	1.0
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Rumpole of the Bailey / int_f9f2c33
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_fbd285b7	type	Comically Missing the Point
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_fbd285b7	comment	Comically Missing the Point: Both Claude Erskine-Brown and Ballard could be prone to this. When a psychiatrist suggested he wanted to sleep with his mother and he was asked if he did, Erskine-Brown replied, “Certainly not, Mummy would never have stood for it”. When Ballard was told that Erskine-Brown thought it’d be easier for him to become a QC if he were a woman, Ballard replied, “I think that’s very silly. I mean Claude Erskine-Brown couldn’t possibly be a woman, could he? So he might just as well forget the idea and settle down to being himself.”
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_fbd285b7	featureApplicability	1.0
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_fbd285b7	featureConfidence	1.0
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Rumpole of the Bailey / int_fbd285b7
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_fd94c4ac	type	Theme Naming
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_fd94c4ac	comment	Theme Naming: Claude and Phyllida's children are named Tristan and Isolde.
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_fd94c4ac	featureApplicability	1.0
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_fd94c4ac	featureConfidence	1.0
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Rumpole of the Bailey / int_fd94c4ac
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_name	type	ItemName
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_name	comment
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_name	featureApplicability	1.0
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_name	featureConfidence	1.0
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Rumpole of the Bailey / int_name
Rumpole of the Bailey / int_name	itemName	Rumpole of the Bailey

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	A Day in Her Apron / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Against My Religion / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Amoral Attorney / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	At the Opera Tonight / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Attending Your Own Funeral / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Black Cap of Death / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	British Brevity / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Bulungi / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Cake Toppers / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Can't Hold His Liquor / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Character Name and the Noun Phrase / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Church of Happyology / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Cold Cash / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Common Nonsense Jury / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Court-martialed / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Cruise Episode / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Defeat Means Friendship / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Double Aesop / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Eek, a Mouse!! / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Empty Nest / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Evil Debt Collector / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Exiled to the Couch / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Expensive Glass of Crap / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	False Confession / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Female Misogynist / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Forging the Will / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Former Teen Rebel / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	French Cuisine Is Haughty / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Gentleman Snarker / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Glass Eye / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Good Lawyers, Good Clients / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Hanging Judge / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Hangover Sensitivity / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Happy-Ending Massage / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Hello, Attorney! / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Henpecked Husband / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Hunting "Accident" / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	I Just Shot Marvin in the Face / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Iconic Item / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Incestuous Casting / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Incompetence, Inc. / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Ineffectual Death Threats / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Insurance Fraud / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Irregular Series / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Lame Rhyme Dodge / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Mistaken for Cheating / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	My Local / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Never Learned to Read / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	No Party Given / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Not-So-Innocent Whistle / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Note from Ed. / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Office Golf / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Old-Fashioned Copper / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Oop North / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Plea Bargain / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Preacher's Kid / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Private Detective / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Scales of Justice / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Second-Face Smoke / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Sexless Marriage / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	She Is the King / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Surprise Witness / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Taking the Heat / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Teacher/Student Romance / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	10-Minute Retirement / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	The Cast Showoff / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	The Nicknamer / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	The Teetotaler / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	The Trope without a Title / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Undisclosed Funds / int_bd0d2c55
VerityLambert	seeAlso	Rumpole of the Bailey
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Video Inside, Film Outside / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	White Sheep / int_bd0d2c55
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Who Names Their Kid "Dude"? / int_bd0d2c55
RumpoleofTheBailey	sameAs	Rumpole of the Bailey
Rumpole of the Bailey	hasFeature	Courtroom Antics / int_bd0d2c55

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