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
Richard William Bailey Richard William Bailey Richard William Bailey FRS (6 January 1885, Romford, Essex – 4 September 1957) was a British mechanical engineer and research engineer. Bailey served his apprenticeship at the Stratford works of the London and North Eastern Railway Company, and during this time he gained a Whitworth Exhibition and a Whitworth Scholarship, as well as being made the first ‘Director’s Scholar’. He became in 1907 a college apprentice in electrical engineering at British Westinghouse's Trafford Park works. Bailey was appointed in 1908 as a lecturer in mechanical engineering at Battersea Polytechnic, London and then in 1912 the Principal of