Rumpole and the Family Pride

The Rumpoles go up north to visit the country set.

A relative of Hilda who has married into the gentry invites the Rumpoles to the castle of Lord Richard Sackbut.

However there is a motive. An elderly vagrant was found dead in a pond within the grounds of the castle.

The coroner who is jealous of Lord Sackbut thinks death was due to foul play. The dead woman might be his long lost mother, who ran of with an Italian and is thought to be long dead.

Rumpole also has another case where someone has ideas above their station. A tramp who confesses to triple murder. He is treated like aristocracy by the police.

Writer John Mortimer liked to prick the pomposity of the nobility in the various dramas he wrote. This is no different.

It is not a strong episode but Mortimer wanted to make a point about snobbery.