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 separated. The play features a character, Leonard Hoskins (played by John Nettleton), a divorce lawyer with a domineering mother, who can be seen as an early prototype of Horace Rumpole. In the mid-1970s, Mortimer approached BBC producer Irene Shubik, who had overseen "Infidelity Took Place" and who was now one of the two producers overseeing "Play For Today" – the successor series to "The Wednesday Play" as the BBC's strand for contemporary drama. Mortimer presented an idea for a new play, titled "My Darling Prince, Peter Kropotkin", that centred on a barrister called Horace Rumbold. Rumbold would have a particular