Rumpole of the Bailey, Set 2 - The Complete Seasons 3 & 4

The series is great entertainment.

This production is too old to have closed captioning. 😪 With marginal sound quality and rapid-fire, heavily accented dialectical dialogue it can be challenging for mere mortals.

I have been watching Rumpole on PBS for about 15 years and was pleased to buy this recent set from A&E Home Video. While the quality of the video on these DVDs is quite good, and they are worth owning, I am disappointed with the sloppy job on the packaging. Each box has descriptions of three episodes with photos that don't match up. It's as though the people putting them together were unfamiliar with which photo went with which episode.The written descriptions themselves are worse. One of the DVD boxes refers to Rumpole as an "embattled Bailey", the writer apparently not realizing that the "Bailey" in the series' title refers to London's Central Criminal Court, not its lawyers. Another of the descriptions on the boxes states that Rumpole's wife Hilda "takes an assist", whatever that means.Of even more concern is that the on screen content in the DVDs contain at least one remarkable blunder. One episode (Rumpole and the Old, Old Story) has a scene selection menu chapter entitled PROSECUTING "COUNCIL" rather than PROSECUTING COUNSEL.It's surprising enough that the people in charge of packaging this set are unfamilar with the Rumpole episodes, but how could they be so unfamiliar with the English language and be in this line of work? I hope A&E will improve its quality control and do a better job with any future Rumpole DVDs.Finally, and most disturbing of all, these episodes have been edited to omit the old graphics that were part of them at the half-way point when they were broadcast on British television and later PBS. Originally, a graphic was displayed at the end of the first half that stated "End of Part One", shortly followed by a graphic that stated "Part Two". In removing these graphics, A&E has chopped out entire scenes around them. In the Old, Old Story, for example, the scene in which Rumpole is shocked to see Hilda sitting next to the judge on the bench is gone. In the Blind Tasting, the scene in which Liz Probert drives Rumpole to Brixton and theorizes about whether the defendant comes from a broken home is also gone. Their absence is made all the more noticeable by the characters' subsequent references to the missing events. Other episodes have similar edits. One edit is so sloppy, part two begins in mid conversation between an attorney and a witness on the stand. Why A&E had to edit these episodes at all is puzzling enough but I am more puzzled by how poorly the edits were carried out. I'm used to getting extra scenes when I buy a DVD, not fewer scenes than are available when I watch the same episodes on television.In short, I love the Rumpole episodes but this particular incarnation has to be the one of the most disappointing DVD sets I have seen of any film or television program. I want to recommend them but can't overlook the awful job A&E has done with them. Unless series 5 and 6 are a vast improvement, you might wish to consider getting a multi-region DVD player and trying the UK Rumpole DVDs available through Amazon's UK site.

Very unusual courtroom drama. Superbly acted.

I really prefer Rumpole to all the other legal series that I have ever watched. Unlike such saccharin series as Perry Mason or Matlock, Rumpole often defends persons who are guilty, or, if not guilty of the accused crime, may still be a low life. Rumpole loses a fair number of cases as well. He is disliked by a fair number of the judges and is also often a subject of disdain by his colleagues in chambers. This is not your typical legal drama, and I find it much more satisfying.The writing is clever and often subtle. The viewer has to pay attention or will miss the wit and charm of this series. It is not in-your-face-obnoxious like most all tv series are now.The various characters that recur in the series, as well as the episode specific characters, are well fleshed out, with distinct and unique personalities. Great work in the characterizations. Rumpole's relationships with his wife, some of the judges, and his colleagues really are first rate entertainment.

This is a set of Rumpole of the Bailey seasons 3 and 4. I saw some of these episodes on PBS when I was young and wanted to see them again. To make a short review even shorter, they still hold up. Leo McKern is...well, he IS Rumpole. He makes the show. The supporting cast is great, although Erskine-Brown is weaselier than I remember, Portia is tougher than I remember, and Liz Probert is Samantha Bond (1980's Moneypenny) which I didn't remember! The cases that Rumpole gets involved in are sometimes predictable or rely too much on coincidence (Rumpole happens to attend a wine tasting and then ends up with a wine-related case), but there's no one but Rumpole that a person would want defending them. Even when he has trouble defending himself against "The Bull" or Soapy Sam Ballard or She Who Must Be Obeyed! Looking forward to watching the last three seasons in DVD set three!

Love the humor along with the real world story feel that Leo McKern brought to this show! Thanks Leo. RIP

Both Perry Mason and Rumpole owe their creations to lawyer authors. Both TV series leads were excellent character actors who rose to commanding performances for these roles. Both fictional charcters possessed enough eccentricity to impart Holmesian charm to the stories. Each story is well grounded in technical and legal facts, which makes Rumpole as believable today as Perry Mason was 50 years ago and Sherlock Holmes was over 100 years ago.

This 4 disk dvd contains the complete series 3 and 4 of the classic television series Rumpole Of The Bailey which starred Leo McKern as Horice Rumpole. Please note this is the American dvd release by A and E and is region 1 coded. This means that the disks will only work on multi region players. Unlike the UK releases this set does have some special features including episode introductions by writer John Mortimer. Rumpole Of The Bailey is one of my all time favourite television series and I have enjoyed watching the dvds over and over again.

Each of these episodes in Season 3-4 has an introduction by John Mortimer, now in his 80s and the last disk has a longer presentation by him of where Rumpole comes from the ideas that Rumpole embodies. It is lovely to have a series with the author providing lots of context. The Mortimer added interview and introductions round out what was always a lovely series. The series was made 20 or so years ago, so production values aren't quite what we expect now, but this is more than made up for the strong stories and the great character of Rumpole.

Bought as a gift and I think the person enjoyed it. Arrived in good condition.

Great character, and very interesting crimes and defences

This series has great actors, unusual plots, comedy and pathos. The episodes adhere very closely to Mortimer's books; in fact, as you read the stories you visualize the actors saying the lines.