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Trope was cut/disambiguated due to cleanup


* CatchPhrase:
** Rumpole has the "Golden Thread of British justice" and "never plead guilty" as personal mantras.
** Percy Hoskins had variants of "speaking as a man with daughters". This was lampshaded in "Rumpole and The Quality of Life" when he started out "I speak as a man with daughters" and Rumpole, Ballard and Uncle Tom all finished his sentence for him and echoed the word "daughters" around the room.


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* CharacterCatchphrase:
** Rumpole has the "Golden Thread of British justice" and "never plead guilty" as personal mantras.
** Percy Hoskins had variants of "speaking as a man with daughters". This was lampshaded in "Rumpole and The Quality of Life" when he started out "I speak as a man with daughters" and Rumpole, Ballard and Uncle Tom all finished his sentence for him and echoed the word "daughters" around the room.
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** Even Rumpole falls in to this from time to time. He uses Phyllida's naivety against her causing her to lose an open and shut case (her first prosecution), and then when she became a Recorder (part time judge) he arranged to sit on one of his cases, clearly hoping for an unfair advantage.

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** Even Rumpole falls in to this from time to time. He uses Phyllida's naivety against her causing her to lose an open and shut case OpenAndShutCase (her first prosecution), and then when she became a Recorder (part time judge) he arranged to sit on one of his cases, clearly hoping for an unfair advantage.
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convention


* AccidentalMisnaming: Phyllida (Trant) Erskine-Brown keeps having to correct people who think her name is "Phyllis".

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* AccidentalMisnaming: Phyllida (Trant) Erskine-Brown (née Trant) keeps having to correct people who think her name is "Phyllis".
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** David Inchcape is not so much as mentioned after "Rumpole On Trial", opening the way for Liz to be hit on by other men.
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* SternOldJudge: Most of the judges Rumpole deals with that aren't a HangingJudge are this instead.

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* SternOldJudge: Most of the judges Rumpole deals with that aren't a HangingJudge or Guthrie Featherstone are this instead.
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50+ is *comfortably* old enough to have an 18 year old son


* ComicBookTime: Rumpole is somewhere in his mid-sixties when first introduced, and never really gets any older. (See the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpole_of_the_Bailey#Biographical_information Other Wiki]] for a detailed rundown of the series' flexible chronology.) Strangely, this only applies to Rumpole and his wife. The young female lawyer introduced just passing the bar in the first stories is an experienced judge in late middle age by the end, and many other characters also age, retire, and so forth. Even stranger, the timeline of the series works just fine if you assume Rumpole was born in the 1910s (putting him in his 20s at the beginning of World War II (in which he served in the RAF groundstaff),[[note]]Just old enough to have just started a legal career, or about to[[/note]] in his 50s at the beginning of the series[[note]]Just old enough to have a son about to leave school and to think about becoming head of chambers or taking silk[[/note]] and his 70s around the end[[note]]A late retirement, but it's hardly unusual for lawyers who really love the job to remain in harness well into their 70s[[/note]]). Incidentally, Leo [=McKern=] was born in 1920.

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* ComicBookTime: Rumpole is somewhere in his mid-sixties when first introduced, and never really gets any older. (See the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpole_of_the_Bailey#Biographical_information Other Wiki]] for a detailed rundown of the series' flexible chronology.) Strangely, this only applies to Rumpole and his wife. The young female lawyer introduced just passing the bar in the first stories is an experienced judge in late middle age by the end, and many other characters also age, retire, and so forth. Even stranger, the timeline of the series works just fine if you assume Rumpole was born in the 1910s (putting him in his 20s at the beginning of World War II (in which he served in the RAF groundstaff),[[note]]Just old enough to have just started a legal career, or about to[[/note]] in his 50s at the beginning of the series[[note]]Just old series[[note]]Old enough to have a son about to leave school and to think about becoming head of chambers or taking silk[[/note]] and his 70s around the end[[note]]A late retirement, but it's hardly unusual for lawyers who really love the job to remain in harness well into their 70s[[/note]]). Incidentally, Leo [=McKern=] was born in 1920.
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* ComicBookTime: Rumpole is somewhere in his mid-sixties when first introduced, and never really gets any older. (See the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpole_of_the_Bailey#Biographical_information Other Wiki]] for a detailed rundown of the series' flexible chronology.) Strangely, this only applies to Rumpole and his wife. The young female lawyer introduced just passing the bar in the first stories is an experienced judge in late middle age by the end, and many other characters also age, retire, and so forth. Even stranger, the timeline of the series works just fine if you assume Rumpole was born in the 1910s (putting him in his 20s at the beginning of World War II,[[note]]Just old enough to have just started a legal career, or about to[[/note]] in his 50s at the beginning of the series[[note]]Just old enough to have a son about to leave school and to think about becoming head of chambers or taking silk[[/note]] and his 70s around the end[[note]]A late retirement, but it's hardly unusual for lawyers who really love the job to remain in harness well into their 70s[[/note]]). Incidentally, Leo [=McKern=] was born in 1920.

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* ComicBookTime: Rumpole is somewhere in his mid-sixties when first introduced, and never really gets any older. (See the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpole_of_the_Bailey#Biographical_information Other Wiki]] for a detailed rundown of the series' flexible chronology.) Strangely, this only applies to Rumpole and his wife. The young female lawyer introduced just passing the bar in the first stories is an experienced judge in late middle age by the end, and many other characters also age, retire, and so forth. Even stranger, the timeline of the series works just fine if you assume Rumpole was born in the 1910s (putting him in his 20s at the beginning of World War II,[[note]]Just II (in which he served in the RAF groundstaff),[[note]]Just old enough to have just started a legal career, or about to[[/note]] in his 50s at the beginning of the series[[note]]Just old enough to have a son about to leave school and to think about becoming head of chambers or taking silk[[/note]] and his 70s around the end[[note]]A late retirement, but it's hardly unusual for lawyers who really love the job to remain in harness well into their 70s[[/note]]). Incidentally, Leo [=McKern=] was born in 1920.
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** Rumpole will recite the romantic poets, but mostly Wordsworth, at the least provocation. Or none.
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*** Actually Featherstone was an MP before he joined the SDP. That party was founded by Labour defectors, so it's likely he was originally a Labour MP.
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** Another episode, "Rumpole and the Fascist Beast", subverts this by having Rumpole defending a far-right politician from the "British Patriots," which doesn't exist but is clearly based on the National Front.

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** Another episode, "Rumpole and the Fascist Beast", subverts this by having Rumpole defending a far-right politician from the "British Patriots," which doesn't exist but is clearly based on the National Front.Front or British National Party.
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it was still theoretically in force for other crimes until 1998


** An occasional theme with the series' Judges: Judge Bullingham is a very bullish sort of person, Judge Graves is described as being so serious minded as to be barely alive (and has a somewhat somewhat skeletal look to him) and Judge Twyburne is one of the few remaining judges who ever sentenced someone to death before the UK abolished the death penalty and has a name similar to the famous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyburn#Tyburn_gallows Tyburn gallows.]]

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** An occasional theme with the series' Judges: Judge Bullingham is a very bullish sort of person, Judge Graves is described as being so serious minded as to be barely alive (and has a somewhat somewhat skeletal look to him) and Judge Twyburne is one of the few remaining judges who ever sentenced someone to death before the UK abolished the death penalty for murder in 1965 and has a name similar to the famous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyburn#Tyburn_gallows Tyburn gallows.]]



* MyGreatestFailure: Judge Twyburne once sentenced a man to death for murder shortly before the death penalty was removed and the young man was later proven to be innocent. This has clearly preyed on his mind ever since and, when Rumpole brings it up, the guilt leads to him favouring the defence in Rumpole's case.

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* MyGreatestFailure: Judge Twyburne once sentenced a man to death for murder shortly before the death penalty was removed for murder in 1965 and the young man was later proven to be innocent. This has clearly preyed on his mind ever since and, when Rumpole brings it up, the guilt leads to him favouring the defence in Rumpole's case.
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** A literal one occurs in "Rumpole and the Fascist Beast". The gun is in the titular "fascist beast"'s shed, where he keeps birds, hidden under the bird seed. [[spoiler:He commits suicide after his acquittal leads to the local chapter of the party -- an obvious stand-in for the BNP -- unseating him.]]

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** A literal one occurs in "Rumpole and the Fascist Beast". The gun is in the titular "fascist beast"'s shed, where he keeps birds, hidden under the bird seed. [[spoiler:He commits suicide after his acquittal leads to the local chapter of the party -- an obvious stand-in for the BNP or National Front -- unseating him.]]
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** Since Rumpole refuses to take QC, he's therefore a "junior" barrister and often finds himself sitting second chair on cases to QC's and he often works to have them removed from the case (usually by impressing the client well enough that they just want Rumpole as their brief) so he can defend them properly.

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** Since Rumpole refuses to take QC, he's therefore a "junior" barrister and often finds himself sitting second chair on cases to QC's [=QCs=] and he often works to have them removed from the case (usually by impressing the client well enough that they just want Rumpole as their brief) so he can defend them properly.
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Compare and contrast ''Series/GarrowsLaw'', which is much like ''Rumpole'', but [[AC:[[RecycledINSPACE in Georgian London]]]].

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Compare and contrast ''Series/GarrowsLaw'', which is much like ''Rumpole'', but [[AC:[[RecycledINSPACE [[AC:[[JustForFun/RecycledINSPACE in Georgian London]]]].

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* CourtroomAntic: A major part of Rumpole's arsenal; when he's invited to lecture on law in one episode, one of his colleagues remarks that he knows very little about law but everything there is to know about how to distract the jury while one's opponent is summing up. And unlike most seen on television, they generally aren't the sort of thing that could get one charged with contempt of court; Mortimer was a practicing lawyer and knew just what you could reasonably expect to get away with in a court of law.


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* UnconventionalCourtroomTactics: When Rumpole is invited to lecture on law in one episode, one of his colleagues remarks that he knows very little about law but everything there is to know about how to distract the jury while one's opponent is summing up. And unlike most seen on television, they generally aren't the sort of thing that could get one charged with contempt of court; Mortimer was a practicing lawyer and knew just what you could reasonably expect to get away with in a court of law.
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* CreditsGag: The seventh (and final) series has two, in which the standard caricature of Rumpole is replaced: "Rumpole and the Children of the Devil" has Rumpole having fun with a scary mask, and "Rumpole and the Eternal Triangle" has Rumpole wearing a tuxedo and conducting an orchestra.
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* SternOldJudge: Most of the judges Rumpole deals with that aren't a HangingJudge are this instead.

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* MeaningfulName: When Rumpole visits Nuranga, a former British colony, the rather old-fashioned British High Commissioner is named Sir Arthur Remnant.

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* MeaningfulName: MeaningfulName:
**
When Rumpole visits Nuranga, a former British colony, the rather old-fashioned British High Commissioner is named Sir Arthur Remnant.Remnant.
** An occasional theme with the series' Judges: Judge Bullingham is a very bullish sort of person, Judge Graves is described as being so serious minded as to be barely alive (and has a somewhat somewhat skeletal look to him) and Judge Twyburne is one of the few remaining judges who ever sentenced someone to death before the UK abolished the death penalty and has a name similar to the famous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyburn#Tyburn_gallows Tyburn gallows.]]
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* MyGreatestFailure: Judge Twyburne once sentenced a man to death for murder shortly before the death penalty was removed and the young man was later proven to be innocent. This has clearly preyed on his mind ever since and, when Rumpole brings it up, the guilt leads to him favouring the defence in Rumpole's case.
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** Jean-Pierre O'Higgins specifically picked Rumpole to defend him because Rumpole had given as good as he got when they quarrelled in O'Higgins restaurant.
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* ALighterShadeOfGrey: Judge Graves, who more or less takes over as the series' main judge after Judge Bullingham stopped appearing, is also vindictive and prejudicial with a grudge against Rumpole but he's less so than "The Mad Bull" and, going by ''Rumpole At Sea,'' he does genuinely have an interest in seeing justice done (albeit badly misdirected in that case). By contrast Bullingham seemed mostly unconcerned with justice so much as getting the chance to punish others.

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* ALighterShadeOfGrey: Judge Graves, who more or less takes over as the series' main judge after Judge Bullingham stopped appearing, is also vindictive and prejudicial with a grudge against Rumpole but he's less so than "The Mad Bull" and, going by ''Rumpole At Sea,'' he does genuinely have an interest in seeing justice done (albeit badly misdirected in that case). case) and confesses that he regards Rumpole as a WorthyOpponent and that life would be duller without him. By contrast Bullingham seemed mostly unconcerned with justice so much as getting the chance to punish others.others and would happily be done with Rumpole forever.
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* WomenAreWiser: Female barristers and judges (e.g., Liz Probert, Fiona Allways, Phillida Erskine-Brown, Mrs. Justice Appleby) are always shown as intelligent and highly competent at their jobs, and [[WorthyOpponent foes worthy of Rumpole's steel]]. Bumbling barristers and dimwitted judges are always male. Even female criminals (such as April Timson in "The Female of the Species" or the killer in "The Angel of Death") are shown as far more skillful and composed than the foolish, cowardly male crooks Rumpole usually defends and exposes.

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* WomenAreWiser: Female barristers and judges (e.g., Liz Probert, Fiona Allways, Phillida Erskine-Brown, Mrs. Justice Appleby) are always shown as intelligent and highly competent at their jobs, and [[WorthyOpponent foes worthy of Rumpole's steel]]. Bumbling barristers and dimwitted judges are always male. Even female criminals (such as April Timson in "The Female of the Species" or the killer in "The Angel of Death") are shown as far more skillful and composed than the foolish, cowardly male crooks Rumpole usually defends and exposes. Also barristers' wives are usually included as well; Hilda Rumpole and Marigold Featherstone are, while often terrible snobs, a force to be reckoned with.
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* UnusualPopCultureName: The Erskine-Browns named their children [[Theatre/TristanUndIsoldeWagner Tristan and Isolde]] after Claude's favourite opera. The wisdom of naming a brother and sister after two legendary lovers goes oddly unremarked.

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* UnusualPopCultureName: The Erskine-Browns named their children [[Theatre/TristanUndIsoldeWagner Tristan and Isolde]] after Claude's favourite opera. The questionable wisdom of naming a brother and sister after two legendary lovers goes oddly unremarked.
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* UnusualPopCultureName: The Erskine-Browns named their children [[Theatre/TristanUndIsoldeWagner Tristan and Isolde]] after Claude's favourite opera. The wisdom of naming a brother and sister after two legendary lovers goes oddly unremarked.
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* ALighterShadeOfGrey: Judge Graves, who more or less takes over as the series' main judge after Judge Bullingham stopped appearing, is also vindictive and prejudicial with a grudge against Rumpole but he's less so than "The Mad Bull" and, going by ''Rumpole At Sea,'' he does genuinely have an interest in seeing justice done (albeit badly misdirected in that case). By contrast Bullingham seemed mostly unconcerned with justice so much as getting the chance to punish others.
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* WritersCannotDoMath: Used in-universe in "Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation", where Rumpole is cross examing a writer of pseudo-historical fiction on the stand and points out that the ages of her character make no sense as she entirely forgotten to account for the reign of Oliver Cromwell between the Battle of Naseby and the coronation of Charles II and is thus off by 16 years.

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* WritersCannotDoMath: Used in-universe in "Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation", where Rumpole is cross examing a writer of pseudo-historical fiction on the stand and points out that the ages of her character make no sense as she entirely forgotten to account for the reign of Oliver Cromwell Commonwealth and UsefulNotes/OliverCromwell between the Battle of Naseby and the coronation of Charles II and is thus off by 16 years.
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* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In the original ''Play for Today'' episode, Rumpole initially advises his client to plead guilty, believing his case is hopeless, and only changes his mind when the client insists that he didn't do it. In the series proper, Rumpole's motto (others even call it his religion) is "never plead guilty" - he never even considers the possibility of advising his client to do so unless they explicitly tell him that they did it, and even then he prefers to withdraw from the case and let another barrister take over. The only exception occurs where a serious charge to which the client pleaded not guilty is dropped mid-trial when Rumpole provides new evidence, leaving the client willing to plead guilty to a lesser charge that he'd always admitted to.
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crosswicking Irreg Series

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* IrregularSeries: Released intermittently from 1978 to 1992.
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Asexuality is now a disambiguation page.


* {{Asexuality}}: Rumpole, while occasionally indulging in romantic speculation, never shows any sexual interest in either his wife or anyone else, somewhat to Hilda's frustration at times. While the existence of his son suggests he didn't always feel this way he seems to have left such things behind him.
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Society Marches On has been renamed; cleaning out misuse and moving examples


* SocietyMarchesOn: Chambers of today are much more and centralized specialized then they were in John Mortimer's time at the Bar. Today Head of Chambers have a greater influence of which barristers takes which cases instead of having the clerk give them to you as they come.

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