An irresistible collection of sparkling stories featuring John Mortimer's beloved comic creation.

Horace Rumpole is the most erudite, astute, and seldom defeated of barristers in the annals of the Old Bailey. In these 32 dramas, arranged in order of broadcast, four distinguished actors don the wig and white band to portray our hero as he recalls his long, eventful career.

Timothy West stars as the older Rumpole in eight cases in which he proves, despite scurrilous rumours to the contrary, that he is alive, well and as adept as ever at getting to the heart of crimes ranging from sexual assault to terrorism. He also has hopes of becoming a QC at last - but his marriage to She Who Must Be Obeyed is under pressure...

Joining Timothy West for another seven legal adventures, Benedict Cumberbatch plays the young, feisty, devastatingly acute Rumpole. We flash back to the 1950s, as he meets and marries Hilda, embarks on his first big murder case 'alone and without a leader', and defends clients including an aristocrat, a shoplifting clergyman and a gardener accused of blackmail.

Returning as young Rumpole, Cumberbatch takes us through six more curious cases. It is 1964, and Horace takes on a new pupil - Phyllida Trant, the 'Portia of our Chambers' - only to find himself becoming smitten with her. Forced to consider the path his life has taken, he comes close to giving up the law...

With the Sixties swinging, Julian Rhind-Tutt gives us a Rumpole in his prime, recounting ten tales which find the tireless defender swapping sides to appear for the prosecution; coming to the aid of a doctor accused of unprofessional conduct; and suffering the indignity of wrongful arrest. We leave him facing a life-changing decision: after many years of falling in and out of love with both women, will he finally leave Hilda to be with Phyllida?

Also included is a special 90-minute Christmas episode starring Desmond Barrit, in which Rumpole indulges in a little seasonal, charitable blackmail and solves an audacious crime at the panto.

Production credits

Written by John Mortimer

Adapted by Richard Stoneman

Directed by Marilyn Imrie.

A Catherine Bailey production for BBC Radio 4

Sax quartet version of Gershwin's 'They Can't Take That Away From Me' arranged by Julie Hodge and performed by 'Sax' (Luiza Beddoes, Kate Mylnar, Janine Ng and Julie Hodge)

Pantomime music written by Neil Brand

Cast

Older Horace Rumpole - Timothy West/Desmond Barrit

Young Horace Rumpole - Benedict Cumberbatch/Julian Rhind-Tutt

Hilda - Prunella Scales/Joanna David

Young Hilda - Jasmine Hyde/Cathy Sara

Phyllida - Cathy Sara/Patience Tomlinson

'Soapy Sam' Ballard - Michael Cochrane

Claude Erskine-Brown - Nigel Anthony

Fig Newton - David Shaw-Parker/Geoffrey Whitehead

Bonny Bernard - Bruce Alexander/Nicholas Le Provost/Matthew Morgan

Judge Bullingham - Christopher Benjamin/David Shaw-Parker/Stephen Critchlow

Liz Probert - Elaine Claxton

First broadcast BBC Radio 4 between 25 December 2001 and 9 May 2018