by Ted Davis

Original Air Date: June 12, 1979

Directed by: Peter Hammond

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains spoilers for this episode!

Synopsis: Acerbic and aging, beleaguered quotation-spewing barrister Horace Rumpole (Leo McKern) travels again from London, this time to the Northern Circuit in order to defend local actress Maggie Hartley (Eleanor Bron) from a charge of mariticide, and belatedly learns a few discomfiting truths about his duplicitous client.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Following an evening performance of ‘Private Lives,’ Mr. Croft (Harry Markham), good-hearted elderly doorman for the Theatre Royal, calls outside to the theater / street cat (tuxedo model) to come for its routine evening meal.

Mr. Croft picks up the amiable cat after it takes a peck or two at the food, then a moment later, as the cat is back on the ground and Mr. Croft is petting it, multiple pistol shots ring out from the dressing room area.

The cat meows in complaint as Mr. Croft hurries to the dressing room. The cat is not seen again.

Final Mewsings: Surely ministering to your cat is more critical than responding to a sordid crime!

Relevant Links:

To discuss this show and other cats in movies and on television, join us on Facebook and Twitter.