Distributor:
Roadshow Home Entertainment Certificate: PG | 169 Minutes
Writers: Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais
Cast: Ronnie
Barker, Richard Beckinsale, Fulton
Mackay, Peter Vaughan Extras: No
By
this third and final season
Porridge was one of UKTV’s
most popular shows, broadcast in
1977 this hilarious sitcom
focuses on life inside Slade
Prison, especially for middle
aged Fletch (Ronnie Barker in
what surely has to be his best
role) and the younger Lenny
Godber (Richard Beckinsale),
Fletch’s cellmate and first
timer. The essence of the series
is in the relationship between
Lenny and Fletch, the older
Fletch taking Godber under his
wing an teaching him how to
survive the ravages of prison.
For
series three all the familiar elements are there, harsh head screw Mr
Mackay and the ineffectual Barraclough along with a passing parade of
inmates including ‘Orrible Ives (the fantastic Ken Jones), Bunny
Warren (Sam Kelly), the gay Lukewarm (Christoher Biggins) and the black
Jock (Tony Osoba), also introduced in this series was genial Harry Grout
(Peter Vaughan) an inmate much in the vein of one of the Kray twins who
basically runs the prison and also Judge Stephen Rawlings (Maurice
Denham) whose fall from grace sees him sharing a cell with Fletch and
Lenny, the irony being that Rawlings actually sent many of the boys in
Slade inside in the first place.
The
stand out episode on this 6 episode set is episode, Pardon Me, which
sees the return of the fantastic David Jason’s elderly Blanco, in
prison for a murder he says he didn’t commit. Fletch does his best to
see a pardon coming his way. David Jason does a great old man and was
something of a favourite with Ronnie Barker, this episode as well as
being hilarious also features a great twist ending, other highlights
include A Storm in a Teacup (in which some pills go missing and Grouty
wants them back), Poetic Justice which introduces Judge Rawlings and A
Test of Character which sees Godber trying for an O’ Level and Fletch
deciding to help him out.
Porridge
is great television and is an essential addition to any comedy fans
shelf.
No
extras but the quality of the material more than makes up for it.
