Rumpole of the Bailey debut on 17 December 1975 to good reviews by the critics. Aware of the potential for further stories centred on Rumpole, Irene Shubik approached the BBC's Head of Plays, Christopher Morahan, and obtained permission from him to commission a further six "Rumpole of the Bailey" scripts from John Mortimer. However, Morahan left his post at the BBC a short time later and his successor was not interested in turning "Rumpole of the Bailey" into a series. At around this time, Shubik was contacted by Verity Lambert, Head of Drama at Thames Television, who was looking for ideas for an up-market
Paul Bailey (British writer) Visiting Lecturer in English Literature at the North Dakota State University (1977–79). He was awarded the E. M. Forster Award in 1974 and in 1978 he won the George Orwell Prize for his essay "The Limitations of Despair", first published in "The Listener" magazine. Bailey was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1999. Paul Bailey's novels include "At The Jerusalem" (1967), which is set in an old people's home, and which won a Somerset Maugham Award and an Arts Council Writers' Award; "Peter Smart's Confessions" (1977) and "Gabriel's Lament" (1986), both shortlisted for the Booker Prize