The Dock Brief The Dock Brief The Dock Brief (US title Trial and Error) is a 1962 black-and-white British legal satire directed by James Hill, starring Peter Sellers and Richard Attenborough, and based on the play of the same name written by John Mortimer (creator of Horace Rumpole). The film had its world premiere on 20 September 1962 at the Plaza Theatre in London's West End. Richard Attenborough was nominated for the 1963 BAFTA Award for best British actor for his role. In a cell under the Old Bailey, two men meet. One is Wilfred Morgenhall, an unmarried barrister who never gets any
Rumpole of the Bailey English Verse", he often quotes Wordsworth (and other poets less frequently, e.g. Shakespeare). He privately refers to his wife Hilda as "She Who Must Be Obeyed", a reference to the fearsome queen in the adventure novel "She" by H. Rider Haggard. His skill at defending his clients is legendary among the criminal classes. The Timson clan of "minor villains" (primarily thieves) regularly rely on Rumpole to get them out of their latest bit of trouble with the law. Rumpole is proud of his successful handling of the Penge Bungalow Murders "alone and without a leader" (that is, as a "junior"