The conclusion of the second series and Thames Television were probably wondering if a third series would be commissioned or whether the main actors would commit any further. Leo McKern was spending more time in the land of his birth, Australia.
Retirement is certainly in the air for Rumpole. Even his clients think he has passed it. The judges never saw eye to eye with his cross examination of the police or the jokes in his closing speeches.
Rumpole's son Nick returns from America and he has concocted an outrageous plan to lure Rumpole to teach law at a university in Baltimore.
There is a small matter of defending Percy Timson, veteran head of a criminal family who has found with a valuable painting in his lock up garage. Percy knew nothing about the painting. A case of being fitted up by some members of his own family who thought he was passed it and wanted him out of the way for a bit. The problem is that the painting is so valuable, conservatively estimated to be worth £500,000, Percy is looking at more than just a few months in jail but several years.
It really is a case whether Rumpole would call it a day. The head of Chambers throws a lavish dinner party in his honour. The world has moved on, policemen such as Inspector Brush are no friend of lawyers or the police rulebook. Phyllida Trant has now had a baby and her husband Claude Erskine-Brown is willing to do his own share of bringing up the baby.