Rumpole of the Bailey (1978)

Crime · Drama · Mystery

Rumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It stars Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an aging London barrister who defends any and all clients, and has been spun off into a series of short stories, novels, and radio programmes.

IMDb rating: 8.4 (2,056 votes)
Episode average: 8.1 -0.3 vs IMDb
Seasons: 7
Language: EN
Type: TV series

Rating trend: this show's seasons do not settle into one shape. Rising Shows ranks whole shows by the shape of their rating trend rather than one average score, which is how you find a show that got better rather than a show that started well.

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Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 7 seasons indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (1978)

7.77 avg 6 episodes 7.6 → 7.9 51 min avg

Big finale

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Rumpole and the Younger Generation	7.6	207
2	Rumpole and the Alternative Society	7.8	178
3	Rumpole and the Honourable Member	7.7	140
4	Rumpole and the Married Lady	7.8	137
5	Rumpole and the Learned Friends	7.8	120
6	Rumpole and the Heavy Brigade	7.9	138

Season 2 (1979)

7.89 avg 7 episodes 7.7 → 8.1 58 min avg

Big finale

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Rumpole and the Man of God	7.7	119
2	Rumpole and the Case of Identity	8.0	128
3	Rumpole and the Show Folk	8.0	138
4	Rumpole and the Fascist Beast	7.6	110
5	Rumpole and the Course of True Love	7.9	126
6	Rumpole and the Age for Retirement	7.9	106
7	Rumpole's Return	8.1	199

Season 3 (1983)

8.02 avg 6 episodes 8.1 → 8.2 51 min avg

Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Rumpole and the Genuine Article	8.1	116
2	Rumpole and the Golden Thread	7.4	125
3	Rumpole and the Old Boy Net	8.1	104
4	Rumpole and the Female of the Species	8.1	96
5	Rumpole and the Sporting Life	8.2	106
6	Rumpole and the Last Resort	8.2	112

Season 4 (1987)

8.28 avg 6 episodes 8.2 → 8.2 52 min avg

Consistent

Season 4 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Rumpole and the Old, Old, Story	8.2	100
2	Rumpole and the Blind Tasting	8.4	106
3	Rumpole and the Official Secret	8.3	105
4	Rumpole and the Judge's Elbow	8.4	92
5	Rumpole and the Bright Seraphim	8.2	98
6	Rumpole's Last Case	8.2	99

Season 5 (1988)

8.18 avg 6 episodes 8.2 → 8.2 51 min avg

Consistent

Season 5 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Rumpole and the Bubble Reputation	8.2	101
2	Rumpole and the Barrow Boy	8.2	104
3	Rumpole and the Age of Miracles	8.2	109
4	Rumpole and the Tap End	8.2	99
5	Rumpole and Portia	8.1	101
6	Rumpole and the Quality of Life	8.2	106

Season 6 (1991)

8.12 avg 6 episodes 8.4 → 8.2 50 min avg

Season 6 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Rumpole a la Carte	8.4	112
2	Rumpole and the Summer of Discontent	8.2	91
3	Rumpole and the Right to Silence	7.9	96
4	Rumpole at Sea	8.2	104
5	Rumpole and the Quacks	7.8	92
6	Rumpole for the Prosecution	8.2	85

Season 7 (1992)

8.15 avg 6 episodes 8.0 → 8.4 51 min avg

Season 7 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Rumpole and the Children of the Devil	8.0	88
2	Rumpole and the Miscarriage of Justice	8.2	80
3	Rumpole and the Eternal Triangle	8.3	93
4	Rumpole and the Reform of Joby Jonson	8.0	88
5	Rumpole and the Family Pride	8.0	104
6	Rumpole on Trial	8.4	121