Trivia for
"Rumpole of the Bailey" (1978) More at IMDbPro »

• Rumpole has a penchant for giving literary or historical nicknames to friends and foes. His wife Hilda's moniker, "She Who Must Be Obeyed," was originally applied to the title character of H. Rider Haggard's novel "She," while Phyllida Trant Erskine-Brown's nickname, "Portia," is from William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice." Samuel Ballard is dubbed "Soapy Sam" after 'Bishop Samuel Wilberforce' (1805-73), now best remembered for debating Thomas Huxley over Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, but regarded in his own time as rather a slick operator. And he refers to Judge Graves as the "whited sepulchre" - a Biblical allusion (Matthew 27).
  
  
• Originally, author John Mortimer had Alistair Sim in mind to play Rumpole - until he found out Sim was dead.
  
  

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