Rumpole: The Gentle Art of Blackmail & Other Stories Four BBC Radio 4 Dramatisations

Benedict Cumberbatch plays the young Horace Rumpole in this second stellar collection of court cases, also starring Timothy West as the older Rumpole

Rumpole and the Man of God
It is 1959, and Rumpole must defend a clergyman accused of shoplifting who, although he clearly did not commit the crime, is curiously reluctant to be cross-examined under oath. Meanwhile, Hilda (she who must be obeyed) has big news…

Rumpole and the Explosive Evidence
Rumpole defends a well-known safe blower and exposes the underhand behaviour of one Dirty Dickerson, a senior police officer who is quite prepared to tamper with evidence.

Rumpole and the Gentle Art of Blackmail
In 1964 Rumpole returns to Oxford, where he studied law, to defend a young gardener who is accused of blackmailing the Master of St Joseph’s College. Their friendship had provoked rumours of homosexuality – still illegal in those days – and the Master says he has been threatened with a public accusation.

Rumpole and the Expert Witness
Rumpole is asked to defend a GP, Dr Ned Dacre, who is accused of murdering his wife, Sally. The plot thickens when the local pathologist turns out to have history with Dr Ned…

Durations: 3 hours approx.

John Mortimer studied law at Brasenose College, Oxford. On finishing his degree, he was called to the Bar in 1948 and entered his father's chambers. At first he followed his father and specialized in divorce cases, but he soon switched to criminal law, as he maintained that murderers and the like were nicer to work with than divorcing spouses. In 1966 he became a Queen's Counsel, and he continued to work as a barrister until 1979. Mortimer started writing before he became a barrister. His legal career inspired his fiction, however, with his first radio play, The Dock Brief, which won the Italia Prize and was adapted for the stage, television, and a film starring Peter Sellers and Richard Attenborough. He also had great success with his autobiographical play A Voyage Round My Father, which ran in the West End starring Jeremy Brett and Alec Guinness. It was subsequently adapted for TV starring Sir Laurence Olivier and Alan Bates. His other novels include the trilogy of Titmuss novels, Paradise Postponed, Titmuss Regained, and The Sound of Trumpets, and he has also written three volumes of autobiography and numerous TV and film adaptations, including Brideshead Revisited, Cider with Rosie, and Tea with Mussolini. John Mortimer received a knighthood for his services to the arts in 1998 in the Queen's birthday honors list. He died in 2009.