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
Rumpole of the Bailey (radio series) and Jasmine Hyde reprising her role as Hilda. 2017 – A further three-part miniseries starring Julian Rhind-Tutt and Jasmine Hyde was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2017. There were also three one-off Christmas specials produced by BBC Radio in 1996, 1997 and 2001. Featuring respectively Timothy West, Leo McKern and Desmond Barrit as Horace Rumpole. There have been two series of Rumpole stories adapted for radio and three stand-alone radio specials. The first series consisted of a single season of 13 episodes. It was broadcast in 1980. It starred Maurice Denham as Horace Rumpole and Margot Boyd as