Rumpole of the Bailey enjoyed his accounts of his cases and "harmless legal anecdotes". But as Nick grows older, father and son start to grow apart, because Nick doesn't agree with Rumpole's attitudes towards the law, criminals, judges, justice or his own family life. In total, seven series of "Rumpole of the Bailey" were made from 1978 to 1992, each consisting of six episodes. A special two-hour film, "Rumpole's Return", was made and aired in 1980, between the 2nd and 3rd series. The author, John Mortimer, occasionally appeared as an extra. Rumpole and his family: Members of Rumpole's Chambers at 3 Equity Court, London:
Rumpole of the Bailey Rumpole says he is 64 years old, suggesting a birthdate of 1910 (although Leo McKern, the actor who played Rumpole, was born in 1920). Rumpole's "Oxford Book of English Verse" is inscribed "Horace Rumpole, Little Wicks School 1923. Cursed be he who steals this book," (Series 4 – 1987); in "Rumpole and the Fascist Beast" it is mentioned that he studied at Birkenshaw School, as he calls it 'a wind-blasted penal colony on the Norfolk coast'; he bought his barrister's wig in 1932; first appeared in court in 1937; first met Hilda on 14 August 1938; served in the RAF