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 (book series) a collection of tales drawn from across the broad canon of Rumpole short stories. And one volume of Christmas-themed stories that had each been previously published in a magazine rather than in a Rumpole book. Contains all six short stories in the 1978 collection "Rumpole of the Bailey"; all six short stories in the 1979 collection "The Trials of Rumpole" and the 1980 single-story novel "Rumpole's Return" Contains all seven short stories in the 1981 collection "Regina V. Rumpole"; all six short stories in the 1983 collection "Rumpole and the Golden Thread" and all seven short stories in the 1987