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 is mentioned that Rumpole was born sometime before the outbreak of World War I. These last two pieces of information would indicate a birth year of 1911, but later books contradict this. "Rumpole and the Primrose Path", for instance, appeared in 2003 and was set in the present day, but Rumpole was in his seventies, not 92. Nonetheless, when in "Rumpole and the Primrose Path" Erskine-Brown asks Rumpole what he sings to himself when he is alone, Rumpole replies, "A ballad of the war years." In general, in the book series, it would seem that Rumpole has been frozen at