Writers: Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais / Music: Max Harris /
Producer: Sydney Lotterby
"Norman
Stanley Fletcher you are an habitual
criminal" ...
One of the all time great sitcoms, Porridge had
Ronnie Barker as recidivist thief Fletch sent to
Slade prison for five years, he finds himself
sharing a cell with young first time offender
Lenny Godber and proceeds to give him the
benefit of his wisdom.
The show began as an entry in Ronnie Barker's
comedy anthology of 1973 Seven of One.
In the episode Prisoner and Escort
Fletch is being transported to Slade prison by
"screws" Barraclough and MacKay.
Written by the fantastic team of Dick Clement
and Ian La Frenais this was considered strong
enough to go to a series.
The pair had been writing a sitcom for John Thaw
called Thick as Thieves but Thaw
was keen instead to go into a new series called The
Sweeney, otherwise Clement and La
Frenais would not have had time to go with this
show.
Mackay and Barraclough were both huge parts of
the success of the show, Mackay, the tough take
no nonsense Scottish screw and Barraclough the
gentle, what am I doing here screw. Other
regulars included the illiterate Bunny Warren,
black Scotsman McClaren,
the homosexual Lukewarm, 'orrible Ives and later
in the show the evil Harry Grout played very
menacingly by Peter Vaughan. Grouty was a
prisoner but basically ran the prison.Also worth
mentioning were a couple of superb appearances
by David Jason playing an elderly prisoner
called Blanco who was in for murdering his wife
(a crime he claims he didn't commit - although
he did kill her lover).
The nucleus of the show was always the
relationship between the older Fletch and young
Lenny with Fletch teaching Godber a few
important things about life. The plots, given
the prison setting, took second place to the
fantastic dialogue.
Besides the three seasons there were also a pair
of extended Christmas specials and a film
version appeared in 1979 but the year before
that there had been a Porridge sequel called Going
Straight this showed Fletch and Lenny
(who had begun a relationship with Fletch's
daughter Ingrid) coping with life on the
outside.
Cast
RONNIE BARKER as
Norman Stanley Fletcher / RICHARD BECKINSALE as
Lennie Godber / FULTON MACKAY as
Mr Mackay / BRIAN WILDE as
Mr Barraclough / SAM KELLY as Warren / TONY OSOBA as McClaren / KEN JONES as
Ives / DAVID JASON as Blanco / MICHAEL BARRINGTON as
Mr Venables / PETER VAUGHAN as
Harry Grout / CHRISTOPHER BIGGINS as Lukewarm
McClaren,
the homosexual Lukewarm, 'orrible Ives and later
in the show the evil Harry Grout played very
menacingly by Peter Vaughan. Grouty was a
prisoner but basically ran the prison.Also worth
mentioning were a couple of superb appearances
by David Jason playing an elderly prisoner
called Blanco who was in for murdering his wife
(a crime he claims he didn't commit - although
he did kill her lover).
