Rumpole of the Bailey: Comp 1 & 2 (4pc)

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Part lawyer, part detective, Horace Rumpole is one of the most colorful characters ever to approach the bench.  With his brilliant mind and sly sense of humor, Rumpole's adventures behind the scenes and center stage in the British legal system are a delightful mix of comedy, mystery and courtroom drama.  Justice has never been served with such style and wit.  Now, for the first time and exclusively for this DVD collection, the acclaimed and much beloved PBS Masterpiece Theater series "Rumpole of the Bailey" has been brought together in its original sequence of stories.  The ebb and flow of Rumpole's career, his relationship with "she who must be obeyed," the politics of "Chambers,"  and the cases themselves - from shoplifting vicars and philandering actors to tongue-tied husbands and  improper English teachers  - can all be enjoyed as they were first meant to be in the series the Wall Street Journal called "uproarious!"   BONUS PROGRAM: The feature-length "Rumpole's Return" in which a retired Rumpole returns to uncover the mystery of a murdered Lord, a question of blood and their link to the mysterious "Children of the Sun." --- DISC 1 - SEASON 1

RUMPOLE AND THE YOUNGER GENERATION  Director Herbert Wise Young Jim Timson has been accused of robbery with violence - and his only alibi lies with a son of the Malloy family with whom the Timson's have a long-standing feud. RUMPOLE AND THE ALTERNATIVE SOCIETY Director Herbert Wise Rumpole finds himself on a commune called Nirvana in the West Country.  He's there to defend a young girl accused of buying drugs from a policeman posing as a dealer. RUMPOLE AND THE HONORABLE MEMBER Director Graham Evans A local politician stands accused of rape - a charge he denies - admitting only to consensual sex with a fellow party worker. RUMPOLE AND THE MARRIED LADY Director Graham Evans "She who must be obeyed" believes that Rumpole has taken a mistress when he defends Mrs Thripp in a divorce action against her husband.

DISC 2 - SEASON 1 continued RUMPOLE AND THE LEARNED FRIENDS Director Graham Evans Rumpole has been called upon to assist in the defense of a safe blower who may have been 'set up' by Inspector "Dirty" Dickerson. RUMPOLE AND THE HEAVY BRIGADE  Director Herbert Wise Regardless of his tatty hat, which has been the subject of idle gossip in chambers, Rumpole has been called to the Old Bailey to defend a murderer.

DISC 2 - SEASON 2 RUMPOLE AND THE MAN OF GOD  Director Brian Farnham Rumpole is engaged in defending a vicar from a shoplifting charge, but the vicar will take neither the stand nor the oath in his own defense. RUMPOLE AND THE CASE OF IDENTITY  Director Derek Bennett Christmas is coming - along with a complicated case of mistaken identity.  And what is going on behind closed doors between the Head of Chambers and his new secretary Angela?   DISC 3 - SEASON 2 continued RUMPOLE AND THE SHOW FOLK  Director Peter Hammond It's an actor's life for Rumpole as he finds himself center stage in the case of an actress accused of murdering her philandering actor husband. RUMPOLE AND THE FASCIST BEAST  Director Robert Knights Captain Rex Parkin, an avowed fascist, has been accused of inciting a crowd to racial violence and, to the surprise of many, Rumpole is eager to take the case in his defense RUMPOLE AND THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE Director Brian Farnham When a young English teacher finds himself accused of improper relations with one of his pupils, Rumpole rises to his defense, though intimate letters point a finger of guilt RUMPOLE AND THE AGE FOR RETIREMENT  Director Donald McWhinnie Can retirement be just around the corner for Rumpole?  And how did a14th century painting of Christ end up in Percy Timson's garage?

DISC 4 - RUMPOLE'S RETURN  Horace Rumpole has been persuaded to retire with "she who must be obeyed" to Florida.  But when Rumpole hears tell of a murder case in London - the stabbing death on a subway platform of the Honorable Lord Rory Canter by an innocuous accountant - something stirs in the sleeping legal giant.   So it's off in the dead of night to London and the old Chambers, where his unexpected arrival causes quite a stir.

Amazon.com

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. Esteemed actor Leo McKern portrays the antihero Rumpole, 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). As champion of the downtrodden, the self-righteous Rumpole loves to get in trouble with his wife, 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. His wife, 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.

This four-disc set includes all 12 episodes from the first two seasons in their original sequence of stories, plus Rumpole's Return, the 1982 two-hour special that started off the third season. Typical of British drama, production values are low, while the caliber of scriptwriting and acting is unsurpassed. A rare example of a television serial that is as appealing and engaging on its 10th viewing as it is on its first. --Erik Macki