Rumpole of the Bailey: The Complete Series Megaset

An immensely popular series broadcast on PBS from 1978 to 1992, RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEY set a new bar for all courtroom dramas to come. Balancing suspense and satire as deftly as the scale of justice, Horace Rumpole tirelessly defends the downtrodden while undressing the upper classes. A timeless mixture of comedy and drama, RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEY was one of television's most celebrated courtroom dramas. Flawlessly adapted by John Mortimer from his best-selling Edgar Award-winning novels, and starring the esteemed Leo McKern (A Man for All Seasons), this 14-disc DVD Megaset™ includes all 42 episodes from the seven seasons of RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEY. DVD Features: Feature-Length Bonus Movie Rumpole's Return; Mortimer's Musings--An Interview with John Mortimer; McKern's Memories with Actress Abigail McKern (Daughter of Leo McKern); Episode Introductions with John Mortimer; Spot the Barrister-Highlighting John Mortimer's Impromptu Appearances; Newspaper Evidence; John Mortimer Biography; John Mortimer Bibliography and Selected Credits; About the Old Bailey; Official Executioners of Newgate Prison; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection Before there was Quincy and The Practice, there was Rumpole. Rumpole of the Bailey is, quite simply, one of the finest television series, and it has served as a model for all law dramas that followed it. Edgy and satirical, Rumpole is based on John Mortimer's books of the same name. A determined and committed criminal defense barrister (whose clients have included three generations of the Timson family, among others) at the Old Bailey (criminal court), esteemed actor Leo McKern portrays the antihero Rumpole. As champion of the downtrodden, the self-righteous Rumpole loves to get in trouble with his wife Hilda, his peers, the head of chambers, and judges, to name but a few. A connoisseur of Wordsworth, cigars, and cheap liquor, McKern's usually disheveled Rumpole belies the character's dry sense of humor and astute skill as a barrister. The upwardly mobile Hilda is played by Peggy Thorpe-Bates, known for her Miss Toliver in Alcatraz Island, and Justice Sir Guthrie Fetherston is played by Peter Bowles, known for his Richard DeVere in TV's To the Manor Born. Typical of British drama, production values are low while the caliber of scriptwriting and acting is unsurpassed. Rumpole is a rare example of a television serial that is as appealing and engaging on its 10th viewing as it was on its first. A&E's 14-disc megaset includes all 42 episodes from the series' seven seasons, plus the 1982 two-hour special Rumpole's Return, introductions by and an interview with John Mortimer, and other bonus material. --Erik Macki

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