A Voyage Round My Father review – Rupert Everett brings soft focus to John Mortimer’s play
Richard Eyre’s production of the father-and-son drama has some strong performances but is too light to really probe the play’s plaintive depths
November 2021
Jacqueline Davis obituary
Television producer who, with her friend and collaborator John Mortimer, had a string of hits that included Rumpole of the Bailey
July 2021
‘What next, Del Girl Trotter’: has genderswap TV gone too far?
After Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes, Rumpole of the Bailey is the latest character to switch from male to female. However, for many series such a flip seems inconceivable
March 2020
Book clinic
Book clinic: Can you recommend a replacement for Rumpole of the Bailey?
From courtroom dramas to the Just William stories, a barrister and crime writer recommends novels about the quest for justice
December 2017
Top 10s
Top 10 books about growing old
While ageing can all too easily leave some frightened, the likes of Alec Guinness, Nora Ephron and Julian Barnes have produced wry and positive takes on old age
September 2016
A look back
From the archive – this week in 1966
Corporal punishment in prisons
June 2015
Penelope Mortimer – return of the original angry young woman
As her 1962 novel The Pumpkin Eater becomes a Penguin Classic, we re-examine the life of Penelope Mortimer, who tackled difficult subjects in a style that still sounds vital today
May 2015
Dolly Wells on her father, John: ‘Why didn’t he tell me? I’d like to tap on his grave and ask’
As season two of the sitcom Doll & Em begins, Dolly Wells talks about her best friend on and off screen, Emily Mortimer, and her tangled relationship with her father, the satirist John Wells
July 2014
Reading group
Reading group webchat: Valerie Grove
How did Laurie Lee feel about being a legend in his own lifetime? How much of Cider with Rosie is 'true'? What was his relationship with other writers? Lee's biographer answered your questions
February 2014
Your next box set
Paradise Postponed - box set review
Toby Manning: John Mortimer's socialist riposte to Thatcherism is beautifully acted and simply oozes nostalgia for a bygone Britain
August 2013
The Pride; A Little Hotel on the Side – review
A drama about sexual liberation since the 50s leaves theatregoers giggling and wriggling, writes Susannah Clapp
July 2013
Classics corner
Collected Stories of Rumpole by John Mortimer – review
Rumpole was conceived for the screen, but John Mortimer's enduring comic creation is a joy on the page, too, writed Natasha Tripney
May 2013
Lost short plays by Harold Pinter and John Mortimer to be revived
Nottingham Playhouse celebrates its 50th aniversary with a night of little-known works
February 2013
Nicholas Lezard's choice
Forever Rumpole by John Mortimer – review
The writing might not be of the highest order, but Nicholas Lezard submits that the case for the Rumpole stories is indisputable
August 2011
Classics corner
The Sound of Trumpets by John Mortimer – review
Published shortly after Tony Blair came to power, John Mortimer's satire of the New Labour era remains brilliantly unsettling, writes Philip Womack
June 2011
Guardian 190
10 November 1977: Punk record is a load of legal trouble
Nicholas de Jongh reports on the record shop rebels displaying the new album from the Sex Pistols
September 2010
A Voyage Round My Father
Salisbury Playhouse John Mortimer's memoir of his fearsome father seethes beneath its surface of comic nostalgia, writes Lyn Gardner
July 2010
Emily Mortimer: 'Secrets are a part of all of our lives'
Her new film is about a man with a secret son. So how did Emily Mortimer deal with acting in such familiar, familial territory, asks Patrick Barkham
December 2009
Rumpole at Christmas by John Mortimer
Ian Sansom picks a final present
November 2009
Actors, politicians and royalty pay respects to Sir John Mortimer
Celebration of Rumpole creator's life at Southwark Cathedral one year after lawyer and playwright's death
