Rumpole of the Bailey drama series. Impressed with "Rumpole of the Bailey", Lambert offered Shubik the opportunity to bring the series to Thames. John Mortimer readily agreed, since it would mean more money, and Shubik (and "Rumpole") duly left the BBC in late 1976. "Rumpole of the Bailey" made its Thames Television debut on 3 April 1978 in a series of six episodes. These introduced and established the supporting characters including Guthrie Featherstone (Peter Bowles), Claude Erskine-Browne (Julian Curry) and Phyllida Trant (Patricia Hodge). The role of Hilda was recast, with Peggy Thorpe-Bates taking on the part. Other than McKern, David Yelland (who played
Rumpole of the Bailey proud of her daddy (as she calls him), C.H. Wystan, Q.C. who was Rumpole's Head of Chambers, and she frequently advocates for Rumpole to seek a higher position in the legal world such as Head of Chambers or Queen's Counsel or a judgeship. The Rumpoles reside in a cavernous, underheated mansion flat at 25B Froxbury Mansions (sometimes called Froxbury Court), Gloucester Road, London. Rumpole raises tensions with his American daughter-in-law Erica (Deborah Fallender) because of their differing views (such as her disapproval of his cross-examining a rape victim he believed to be lying). His associates' dynamic social positions contrast with