Rumpole of the Bailey (book series) years after the 1993 anthology. (The book also contains the first few pages written by Mortimer for a new story titled "Rumpole and the Brave New World" that he was working on at the time of his death and thus was incomplete.) A collection of seven Christmas-themed short stories – some first published in US or UK magazines Rumpole of the Bailey (book series) Rumpole of the Bailey is a series of book created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer based on the television series "Rumpole of the Bailey". Mortimer adapted his television scripts into a
John Mortimer in 1975. Although not Mortimer's first choice of actor (in an interview on the DVD set, he said he wanted Alistair Sim -- "but he was dead"), Leo McKern played the character with gusto and proved popular; accordingly, the idea was developed into a series, "Rumpole of the Bailey", for Thames Television in which McKern again took the lead role. Mortimer also wrote a series of Rumpole books. In September–October 2003, BBC Radio 4 broadcast four new 45-minute Rumpole plays by Mortimer with Timothy West in the title role. Mortimer also dramatised many of the real-life cases of the barrister