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
D'Army Bailey and pundit James Carville. Bailey appeared in "Cigarette Girl" (2009), set in 2035, a future in which cigarette smokers have been ostracized into ghettos called “smoking sections” and a pack of cigarettes cost more than $60. In "Deadline" (2012), he played a judge. Bailey was married to the former Adrienne Marie Leslie; the couple had two sons, Justin and Merritt. Bailey died on July 12, 2015 of cancer at Methodist Hospital in his native Memphis, Tennessee. D'Army Bailey D'Army Bailey (November 29, 1941 – July 12, 2015) was an African-American lawyer, circuit court judge, civil rights activist, author, and film