Rumpole of the Bailey Season 1 Episodes

Episode 1

Rumpole and the Younger Generation

53 mins

Horace Rumpole is a middle-aged "junior" barristers who excels at criminal cases. Rumpole defends Jim Timson, the youngest member of the lovable but criminal Timson clan. Timson is accused of theft but the main evidence against him comes from Peanuts Molloy, a members of another well known criminal family with whom the Timson's have been feuding and refuse to speak to as a matter of principle. At home meanwhile, his wife Hilda, whom he refers to as "she who must be obeyed", has hopes for Rumpole to be elected Head of Chambers now that her father has decided to retire. Guthrie Featherstone becomes the Chamber's first QC in anyone's memory. Nick Rumpole visits from school with news about his future education.

Episode 2

Rumpole and the Alternative Society

Rumpole stays with some old RAF friends in the West Country, while he defends a member of a local commune charged with drug-dealing. He must balance his friends' and his client's viewpoints with his own time-honoured code of conduct as a barrister.

Episode 3

Rumpole and the Honourable Member

52 mins

Rumpole defends Ken Aspen, a Labour Member of Parliament who is charged with rape. Aspen's defense is that the victim made the advances and that the sex was consensual. Rumpole's strategy is to prove that the victim set out to entrap Aspen but the defendant is less than helpful with his own defense. At home, Nick visits with his American girlfriend Erica, who keeps hinting that she and Nick should relocate to the USA. When she sees Rumpole in action, she is appalled at his cross examination of the rape victim. Albert, the Chambers head clerk, is accused by Claude Erskine-Brown of thievery.

Episode 4

Rumpole and the Married Lady

52 mins

Rumpole represents Mrs. Thripp in a divorce case. She accuses her husband of intolerable conduct in that he has not spoken to her for some three years and has taken to communicating with her only by written notes. At home, Rumpole finds Hilda in a foul mood, now that son Nick has moved to America. When his client telephones him at home, Hilda overhears the conversation and concludes that Rumpole is having an affair. Rumpole is assisted in the case by his very capable pupil Phillida Trant who, having been trounced by Rumpole in Magistrate's Court, is convinced she will never succeed as a barrister. Rumpole thinks otherwise.

Episode 5

Rumpole and the Learned Friends

52 mins

It appears that Rumpole is being forced to take a back seat to Head of Chambers Guthrie Featherstone QC, defending a safe-blower who has had his collar felt by Chief Inspector "Dirty" Dickinson, but an influenza epidemic plays havoc with the arrangements. Meanwhile, Rumpole's colleagues cast covetuous eyes on his office space.

Episode 6

Rumpole and the Heavy Brigade

55 mins

Rumpole returns with relish to murder. His client is covered in the victim's blood, can barely utter a word in his own defence, and his nightclub-owning brothers seem convinced he is insane. Everything hangs on Rumpole's unrivalled knowledge of bloodstains and his old hat.