Rumpole of the Bailey Set Two (Seasons 3 & 4) Directed by John Glenister, 2004

“Every once in a while a character and an actor fit together so precisely that it becomes hard to imagine one without the other (Sean Connery and James Bond, Jeremy Brett and Sherlock Holmes)…. McKern was made to fit the eccentric, irrepressibly snide barrister who is as ‘lovable as a grumpy old panda.’” – The Wall Street Journal

Never plead guilty if you expect justice, ahem, to be served.

And so comes another helping of inimitable RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEY tales, where if crime doesn’t exactly pay–it’s at least a living. Enjoy more lovably dour wisdom from our old Bailey hack, who, between defending a variety of characters, from struggling artists to massage parlor entrepreneurs, puffs away at his damp cheroot while spouting passages from the Oxford Book of English Verse. The second and third seasons come replete with Horace Rumpole’s brilliant defenses, his fondness for “plonk,” his wonderfully askew wig, and his sly jabs at hypocrisy-not to mention those bloody upper-class nincompoops. At least “She Who Must Be Obeyed” is around to keep things in order.

Available on DVD for the first time, the third and fourth seasons of RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEY include all 12 episodes, perfectly adapted by John Mortimer from his best-selling novels and starring the esteemed Leo McKern (A Man for All Seasons).