TV ON TELEVISION - DE-ZONKING "RUMPOLE"

'WILL & GRACE'

"FEAR AND CLOTHING"

After Grace's apartment had been burglarized, she moved in with Will.  The trouble was, Jack had "temporarily" moved in as well.  Having two such roommates was driving Will crazy and this was the breaking point......

(WILL is watching TV on the TV room couch when JACK runs in, grabs the remote, and changes the channel.)

WILL: 

What are-- What are you doing?

JACK: 

It's "Behind the Music" with Mariah Scarey.

WILL: 

I am right in the middle of "Rumpole of the Bailey." Don't just grab the remote!

JACK: 

I'm sorry. It was very wrong of me. 

[JACK PULLS A REMOTE CONTROL OUT OF THE COUCH CUSHIONS AND SWITCHES THE CHANNEL]

WILL: 

What?! Where did you get that?

JACK: 

Ooh, look! This is the part where Mariah pretends not to hate Whitney.

WILL: 

Give me that! [WILL GRABS THE REMOTE FROM JACK AND CHANGES THE CHANNEL] We are going to watch "Rumpole of the Bailey."

GRACE: 

Out of my way! Out of my way!  They're reattaching a woman's scalp on The Learning Channel!  Put it on!

JACK: 

Sorry, Grace. Will's watching "Bunghole up my Mainly."

WILL: 

It is "Rumpole of the Bailey," and seeing as I have the remotes, that's what we're watching.

[GRACE GRABS A REMOTE OUT OF THE COUCH AND SWITCHES THE CHANNEL]

WILL: 

Grace! You've seen this thing, like, 5 times.

GRACE: 

I know, but it's hard to watch the whole thing. Each time I watch, I see a little-- [REACTING TO THE TV] Whoa!

WILL AND JACK: [REACTING TO THE TV] 

Oh!

WILL: 

No, no! We are watching this!

JACK: [CHANGING THE CHANNEL] 

Mariah!

WILL: [CHANGING THE CHANNEL] 

Rumpole!

~~~~~~~~

Nan knew just how Will felt.....

'THE CAFE'
"OUT WITH THE OLD"

"Leave me alone to enjoy my Rumpole."

Mary "Nan" Ellis

'The Cafe'

[A pile of books was donated to Cyril's Cafe in Weston, including a gardening book by Alan Titchmarsh and several volumes of stories about "Rumpole Of The Bailey".]

Horace Rumpole (as well as his twin brother known as Number Two and their younger sister Mrs. Warbus) share the same TV dimension as Will Truman and the patrons of Cyril's.  So the splainin for this potential Zonk is that old stand-by - biographies.

John Mortimer chronicled the life and career of Horace Rumpole as a barrister.  What we saw on our screens were not re-enactments of Rumpole's life, but that actual life played out which Mortimer then wrote up in a series of books (much in the same way Dr. Watson fictionalized the life of his friend Sherlock Holmes.)  

As it is resignedly accepted at Toobworld Central that eventually everybody in that world will have a TV show made about them, these stories were then dramatized for television.  Here in the real world, people have had TV shows made of their lives while they were still alive - Jerry Seinfeld, James Van Der Beek, and David Toma.  So in Toobworld, Rumpole could be added to that mix.  

These are the only two TV series I've found which make references to 'Rumpole Of The Bailey' and neither one is very specific on details.  For alls I know, Horace Rumpole might be played by a different actor other than Leo McKern in the TV show within a TV show.  

What would be great is if that actor was a fictional one to be found only in the TV Universe!

I would have suggested Larry Summers who starred in 'Pulaski'.  His show was on the air over twenty years ago, and he should look the part by now.  But then, he was an American working in a British TV show.  And the meta-televersion of Rumpole should be English through and through.  Not that it probably matters - the way he drank, Larry Summers is likely dead by now.

So instead I'm going to suggest Alex Conway, the star of ITV's 'Eddie Weary' back in the late 1980s.  Twenty-three years on since he was last seen on the TV, Conway should be perfect for the Rumpole role....

SHOWS & TV MOVIES CITED:

• 'Rumpole Of The Bailey'
• 'Will & Grace'
• 'The Cafe'
• 'Pulaski The TV Detective'
• "The World Of Eddie Weary"
• 'The Prisoner'
• 'Inspector Morse'
• 'Seinfeld'
• 'Toma'
• 'Don't Trust The Bitch In Apartment 23'

BCnU!