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1[[quoteright:348:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rumpole_19.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:348:Horace Rumpole, My Lord, appearing for the defendant...]]
3
4A Creator/ThamesTelevision production for Creator/{{ITV}} series, intermittently from 1978 to 1992, following an episode of Creator/TheBBC's ''Series/PlayForToday'', focused on the professional and personal life of one Horace Rumpole, barrister at law (played by Creator/LeoMcKern).
5
6Rumpole's unhealthy personal habits, disdain for societal expectation, and general sharp-tongued iconoclasm earn him few marks among his peers or family. Despite his successes, he is something of an embarrassment to his class-conscious chambers. At home, he has to endure the well-meaning haranguing of his wife, semi-affectionately referred to by Horace as "She Who Must Be Obeyed", a reference to the Creator/HRiderHaggard novel ''Literature/{{She}}''; one of Rumpole's simple vices is a love of English literature. Although ostensibly mysteries in many cases, the cases he undertakes are very unlike the standard Whodunnit, Creator/AgathaChristie murder mystery -- in some cases, Rumpole's task is merely to prove how his client didn't commit the crime (more often assault, fraud or theft than out-and-out murder) rather than ferret out the true culprit (although he frequently does so anyway). And, like the Franchise/SherlockHolmes cycle, sometimes no crime has really been committed at all.
7
8Yet Rumpole is his own man, and holds dearly to those rules he considers inviolate. Despite the detriment to his career, he ''never'' prosecutes. His job is to secure a "not guilty", and this he does with extreme regularity, even if it means antagonizing judges, refusing to make deals, or uncovering more than his client would prefer revealed in court.
9
10The show often strikes a well-balanced, perceptive note between the often ridiculous emphasis to which society demands the ''appearance'' of moral behaviour, and how it differs from the common sense, deeply personal, and more authentic morality represented by Rumpole. His mildly amused contempt for the trappings of "polite society" only serve to highlight his profoundly ethical nature.
11
12The character is loosely based on the actual courtroom career of barrister Sir John Mortimer CBE QC, Rumpole's creator and author, who often took on controversial and "lost hope" causes (such as defending the Music/SexPistols' use of the word "Bollocks" on the cover of their one and only album -- he won by proving the word [[OlderThanTheyThink had been used in common and cherished literature as far back]] as [[Creator/GeoffreyChaucer Chaucer]]).
13
14John Mortimer adapted many of the show's episodes into book form, and after the show was cancelled continued to write and publish new Rumpole stories, which frequently featured plots RippedFromTheHeadlines, or as close to it as you can get for a book. Many Rumpole stories have also been adapted for [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] {{Radio}}.
15
16Compare and contrast ''Series/GarrowsLaw'', which is much like ''Rumpole'', but [[AC:[[JustForFun/RecycledINSPACE in Georgian London]]]].
17
18----
19!!''Rumpole of the Bailey'' contains examples of:
20
21* TenMinuteRetirement: In the opening of "Rumpole's Return", Rumpole has apparently retired from the law after Judge Bull has caused him to lose ten cases in a row. Rumpole finds the good life in the sun to be interminably boring though, and a letter from Phyllida asking for some information on blood splatter evidence is taken as an opportunity for him to jump back into the law and trials.
22* AccidentalMisnaming: Phyllida Erskine-Brown (née Trant) keeps having to correct people who think her name is "Phyllis".
23* AccuseTheWitness: This seems to be Rumpole's favorite tactic, from very early in his career as revealed in ''Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders''. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. However he always makes sure he has evidence to back up these attacks first.
24* AgainstMyReligion: Frequently invoked/joked about: whatever religion Rumpole follows, it forbids prosecuting and pleading guilty (unless he knows for a fact that the client did it ''or'' if the judge is sympathetic and the client won't get jail time).
25* AlternateContinuity:
26** The books, though they began as adaptations of the TV series, had some very minor differences from the series, and kept being published long after the series had ended.
27** The recent BBC Radio 4 plays featuring Benedict Cumberbatch. They feature a much younger Rumpole, but they are all reworked stories from the television series that featured [=Leo McKern=]'s much older Rumpole.
28* AlwaysMurder: A rare exception to the rule for mystery stories. Very rarely does someone actually end up dead in Rumpole's cases -- in fact the very first story revolved around a random wounding, and the first episode of the regular series (the one that introduced the Timsons and the Malloys) was about a "robbery with violence" (i.e. a mugging in this case).
29* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: In the ''Play for Today'' episode, Rumpole slowly realizes that that's how his son regards them.
30* AmoralAttorney: Vanishingly few; most of the lawyers we meet are at worst sanctimonious hypocrites.
31** Featherstone and Ballard prefer prosecution or civil work to defense, and as such when they are assigned to be defense counsel they rarely apply themselves; they don't do their own investigations or even bother to cross-examine witnesses for fear of upsetting the judge, unlike Rumpole who does everything he can to make sure his clients have a fighting chance.
32** The solicitor Perrivale Blythe in "Rumpole and the Last Resort" fits this rather well; he never pays his bills to barristers -- hoping to wait until the barrister dies and then settle for a small percentage with the grieving widow -- and engages in some other questionable business with his clients besides.
33** Even Rumpole falls in to this from time to time. He uses Phyllida's naivety against her causing her to lose an 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.
34* ArchEnemy: Many judges don't like Rumpole, but none are so vehement in their dislike as Judge Roger Bullingham, known to Rumpole as "the Mad Bull". He doesn't like defense barristers in general, but he has a special contempt for Rumpole.
35* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Averted. This is noted as one of the most realistic legal dramas ever produced. The writer and creator John Mortimer, QC was an actual practicing barrister in addition to being a writer, and thus knew legal life, extremely well. He would get up at 4:00 in the morning to write the scripts and then go to work at court. He eventually retired from the Bar to focus on writing full time.
36* AwfulWeddedLife: Rumpole and Hilda really don't get along. How this is subverted to an extent as Hilda mentions that they tried to be a family for Nick's sake when he was a boy.
37* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: They may fight and argue but in Rumpole's words "they'd rather have war together than a lonely peace". There are several indications that Hilda is secretly proud of her husband, despite her loud disappointment that's he not a judge or a QC, although she'd never say so to her face. Lampshaded in "Rumpole and the Married Woman", where Rumpole notes that the couple in his divorce case stayed together because "they didn't want to be alone."
38* BadBoss: Sam Ballard as Head of Chambers. He's extremely judgmental about what choices his colleagues make in their personal and professional lives, '''especially''' Rumpole. He obsesses over very petty matters in Chambers, and his greatest concern is the public reputation and image of Chambers. On many occasions he's tried to force Rumpole out, so his office can be taken by a more financially lucrative or "respectable" barrister.
39* BatmanGambit:
40** Rumpole executes a magnificent one in "Rumpole and the Last Resort." [[spoiler:The gambit was focused on the solicitor Blythe, who at once owed Rumpole nearly £2,500 in fees going back as ten years earlier (at a time when Rumpole was late on his utility bills and overdrawn at his bank) and was a material witness in the fraud case he was defending. Blythe was known to hold out payment to barristers until they died, then wheedle the widow into settling the payment for a small fraction of the original fee. On top of that, Blythe had a tendency to have "just slipped out of the office" every time somebody called the office; he was more or less nowhere to be found. After Rumpole fails to convince Judge Bullingham to grant an adjournment in the fraud case to find Blythe, he decides to [[FakingTheDead fake his own death]]: he collapses in the middle of his application to Bullingham, sends a message to Chambers (supposedly from his wife) informing them that he is dead, and hides in his house for some time (possibly a week or more) until Blythe shows up at the door, offering Mrs. Rumpole the same pittance of a settlement he usually offered. She declines, forces him to sign a check for the exact amount Rumpole was owed, and then lets in PrivateDetective "Fig" Newton, who hands Blythe a subpoena. Finally, when Blythe is forced to take the stand and the fraud case recommences, Bullingham starts something of a eulogy for Rumpole. At this point, Rumpole appears in the courtroom and begins his questioning of a terrified Blythe. In the meantime, Chambers had gotten rather excited by the prospect of the death of Rumpole, with "Soapy Sam" trying to use it as an excuse to take on Guthrie Featherstone's well-connected nephew, and Claude Erskine-Brown hoping to take possession of Rumpole's umbrella stand: all of which Rumpole heard about and used to make a point about his Chambers.]]
41** Rumpole executes a few on Ballard, most notably in "Rumpole and the Age of Miracles", where he tricks "Soapy Sam", sitting in judgment in an ecclesiastical court, that the ghost of a saint that supposedly haunts the hotel where they are staying is warning the judge in the case (i.e. Ballard) of a great injustice to come.
42** The trick Liz Probert pulls on Claude Erskine-Brown falls under this, as well (see MistakenForGay below).
43** A nasty one is played on Rumpole in "Rumpole and the Golden Thread", where he's called to a fictional African nation to defend a former student of his from a capital charge by a corrupt government. He finds his client surprisingly uncooperative despite the stakes, but nonetheless keeps investigating and finds the evidence that will clear his name. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:the alibi that proves his client's innocence is proof of his second marriage with a woman from a different ethnic group. Rumpole's client was actually counting on being condemned, which would have caused his faction to revolt and break him out of prison, but instead the knowledge of the love affair results in him being killed by his own people shortly after being acquitted. The government was counting on Rumpole to find and use the evidence of innocence, as this way they got to have the appearance of a "fair" trial yet eliminate a thorn in their side while keeping their own hands clean.]]
44** Hilda and Liz Probert join forces in the final episode, "Rumpole on Trial," to trick Rumpole out of giving up his career. All it takes is [[spoiler:Hilda detailing all the things they're going to do together now that he's retired]].
45* BenevolentBoss: Guthrie Featherstone, when he was Head of Chambers in the first two series. He had a much more friendly relationship with Rumpole and the other barristers than Sam Ballard ever did.
46* BlackCapOfDeath: In "Rumpole and the Golden Thread", when Rumpole visits an African nation which still has the death penalty, the resident British Ambassador is excited to see a capital case because seeing the black cap brought out "adds a certain zest" to the trial. Rumpole is not enthusiastic about seeing it in the least, however.
47* BoardingSchool: Because Rumpole went to a third-rate public school, he doesn't have an "Old Boy Net" -- which turns out to be why Sam Ballard (who went to Marlborough, as did Featherstone) becomes Head of Chambers instead of Rumpole.
48* BrilliantButLazy: Rumpole is a fantastic barrister and advocate, but his practice is noted to have frequent lulls, and by his own admission he knows little about actual law. If he applied himself or expanded into other areas, he'd be much more financially secure (his bank account is often overdrawn).
49* BritishBrevity: The series aired from 1978 to 1992 for a grand total of 42 episodes broadcast over seven series, and one feature-length special aired between series two and three, plus the pilot aired on BBC in 1975.
50* BrotherhoodOfFunnyHats: In "Rumpole and the Right to Silence", he finds that the city of Gunster is dominated by the Ancient Order of Ostlers (described as "like the Freemasons, only more so"), who have a secret grip and swear by "the Great Blacksmith and Forger of the Universe."
51* {{Bulungi}}: Narenga, a Central African Commonwealth Realm with complex and often deadly tribal politics, in "Rumpole and the Golden Thread". One of Rumpole's old pupils, who has become Minister of the Interior, invites Rumpole to defend him in a case of capital murder; the absence of a jury -- an institution abolished by the British during the colonial period -- drives Rumpole mad.
52* BusmansHoliday: "Rumpole at Sea".
53* ButtMonkey: If somebody is getting the short end of the stick, you can bet good money that it's either Claude Erskine-Brown, Guthrie Featherstone, or Sam Ballard.
54* CakeToppers:
55** Claude and Phyllida Erskine-Brown's wedding cake at the end of "Rumpole and the Course of True Love" features the groom in a barrister's gown and clerical bands and the bride in a wedding dress—and both in barristers' wigs.
56** In "Rumpole and the Quality of Life", the cake at Sam Ballard's wedding to Marguerite "Matey" Plumstead, Matron of the Old Bailey, is topped with a man in barrister's garb and a woman dressed as an old-fashioned nurse in a blue gown, white apron with red cross, and white hat.
57* CantHoldHisLiquor: Samuel "Soapy Sam" Ballard, QC, gets absolutely blotto -- as in fall-on-the-floor, can't-remember-how-many-drinks-he's had, crazy ''drunk'' -- after a mere five small glasses of sherry. So, he opts for sparkling water instead.
58* CantLiveWithThemCantLiveWithoutThem: The ever-antagonistic Rumpoles may not love each other, exactly, but they occasionally show signs of a deep-seated loyalty. Horace learns to dance to make Hilda happy; Hilda fiercely defends Horace in "Rumpole on Trial"; and they prove themselves unbeatable when they join forces in the BatmanGambit discussed above.
59* CastingGag: Peter Cellier as Sir Frank Fawcett, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, in "Rumpole and the Official Secret", doubtless referencing his recurring role as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury Sir Frank Gordon in ''Series/YesMinister''. The Attorney General in the same episode, Donald Pickering, played Sir Richard Wharton in ''Series/YesMinister'' too.
60* CelibateHero: According to the novels, the Rumpoles had sex exactly once, on their honeymoon, which explains how they managed to have a child. Other than that, no, and Horace has only been MistakenForCheating. Although he was tempted by the feminine wiles, of Kathy Trelawney and Elizabeth Casterini.. But not enough to get him to betray his professional ethics.
61* CharacterCatchphrase:
62** Rumpole has the "Golden Thread of British justice" and "never plead guilty" as personal mantras.
63** 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.
64* CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase: Just about every episode title.
65* ChekhovsGun:
66** 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.]]
67** Another literal ChekhovsGun appears in ''Rumpole and the Show Folk''; whilst demonstrating with a gun in court, Rumpole notices that the hammer is extremely prone to going off accidentally when cocked, which becomes relevant when the defendant testifies to the gun going off accidentally in self defence. [[spoiler:Subverted when it's [[TheReveal revealed]] the defendant did actually murder the victim in cold blood and was just very good at covering her tracks.]]
68* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: After actor Richard Murdoch's death in 1990, Uncle Tom vanished without an explanation.
69* ChurchOfHappyology: In "Rumpole's Return" the defendant believes he has fallen afoul of religious group, based in Florida, which has ordered him to be framed for crime. The church all live in a large compound to which outsiders are forbidden and members are locked in, and joining it requires signing a legal contract giving them all their possessions and money. Scattered around the compound are large paintings of "The Master" who is apparently the only way to paradise.
70* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Uncle Tom, who hasn't had a brief in anyone's living memory, but still happily potters around Chambers playing golf. His chief role in the show is to go off on long semi-relevant recollections of past events whenever anyone discuses anything near him. (It is never explained how he supports himself.)
71* ColdCash: Or rather, cold silver; "Rumpole and the Blind Tasting" begins with the police going through one of the Timsons' freezers and finding Georgian silver tableware in bags of frozen peas.
72* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Both Claude Erskine-Brown and Ballard could be prone to this. When a psychiatrist suggested he wanted to sleep with his mother and he was asked if he did, Erskine-Brown replied, “Certainly not, Mummy would never have stood for it”. When Ballard was told that Erskine-Brown thought it’d be easier for him to become a QC if he were a woman, Ballard replied, “I think that’s very silly. I mean Claude Erskine-Brown couldn’t possibly be a woman, could he? So he might just as well forget the idea and settle down to being himself.”
73* 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]]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.
74* CommonNonsenseJury: "Rumpole a la Carte." Rumpole all but openly advocates a nullificatory verdict (the prosecution had objectively proved its case by any reasonable standard -- health-code violations at restaurants are strict-liability offenses requiring only a showing that the offending item was present in the restaurant, and nobody doubted that a live mouse had been present on a plate of food at that restaurant). He wins.
75* CommutingOnABus: Guthrie and Phyllida, after the first two series. Their actors had other commitments but they still mananged to appear in every season in some compacity.
76* ContinuityNod: Several, especially later in the series. They often occur when a character who was formerly a regular but now isn't (e.g. Guthrie Featherstone or Phyllida Trant) shows up.
77* CourtMartialed: In the episode "Rumpole and the Bright Seraphim", Rumpole is asked to defend a soldier in a court-martial and has some difficulty with the differences from the civilian courts he's used to operating in.
78* 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.
79* CrossingTheBurntBridge: Subverted with "Rumpole's Last Case" which seemed like it was going to set this scenario up. Rumpole, believing he was going to be rich and able to retire from the legal profession, took the time in his closing arguments to say exactly what he thought about Judge Bullingham. He didn't get to finish those arguments, however. Ultimately, Phyllida managed to convince the judge that Rumpole was actually building up to saying some very nice things in the second half of his speech and stopped the judge making his complaint. This also turned out to be Bullingham's final appearance so (as far as we know) Rumpole never had to see him again.
80* CruiseEpisode: "Rumpole at Sea", in which Rumpole and She Who Must Be Obeyed go on a second-honeymoon cruise.
81* ADayInHerApron: Rumpole faces a more realistic form of this when Hilda takes "industrial action" in "The Summer of Discontent." The house doesn't get enough time to go to pot, but [[LethalChef Rumpole sets fire to his beef]].
82* ADayInTheLimelight: "Hilda's Story," collected in ''Rumpole and the Angel of Death.''
83* DeadpanSnarker:
84** Rumpole, in both his life but especially in his style of advocacy.
85** Phyllida Erskine-Brown is also very good at this -- possibly a function of having been trained by Rumpole.
86** And under Mortimer's pen, everyone gets this. See, for instance, this bit from "Rumpole and Portia":
87--->'''Rumpole:''' If Uncle Tom goes, I go.\
88'''Ballard:'''[[note]]Of all people![[/note]] That would seem to make the departure of Uncle Tom even ''more'' desirable.
89* DecliningPromotion: Rumpole's habit of turning down more lucrative law practices, and promotions seems all find and admirable until you remember he how often his bank account get overdrawn. In ''Rumpole and the Last Resort'' he has no money to pay utilities because a particular seedy solicitor is refusing to pay him his due from a back case. It also means he really doesn't have much money for a pension so he can't retire from the Bar, even if he wanted to.
90** Since Rumpole refuses to take QC, he's therefore a "junior" barrister and often finds himself sitting second chair on cases to [=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.
91* DefeatMeansFriendship: Rumpole's underhand defeat of Phyllida Trant in their first courtroom encounter in ''Rumpole and the Married Lady''. Referred to quite a bit in later episodes.
92* DescriptionCut: A rather subtle one in "Rumpole on Trial". A man in court is quoting from the book of proverbs, "It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house. It is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and an angry woman." Then the scene immediately shifts to Hilda walking down the street...
93* DirtyCop: Detective Inspector "Dirty" Dickerson of "Rumpole and the Learned Friends," who runs a sort of [[ShameIfSomethingHappened protection racket]] with the "minor villains" in his area of South London (usually by planting evidence of some crime -- whether or not they committed it -- and then {{blackmail}}ing them with it) and is all too happy to perjure himself.
94* DownerEnding: Several examples, but few with long-lasting consequences. One of the most notable occurs at the end of "Rumpole and the Man of God", where Rumpole's involvement in a case long ago causes him to permanently fall out with George Frobisher, who had consistently been Rumpole's best friend up to that point in the series. In his later appearances, Frobisher is noticeably frostier and more curt with Rumpole, the only barrister to whom he had been close enough that they were on first-name terms.
95* DrivenToSuicide:
96** One of the characters in "Rumpole and the Official Secret" winds up [[spoiler:throwing himself under a train.]]
97** In "Rumpole and the Facist Beast" [[spoiler: Rumpole's client is acquitted but ends up being made a fool of in the process and dismissed by his far right political party for supposedly humiliating their cause. He decides he can't stand it and shoots himself.]]
98* DysfunctionalFamily: the Rumpoles (particularly obvious in the original teleplay, which was darker in tone than the later episodes).
99* 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.
100* EekAMouse: In "Rumpole a la Carte". Admittedly, a plate in a three-Michelin-star restaurant is the last place you would expect to find a live mouse, but do you ''really'' have to stand on your chair and shriek?
101* EmbarrassingMiddleName: Claude ''Leonard'' Erskine-Brown. Rumpole exhibits unbridled joy reciting it when [[spoiler:he learns it just before his cross-examination of Erskine-Brown in "Rumpole a la Carte"]].
102--> '''Rumpole''': ''*gleefully*'' Leonard? He's not owned up to that before!
103* EmptyNest: Rumpole and Hilda are going through this in "Rumpole and the Married Lady" with their son having graduated college, gotten married and emigrated to America. Hilda worries about the state of their marriage, even lamenting that without their son around then what did that make them? Rumpole has slumped into depression at the start, having not gone to work at chambers for some time and just sitting around in his dressing gown all day. It is a bitter divorce case that Rumpole has to deal with in court that manages to break them out of it, making them realise their own troubles are not so bad.
104* ExactWords: Phyllida Erskine-Brown to Sam Ballard: "I'm leaving the Bar."
105* ExiledToTheCouch:
106** Hilda does this to Rumpole when she suspects him of having a fling with the young girlfriend of an elderly artist. Unfairly; he was just at a pub to collect evidence.
107** Rumpole exiles himself after a particular disastrous night at the Scales of Justice Ball, where he tells a "blue" story that offends both Hilda and the prudish Welsh judge he was sitting next to. He ends up living in chambers for a while, to Ballard's displeasure, forcing him to move in with the Erskine-Browns. Eventually the Erskine-Browns get fed up with him (and he gets fed up with young Tristan and Isolde Erskine-Brown's incessant complaints about his smoking), and he ends his self-imposed exile... but not before he forces Ballard to spend a night at chambers himself.
108** Claude Erskine-Brown eventually is himself forced to live with Rumpole after the "Kitten a-Go-Go" flap ("Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation"); at first Hilda takes great delight in annoying Rumpole with Erskine-Brown's holier-than-thou habits, but she eventually tires of his incessant playing of opera tapes.
109* FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:See BatmanGambit above]]. And the entire scheme serves as the setup to one TV's greatest OverlyPrepreparedGag moments: [[spoiler:Rumpole, after it's revealed he's alive: "It must have come as a huge relief for those who heard Rumpole had kicked the bucket, to hear he had just turned a little pail."]]
110* FawltyTowersPlot: A good number of the B-Plots fall into this category. The one about sexual harassment in "Rumpole and the Eternal Triangle" fits particularly well.
111* FemaleMisogynist: During one of his complaints about the various unreasonable judges he has to work with, Rumpole singles out a female judge as a worse male chauvinist than any of the men.
112* FeudingFamilies: The Timsons and the Molloys, two families of South London villians who have not been on speaking terms ever since a Molloy betrayed a Timson in the Streatham Co-op Robbery. More than once in the series, the police attempt to use a Molloy as a [[TheStoolPigeon "grass"]] to get the goods on a Timson, rarely with good results.
113* FieryRedhead: Phyllida (Trant) Erskine-Brown and the first Liz Probert (played by Samantha Bond).
114* {{Flanderization}}:
115** At the beginning of the series, Claude Erskine-Brown is a somewhat pompous but nevertheless effective barrister with a thriving civil practice. By the end, he's an incompetent and completely un-self-aware milquetoast. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d when Erskine-Brown complains to Rumpole about how he's been reduced to "scraping the bottom of your [i.e. Rumpole's] barrel." Also, at the beginning of the series, Erskine-Brown is an all-around devotee of classical music in general and opera in particular, whereas at the end he focuses exclusively on Wagner.
116** Mr. Justice Oliphant went from mentioning "common sense" and his blunt [[OopNorth Northern]] heritage once or twice a trial to practically every line.
117* FlawExploitation: Phyllida Erskine-Brown exploits Sam Ballard's sexual hypocrisy in order to get Claude his promotion to QC.
118* FlorenceNightingaleEffect: How Marguerite ("Matey") gets Sam Ballard to marry her.
119* ForgingTheWill: One story revolves around a forged will; Rumpole is retained by the true beneficiary to represent her in challenging the false will. (He's initially reluctant to venture into a civil court case, but he can't resist a good forgery.)
120* FormerTeenRebel: Sam Ballard. In the later novels and short stories, he and his teenage rock group get back together for jam sessions. Ironically, Rumpole thought spilling the beans on his dread past would embarrass him, but instead people in chambers conclude he is less stuffy than they thought.
121* ForYourOwnGood: In "Rumpole and the Reform of Joby Jonson," Sam Ballard, in an uncharacteristic HurricaneOfPuns, kindly explains to Claude Erskine-Brown that no, he couldn't possibly recommend Claude for promotion to QC. The result is an equally uncharacteristic WhatTheHellHero.
122* FrenchCuisineIsHaughty: ''La Maison Jean-Pierre'', run by Jean-Pierre O'Higgins, in "Rumpole a la Carte" is an epitome -- but it's not ''quite'' so stuffy after Rumpole defends him.
123* FriendlyEnemy: The members of Number 3, Equity Court often find themselves on opposite sides of a case, but are friendly enough to each other, usually.
124* GilliganCut: In "Rumpole at Sea," Hilda wants to take a sea cruise. Rumpole doesn't. He tells her to get one thing clear, that he is ''not'' going on any cruise, no, no, NO... [ship's foghorn blows].
125* GoodLawyersGoodClients: Subverted. While it is true that almost all of Rumpole's clients that we see are in fact innocent of the crime they're on trial for, they are very frequently guilty of some other crime. This is particularly true of the Timsons, a clan of South London "[[HarmlessVillain minor villains]]" who make their living off of petty larceny and [[FellOffTheBackOfATruck fencing]], and whose fees seem to pay a fair chunk of Rumpole's own bills. There's also more than one DownerEnding where Rumpole's client tells him ''after'' he's got them off that they were in fact guilty and thanks to the double jeopardy rule there's nothing he can do about it.
126* GotMeDoingIt: Rumpole repeatedly calls the young Charles Hearthstoke "Hearthrug". At one point, he does it in front of Mr Justice Featherstone, who once follows suit.
127* GrandFinale:
128** Most season finales where written in a way to wrap up the show, because [=Leo McKern=], although he enjoyed the role, wanted to avoid typecasting and was frustrated how it seemed to overshadow his other works (much like Alec Guinness with Star Wars), but John Mortimer convinced him to keep coming back. The ultimate finale was "Rumpole on Trial", where all of the cast main and supporting reunite for a party, at the end.
129** In the final novel published, ''Rumpole Misbehaves'', Rumpole makes a serious attempt to become a QC, because his client wants a QC, and only a QC to defend him. [[spoiler:He doesn't get it because during a cross examination he implied that a Home Office official was connected to a prostitution ring much to anger of the presiding judge, who happens to be on the Committee that grants applications for [=QCs=].]]
130* HangingJudge: Most of the judges Rumpole encounters are '''not''' impartial. They tend to act as a second prosecutor.
131** Mr Justice Roger "the Mad Bull" Bullingham
132** "Rumpole and the Sporting Life" features an unusual and literal example in the elderly Mr Justice Twyburne, who once sentenced a man to hang for killing a policeman. [[spoiler:The man was later proven innocent, a fact which has preyed on Twyburne's conscience ever since.]]
133* HangoverSensitivity: There's at least one episode of wherein Rumpole, after a night of "carousing" with Henry the clerk, has to come in to court shading his eyes.
134* HappyEndingMassage: "Rumpole and the Judge's Elbow". Featherstone, presiding in this case, thinks he went to a parlor where these were provided, although he didn't partake and wasn't even aware of the possibility. HilarityEnsues.
135* HarmlessVillain: The Timson clan, very, ''very'' low-level crooks ("minor villains" is what Rumpole likes to call them) whom Rumpole defends on a regular basis (they appear to be his primary source of income, and at one point he refers to himself as being "CT -- Counsel to the Timsons."). They are quite proud that they never resort to violence, only what Rumpole and Mortimer call "ordinary decent crime."
136* HenpeckedHusband:
137** Rumpole. His nickname for Hilda is "She Who Must Be Obeyed".
138** Sam Ballard
139** Claude Erskine-Brown is in the same boat, but Phyllida tries to be subtler about it.
140** And Guthrie Featherstone, whose wife is constantly pushing him to the next-higher position.
141* HiddenDepths: Claude Erskine-Brown appears to be a foppish, reactionary twit...and he is. However [[spoiler: when Phyllida Trant discovers that they're going to have a baby she assumes he'll expect her to become a housewife as a result only to find out he never even considered asking her to give up her career and is quite willing, even overjoyed, to share parenting duties.]]
142* HighClassCallGirl: Played with in "Rumpole and the Old Boy Net": Rumpole's clients were a middle-aged couple who ran a brothel for a high-class clientele. None of the actual prostitutes were in any way significant, and they weren't call girls (working as they were at a brothel), but the general idea (of a high-class prostitute) applies.
143* HolierThanThou: Sam Ballard. One wonders why he didn't become a cleric instead of a barrister.
144* TheHumphrey: Rumpole is a heroic variation- he knows and exploits the politics and follies of the legal system, but tries to pursue justice when possible.
145* HuntingAccident: "Rumpole and the Sporting Life" revolves around a death that may have been murder or a genuine hunting accident. [[spoiler:It was a genuine accident--though not by Rumpole's client, the victim's wife (who intentionally shot her husband's dead body to protect her lover, whom she mistakenly thought had killed him) but by his tenant and neighbour (who had actually killed the victim while illegally shooting pheasants from his window).]]
146* ICouldaBeenAContender: Rumpole is a variation in that his wife is disappointed that he hasn't achieved greater financial and career success, nor become head of chambers like her father was. Rumpole, on the other hand, is perfectly happy where he is, and has no interest in becoming a "Queer Customer" or "Circus Judge."
147* InDaClub: Bizarrely and briefly. Phyllida Trant talks Claude Erskine-Brown (then just her boyfriend) into going to a fairly typical disco club after what was for her a thoroughly bored night at the opera, where they find none other than Guthrie Featherstone dancing in a tiger-print shirt with Angela, one of the junior clerks at chambers. Well, it ''was'' [[TheSeventies 1979]].
148* IncompetenceInc: In "Rumpole and the Heavy Brigade", Rumpole has acquired a reputation as such, following a run of poor cases in district court. On return to The Bailey he is then hired as part of a SpringtimeForHitler plot by a pair of gangsters hoping to get their stuttering brother convicted to cover up their own crime. However Rumpole is fired up by the return to the Bailey, a number of mean remarks about his dress sense, and the prospect of defending a nice juicy murder rather than common assaults or indecent exposure cases found in district court, and manages to win it instead.
149* IrregularSeries: Released intermittently from 1978 to 1992.
150* JadedWashout: Rumpole. He's still a competent barrister but his most famous days were the Penge Bungalow Murders after WWII. His practice is not as successful as it once was, he's considered an embarrassment by his peers, and a disappointment to his wife.
151* JustifiedCriminal: Most pitiably, a music hall singer who murdered her violently abusive husband, only to find herself years later on the same cruise ship with the judge who presided over her trial.
152* LargeHam: Rumpole's modus operandi for much of his dealings with other people, and particularly his advocacy. He's called out on it by some theatrical actors in ''Rumpole and the Show Folk''.
153* LastNameBasis: Most everybody with respect to everybody else. Vanishingly few people call Rumpole "Horace;" not even Hilda. This is actually accepted practice amongst many members of the Bar, first names generally only being used between barristers who are on a very informal footing. We can see this with Rumpole and George Frobisher, who are (in early seasons) close friends ([[spoiler:They have something of a falling-out after Rumpole's first case before Frobisher as a circuit judge]]) and call each other "Horace" and "George".
154* LameRhymeDodge: Rumpole's habit of talking to himself frequently asserts itself at the wrong time, leading to some rapid backtracking.
155-->'''Horace Rumpole:''' ''[under his breath]'' She who must be...\
156'''Hilda Rumpole:''' What?\
157'''Horace Rumpole:''' I said "trust me," Hilda. I shall always be a staunch supporter of women's rights.
158* LastSecondWordSwap: Rumpole almost introduces Hilda as "She who must be obeyed" at a party.
159-->'''Horace Rumpole:''' She who must be... Mrs. Rumpole.
160* 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) 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 and would happily be done with Rumpole forever.
161* LethalChef: Rumpole, as evidenced by the flaming bits of meat in "Rumpole and the Summer of Discontent."
162* MaliciousMisnaming: When Rumpole is feeling ill-disposed towards Ballard (which is most of the time), he calls him "Bollard".
163* MeaningfulName:
164** When Rumpole visits Nuranga, a former British colony, the rather old-fashioned British High Commissioner is named Sir Arthur Remnant.
165** 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.]]
166* MistakenForCheating:
167%% ** Sam Ballard, Guthrie Featherstone, and even Rumpole himself, on separate occasions.
168** Subverted with Claude Erskine-Brown, who attempts to cheat and fails miserably.
169** And averted once with Featherstone, who actually ''was'' cheating with Angela (the left-wing junior clerk).
170** In "Rumpole and the Married Lady" a series of partially overheard phonecalls by Hilda, listening in to Rumpole having to deal with a somewhat overwrought and needy female client during a bitter divorce, leads her to think that Rumpole may be cheating on her. Hilda even briefly moves out to visit a friend, but thankfully realises that for all his faults that Rumpole is not the cheating sort.
171* MistakenForGay: One of Liz Probert's boyfriends (Dave Inchcape) makes it into Chambers because Claude Erskine-Brown believes that he's gay. This led to a rather hilarious exchange when Claude was attempting to interview the man and was alluding to him being gay, but Dave thought he was talking about him being a barrister.
172-->'''Dave Inchcape:''' Well, I expect you want to know a bit about my experience.\
173'''Claude Erskine-Brown''' ''[alarmed]'' Good heavens, no.\
174'''Dave Inchcape:''' You don't?\
175'''Claude Erskine-Brown:''' No, no, no, no. I take the attitude, Dave, that your experiences are entirely a matter between you and…well, whoever you've had the experiences with.\
176'''Dave Inchcape:''' Tomkins in Testament Buildings.\
177'''Claude Erskine-Brown:''' Please, don't tell me! It's absolutely none of my business...You mean Tommy Tomkins?\
178'''Dave Inchcape:''' Yes, I was with him for about a year.\
179'''Claude Erskine-Brown:''' But I thought Tommy was married to a lady magistrate?\
180'''Dave Inchcape:''' So he is. Does that make a difference?\
181'''Claude Erskine-Brown:''' Well, not nowadays, I suppose.
182* MurderIsTheBestSolution: "Rumpole and the Quality of Life."
183* 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.
184* MyLocal: Pommeroy's Wine Bar.
185* MysteryWriterDetective: Played with in "Rumpole At Sea", where a mystery writer tries to play detective after a mysterious event on the cruise ship, and comes up with an entirely inaccurate theory about what happened.
186* NeverLearnedToRead: One episode has Rumpole proving that a confession was coerced because the defendant can't read or write, and thus couldn't have written it/known what he was signing.
187* TheNicknamer: Rumpole himself.
188** He calls pretty much everyone "old darling" or "old sweetheart".
189** He calls Hilda "She Who Must Be Obeyed."
190** He gives Phyllida Trant the nickname "Portia" (or more completely, "the Portia of our chambers"), after Portia in ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice''.
191** He gives Samuel Ballard the honor of not one but two nicknames: "Soapy Sam" (referring to Samuel Wilberforce, a famous public speaker and defender of Christianity in the late 19th century) and the rather less complimentary "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollard Bollard]]." In the stories, "the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Savonarola Savonarola]] of our chambers."
192** He calls Liz Probert "Miz Liz". [[StrawFeminist Guess why.]]
193** He repeatedly calls the young Charles Hearthstoke "Hearthrug." To his face.
194** The solicitor Mr Bernard (who usually handles the Timsons' cases, among others) is known to Rumpole as "Bonny Bernard".
195** He creates a couple of private nicknames for several of the recurring judges. The notable ones are:
196*** Judge Roger "The Mad Bull" Bullingham.
197*** Mr. Justice Gerald Graves, called by Rumpole "Mr Injustice Graves," "Mr Justice Gravestone," and at on least one occasion "Mr Injustice Death's Head".
198* NippleAndDimed: Averted, as the series aired after the {{Watershed}}. A stripper in "Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation" and an artist's model in "Rumpole and the Quality of Life" are both depicted with their assets clearly displayed.
199* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The "Ostlers" of the (fictional) town of Gunster in "Rumpole and the Right to Silence" bear a ({{lampshade|Hanging}}d) resemblance to the Freemasons.
200** "Justitia" in "Rumpole and the Golden Thread" is a clear Expy for Amnesty International... And a semi-autobiographical reference to one Mortimer's own cases.
201* NoodleIncident: Rumpole's greatest professional success, the case of the Penge Bungalow Murders, was a NoodleIncident for almost three decades before recently being told in a novel surprisingly named ''Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders''.
202* NoPartyGiven: Averted where applicable.
203** The third episode, "Rumpole and the Honourable Member", features an MP clearly identified as Labour accused of rape by his left-wing "Trot" campaign worker.
204** 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 or British National Party.
205** Guthrie Featherstone QC MP is clearly identified as having joined the Social Democratic Party shortly before becoming a judge. When Featherstone is still in practice as a barrister, Rumpole often identifies him as a "Conservative-Labour" politician -- i.e., too indecisive to be possessed of any great political conviction. It's implied that he joined the Social Democrats mainly because it kept him from having to choose a side.
206*** 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.
207** Charles Hearthstoke says he's standing as a Tory candidate for his local council when discussing radical change at chambers with...
208** Liz Probert, daughter of "Red Ron" Probert, a left-wing Labour leader of a North London borough council; she takes after her father. As for why Hearthstoke was talking to Probert about change in the chambers, he argued that the fact they were both young would make them both favor modernisation. However, [[AllMenArePerverts it's pretty clear that he just wants to get into her pants]] (or is it her robes when discussing barristers?).
209** Phyllida Trant, while chewing out her then-boyfriend Claude Erskine-Brown, mentions his "inexplicable approval of [[UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher Mrs Thatcher]]" (or something to that effect) as one thing she's willing to accept, implying that Erskine-Brown is a Tory and that Phyllida isn't.
210* NoSenseOfHumor: Sam Ballard and, often, Claude Erskine-Brown. Ballard's humorlessness is usually of the LiteralMinded variety.
211* NotSoInnocentWhistle: Rumpole puts on one of these in "Rumpole and the Last Resort" when he tries to nonchalantly walk out of his bank after bouncing a cheque. It fools nobody, and his InnerMonologue notes he ought to have just made a dash for it instead.
212* ObfuscatingStupidity: Rumpole occasionally uses this when he's trying to get something, especially if he's trying to get it from Hilda.
213* OfficeGolf: Uncle Tom's primary occupation, besides making bizarre comments at Chambers meetings and completely misunderstanding anything anyone says within earshot of him.
214* OldFashionedCopper: Detective Inspector Brush, depicted most negatively.
215* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: T. C. Rowley, called Uncle Tom by even an ultra-stuffy character like Ballard.
216* OopNorth: Mr Justice Oliphant is very proud of being from there, and it drives Rumpole to distraction.
217* OpenMouthInsertFoot: Mr Justice Featherstone has this problem; Rumpole even mentions it by name in his worst instance ("Rumpole and the Tap End").
218* OpenSecret: Hilda knows perfectly well that Rumpole calls her She Who Must Be Obeyed.
219* PleaBargain: Despite his maxim "never plead guilty" he does at times engage in plea-bargaining, particularly when he knows the judge to be sympathetic. He tries at this -- and Phyllida Trant, who was prosecuting, quite agreed -- in "Rumpole and the Course of True Love," but George Frobisher couldn't guarantee that the client wouldn't do prison time. "Rumpole and the Tap End" starts with just one of these, where he got an attempted murder reduced to actual bodily harm before Featherstone, and the client was bound over. That is where the trouble began, however...
220* PreachersKid: Rumpole doesn't mention it often, but his father was a vicar, and his childhood home was a vicarage. Naturally, Rumpole has less use for organised religion than anyone else in the series.
221* PrecisionFStrike: The series is generally devoid of profanity. A notable exception to this is when Hilda complains [[spoiler:that Rumpole never told her he was going to be passed over for head of chambers for the newly arrived Ballard QC]]. Rumpole simply replies that he has ‘fucked it,’ with the line being delivered in such a way that you have to rewatch a few times just to discern that the word said isn’t ‘funked.’
222* ProperlyParanoid: Hilda in "Rumpole and the Reform of Joby Jonson," as Rumpole concedes at the end.
223* PutOnABus:
224** Nick Rumpole moves to America to become a Professor of Sociology first at Baltimore then Miami. He isn't seen after the first two series.
225** Judge Bullingham was written out after his actor passed away after series four. However, this does not apply to books where Judge Bullingham was still a regular supporting character up to the very end.
226** David Inchcape is not so much as mentioned after "Rumpole On Trial", opening the way for Liz to be hit on by other men.
227* RankUp: Phyllida Trant begins the series as a junior barrister and ends it as [[spoiler:a High Court judge]].
228* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Played with and discussed in “Rumpole and the Honourable Member”. Rumpole treated everything about the case with the same level of sobriety and respect that he would any other crime (read: very little). However, this wasn’t shown to be because he didn’t regard rape as a serious crime but rather because he believed a man who’s innocent of rape (as he always assumes his clients to be innocent) deserves just as thorough a defence as one who’s innocent of petty theft. At the same time, Rumpole acknowledged that everyone in the courtroom would regard the crime differently particularly because it was a rape. Nick's fiancée Erica is shocked by the way he would attack the alleged victim which led Rumpole to challenge her on whether it’s fair that a lower standard of proof (the victim’s word) should exist for rape as opposed to other crimes. It's clear Rumpole's attitude created a falling out between father and son, leading to Nick moving to America.
229* RealLifeWritesThePlot: A number of storylines are a WholePlotReference lifted from the headlines; for instance ''Rumpole and the Children of the Devil'' tackled the spurious accusations of ritual Satanic abuse that created a moral panic.
230* RecycledPlot: After BBC Radio 4 did an adaption of ''Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders'' with Benedict Cumberbatch as the young Rumpole, they began producing more plays featuring Benedict's Rumpole that were just reworked version of John Mortimer's old scripts.
231* {{Retcon}}: Somewhere along the line in the books Judge Roger Bullingham became Judge ''Leonard'' Bullingham. Whether or not they are the same charcter is open to fan debate.
232* RunningGag:
233** "Speaking as a man with daughters..."
234** Rumpole will recite the romantic poets, but mostly Wordsworth, at the least provocation. Or none.
235** Hilda's obsession with her "Daddy", C. H. Wystan.
236** Claude Erskine-Brown's obsession with {{Opera}}; ''[[Music/RichardWagner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg]]'' gets mentioned a lot.
237* SatchelSwitcheroo: Rumpole accidentally walks off with Uncle Tom's briefcase, discovering the switch only when he opens it. In court. HilarityEnsues.
238* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: Rumpole's attitude towards prosecuting, taking silk, and becoming a judge. He is tempted, every now and then, but he always falls back to his old habits.
239** In "Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation," he has taken on a civil libel suit defending the editor of a London tabloid, the highest-paying case of his career, which promises to fund his retirement. Then [[spoiler:he discovers the entire lawsuit is a fraud cooked up between his client and the plaintiff (to extract money from the co-defendant, the corporation that publishes the tabloid; the plaintiff--a writer of sappy romance novels--and Rumpole's client are actually lovers). Rather than continue with the case, he blackmails the client into making sure the case is dropped, and instructs his solicitors to return the client's money]].
240* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: How Sam Ballard is able to become Head of Chambers, despite being a new member. He's part of Guthrie's "Old Boy Net".
241* SecondFaceSmoke: Rumpole does this to some of the more priggish characters, especially Ballard.
242* SeriesContinuityError: Rumpole speaks of Professor Ackerman as the famous pathologist from the ''Penge Bungalow Murders'', then in ''and the Expert Witness'' it was Dr Dacre, before finally becoming, in the ''Penge Bungalow Murders'' story itself, Dr Phillimore.
243* SexlessMarriage: The Rumpoles (see CelibateHero above). "Rumpole at Sea" suggests that this may not entirely be Hilda's doing.
244* ShoutOut: "The Dear Departed" contains several shout-outs to ''Theatre/RichardII''. Rumpole opens and closes with a quote from the play ("Let's talk of graves, and worms, and epitaphs..."). The solicitors in his will case are Mowbray and Pontefract -- Mowbray being the accused knight whose duel opens ''Richard II'', and Pontefract (Pomfret) being the castle where Richard is imprisoned at the end of the play.
245* SilentSnarker: A lot of Rumpole's snark is actually delivered in voiceovers, audible only to viewers. One of the {{running gag}}s is the frequent discrepancy between Rumpole's internal snarking and his external restraint. For instance, from "Rumpole and the Old, Old Story":
246-->'''Solicitor:''' What do you think of the prosecution, Mr. Rumpole?\
247'''Rumpole:''' ''[voiceover]'' I think if it were conducted by a nervous first-year law student with a serious speech impediment they'd ''still'' get a conviction.\
248'''Rumpole:''' ''[aloud]'' Well, we do face certain difficulties.
249* SophisticatedAsHell:
250-->'''Ballard:''' Look here, Rumpole, I would advise you to take this matter seriously.\
251'''Rumpole:''' And I would advise you, [[MaliciousMisnaming Bollard]], if you can find a taxidermist willing to undertake the work, to get stuffed.
252* SpringtimeForHitler: "Rumpole and the Heavy Brigade" has Rumpole hired in one of these by a pair of gangsters, convinced that his reputation as IncompetenceInc following a run of poor cases in district court will ensure their stuttering brother will go down in order to cover up their own crimes.
253* SternOldJudge: Most of the judges Rumpole deals with that aren't a HangingJudge or Guthrie Featherstone are this instead.
254* StraightMan: Just about everybody plays this part for Rumpole.
255* StrawFeminist: Liz Probert (mostly in the later novels and short stories). The following quote from "Rumpole and Portia" demonstrates her attitude (after Phillida was seen having lunch with another man in the park).
256-->'''Liz Probert:''' The point for you to understand is what you've done to Phillida as a woman.\
257'''Claude Erskine-Brown:''' What I've done?\
258'''Liz Probert:''' Well don't tell me you haven't driven her to it. If a woman does something like that it's always the husband's fault, isn't it?\
259'''Claude Erskine-Brown:''' And if a man does something like that?\
260'''Liz Probert:''' Well, then, it's always his fault.
261* TheSummation
262* TakingTheHeat: "Rumpole and the Sporting Life"
263* ATankardOfMooseUrine: Rumpole's favoured "Pommeroy's Plonk" lives up to the name; the wine's "nose" suggests the ''terroir'' of a stretch of land between a garage and a ''pissoir''. (A ''pissoir'', for the unfamiliar, is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pissoir exactly what it sounds like]].)
264* ThemeNaming: Claude and Phyllida's children are named [[Music/RichardWagner Tristan and Isolde]].
265* TeacherStudentRomance: In the episode "Rumpole and the Course of True Love", the case Rumpole is defending is a young high school teacher who slept with his student.
266* TeethClenchedTeamwork: In the final episode, "Rumpole on Trial," Hilda dragoons Ballard into defending Rumpole after he insults Justice Oliphant. Ballard is horrified and Rumpole initially uncooperative, but Ballard for once manages to be effective: [[spoiler:he convinces Oliphant that it would look better if he accepted an apology from Rumpole.]]
267* TokenMinority: Lampshaded and eventually subverted in ''Rumpole and the Fascist Beast''; Rumpole takes on Indian Latif Khan as a pupil, much to the surprise of everyone in chambers and to the disgust of his racist defendant (it's left unclear as to whether Rumpole deliberately took on an Indian to either annoy his client or make his client look better in court). However, it's clear that Khan has been [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections coerced up the ladder by his rich father]] and he's dismissive of Phyllida after she attempts to bond with him over their "oppressed minority" status... [[DoubleStandard because she's a woman]].
268* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Steak-and-kidney pudding for Rumpole, who makes the mistake of ordering it in a swank French place.
269* TwoLinesNoWaiting: Pretty much ''every'' episode features an A plot -- the case of the week -- and a B plot revolving around some intrigue in chambers, or some intrigue in Rumpole's household.
270* TwistingTheWords: Inversion or Subversion, depending on your perspective: Rumpole often asks witnesses on the stand who heard someone say something or another if they were sure it had the emphasis they recalled.
271* TheUsurper: Rumpole is the senior man in Chambers, and was most likely to succeed his father-in-law as Head of Chambers, until Guthrie Featherstone became QC. In Series Three, Guthrie is about to become a judge and Rumpole looks like he's about to take the job...until Guthrie's old friend Sam Ballard comes into town, looking for a place in Chambers.
272* 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.
273* 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.
274* UnwittingPawn: Sam Ballard has a habit of falling for the traps Rumpole lays for him.
275* VideoInsideFilmOutside: Eventually dropped, in Season 4, when it went all-video.
276* WhiteSheep: In "Rumpole and the Barrow Boy", one of the Timsons goes to school, studies, and gets a high-paying finance job in the City... [[spoiler:and is the one set up to be blamed for financial irregularities at his place of employment by his father-in-law-to-be, who is ''not'' happy at finding out about young Timson's family, even though he's never done anything wrong himself]].
277* 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.
278* WorthyOpponent:
279** Often stated by Rumpole whenever he's up against a good barrister.
280** Judges are not actually barristers' opponents, but there are some judges whom Rumpole cannot stand both personally and professionally (he thinks they're hostile to the defence). Of these, Mr. Justice Graves, though in court he seems entirely to reciprocate Rumpole's attitude, indicates to others outside court that he has a certain respect for his principles and advocacy skills, and acknowledges that life would be duller without him.
281** 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.
282* 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 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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