| Synopsis: |
Benedict Cumberbatch plays the young, feisty, devastatingly acute Horace Rumpole in this collection of cracking cases, also starring Timothy West as the older Rumpole.Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders: It is the fifties, and two war heroes have been shot dead. Defending the suspect is deemed hopeless, so the case is handed to a novice. But the novice's superiors didn't count on the tenacity and wit of the young and hungry Horace Rumpole. This two-part adaptation of the novel by John Mortimer also marks the beginning of Rumpole's life-long liason with Hilda ("She who must be obeyed"); we hear, recalled through the memoirs of the older Rumpole, how he found himself engaged and married without being absolutely sure that he had in fact proposed in the first place!Rumpole and the Family Pride: We rejoin Rumpole and Hilda in the late 1950s, when they have been married for a year or two. Hilda's cousin lives with her husband, the 17th Baron Sackbut, in Sackbut Castle and Hilda and Rumpole are invited to Yorkshire when a body is found in the grounds.Rumpole and the Eternal Triangle: When Rumpole and Hilda attend a concert performed by The Casterini Trio, Rumpole is surprised to be approached by Elizabeth Casterini - the trio's beautiful violinist. But then, the Trio's cellist, Tom Randall is murdered. Elizabeth's husband is arrested, and Rumpole agrees to defend him at the Old Bailey.Duration: 3 hrs approx. |