Irene Shubik plays Shubik had produced for "Play for Today" was John Mortimer’s “Rumpole of the Bailey” (broadcast 17 December 1975), starring Leo McKern as the eponymous barrister. McKern had greatly enjoyed playing the role and had indicated it was a part he would be interested in returning to. Shubik commissioned six new "Rumpole" scripts from John Mortimer with a view to making a series but a change of senior personnel in the BBC led to the project being put on hold. In late 1976, Shubik departed the BBC for Thames Television and brought the "Rumpole" scripts with her. Shubik produced the
Rumpole of the Bailey his relatively static views, which causes feelings between him and the others to shift over time. Rumpole retired for a short period of time, moving to Florida to be near his son Nick, a sociology professor and now department head at the University of Miami. Nick is described by Rumpole as "the brains of the family". Nick was educated at public school as a teenager, then studied at Oxford University and Princeton. His academic visit to Baltimore University was determinant for staying in the USA. Rumpole often says that Nick is proud of his father's work in criminal law, and