Rumpole of the Bailey interest in nineteenth-century anarchists, especially the Russian Peter Kropotkin from whom the title of the play was drawn. The character's name was later changed to Horace Rumpole when it was discovered that there was a real barrister called Horace Rumbold. The title of the play was briefly changed to "Jolly Old Jean Jacques Rousseau" before settling on the less esoteric "Rumpole of the Bailey". Mortimer was keen on Michael Hordern for the role of Rumpole. When Hordern proved unavailable, the part went to Australian-born actor Leo McKern. Mortimer was initially unenthusiastic about McKern's casting but changed his opinion upon seeing
Opening and closing sequences of The Prisoner playing Number Two in the particular episode is usually inserted once. Credits for guest stars, producer David Tomblin, script editor George Markstein (thirteen episodes only), the writer(s) and director are superimposed over this. This is not invariable across the run. Sometimes Number Two's side of the conversation is provided by Robert Rietti instead of the actual actor; only Leo McKern, Mary Morris, Colin Gordon and Peter Wyngarde provided dialogue for the conversation. For the remaining episodes (where the dialogue was used) Rietti's voiceover was heard, although a shot of the actor playing Number Two would still be inserted following the