Porridge (TV series)
| Porridge | |
|---|---|
Porridge main title.
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| Created by |
Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais |
| Written by | Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais |
| Directed by | Sydney Lotterby |
| Starring |
Ronnie Barker Richard Beckinsale Fulton Mackay Brian Wilde Sam Kelly Tony Osoba Michael Barrington Christopher Biggins David Jason |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 21 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Sydney Lotterby |
| Running time | 18 x 30 mins 1 x 40 mins 1 x 45 mins |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC1 |
| Original release | 5 September 1974 – 25 March 1977 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | Going Straight (1978) |
Porridge is a British sitcom first broadcast on BBC One from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film also titled Porridge (released under the title Doing Time in the United States). Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, it stars Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale as two inmates at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland. "Doing porridge" is British slang for serving a prison sentence, porridge once being the traditional breakfast in UK prisons.
Porridge was critically acclaimed and is widely considered to be one of the greatest British sitcoms of all time. The series was followed by a 1978 sequel, Going Straight, which established that Fletcher would not be going back to prison again. On Sunday 28 August 2016, a one-off episode revival of the original series, also titled Porridge, was broadcast on BBC One. It stars Kevin Bishop as Nigel Norman Fletcher, Norman Stanley Fletcher's grandson.
Porridge originated with a 1973 project commissioned by the BBC Seven of One, which would see Ronnie Barker star in seven different situation comedy pilot episodes. The most successful would then be made into a full series. One of the episodes was "Prisoner and Escort", written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais (who appear in one episode) about a newly sentenced habitual criminal, Norman Stanley Fletcher (Barker), being escorted to prison by two warders: the timid Mr. Barrowclough (Brian Wilde) and the stern Mr. Mackay (Fulton Mackay). It was broadcast on 1 April 1973 on BBC2. Despite Barker's initial preference for another of the pilots, a sitcom about a Welsh gambling addict, "Prisoner and Escort" was selected. It was renamed Porridge, a slang term for prison; Barker, Clement and La Frenais actually came up with the same title independently of each other.
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