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 Soapy Sam Ballard became Head of Chambers, the other characters seem to be similarly frozen in time. In "Rumpole and the Reign of Terror", Rumpole was still practising in 2006, and Judge Bullingham was still in post — unless this is a different Bullingham, but that is never stated explicitly. In the 1990 story "Rumpole at Sea", Rumpole says of Bullingham: "But now we have lost him." The prior "Mad Bull" was Roger Bullingham, and this Bullingham's name is Leonard. The son of Reverend Wilfred Rumpole and his wife Alice, and born at Dulwich, Rumpole attended "Linklater's" (a fictional minor