Funnier Than Googie Withers (Porridge)

Member Name: pje

Product:	Porridge
Date:	09/01/02 (421 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: One of the best three sit-coms ever made.

Disadvantages: Repeated too often?

In the spring of 1973, BBC2 commissioned a series called Seven of One which consisted of seven comedy pilot-shows starring Ronnie Barker.
The aim was to find a new sit-com for Barker - they were successful.
The first of those pilots was called Open All Hours, and the second,
called Prisoner and Escort, was developed into the series Porridge.

Too often TV companies produce gag-filled sit-coms with nice middle-class characters and settings which are about as funny as a dripping tap. They forget that there is no pearl without grit (or however the saying goes). The truly great sit-coms mix comedy and tragedy; pathos, bathos and, um, what was the name of the other musketeer again? Dysfunctional losers, accident prone incompetents, hopeless basket cases - people we can feel superior to and laugh at. An enclosed situation helps, somewhere where completely different characters are forced together, and where better to find that than a prison?


Characters:
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NORMAN STANLEY FLETCHER (Ronnie Barker)
describes himself as a housebreaker, and at the start of ever episode we hear the judge at his trial call him "an habitual criminal who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and, presumably, accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner..." (Although this is voiced by Barker himself, which never really made sense to me.) When I saw Porridge as a boy, it amazed me that the same man was also the white-haired bespectacled half of the Two Ronnies and Arkwright the st-st-stammering grocer in Open All Hours. There's no doubt Barker was an excellent character actor.

Fletch was loosely based on a character in a Czech novel Dick Clement read, and borrowed the forenames of his friend Norman Stanley Gordon. Clement and La Frenais also knew a hairdresser called Denny Godber...


LENNIE GODBER (Richard Beckinsale)
is a 23-year-old from Birmingham who has never been in prison before, slightly naïv
e (this was before the word 'streetwise' had been invented), he learns the ropes of prison life at the feet (and holey socks) of the old lag Fletcher. Beckinsale attempts to talk like a Brummie in the early shows, but later reverts to his native Nottingham accent. Quite right too!

Initially Ronnie Barker had suggested Paul Henry (Benny in Crossroads) for the part, but soon changed his mind once he started working with the lad from Nottingham. Beckinsale had already starred in one hit comedy - The Lovers (with Paula Wilcox) and struck gold again with Rising Damp, before his tragic death in 1979. He suffered a fatal heart attack, at the ridiculously young age of 31.


MR. MACKAY (Fulton Mackay)
is the half-Scottish, half-Nazi prison officer with a habit of twisting his neck in a peculiar manner, and a loud crowing voice. A wonderfully funny stereotype we all love to hate. By the way, the name of the character was chosen quite by coincidence before Fulton Mackay was cast. Just as it was a coincidence that my Maths teacher at school was called Mr. Mackay. Well, you can imagine the fun we had...


MR. BARROWCLOUGH (Brian Wilde)
was slightly more liberal than Mr. Mackay, believing in rehabilitation rather than punishment. Weak and easily manipulated, he was another extreme stereotype of a prison officer, but sometimes comedy needs stereotypes.


A number of other characters popped up from time to time...

Harry Grout (Peter Vaughan) is the Archers-loving Daddy of Slade Prison, with a cell full of creature comforts, and a finger in every pie...and your finger in a pie if you cross him I expect! Peter Vaughan played the part with a refined menace that was beautifully judged.

McLaren (Tony Osoba) was a revelation to many people when the show first aired in the 1970's. A black man with a thick Glaswegian accent was quite unusual in those days. Come to think of it, seeing any black face on tel
evision back then was a rarity.

Others included: Lukewarm (Christopher Biggins) who likes cooking and knitting(!); Ives (Ken Jones) - a smarmy scouse fraudster who couldn't be trusted; and the dyslexic Warren (Sam Kelly). Oh, and who could forget Fletch's sometimes bra-less daughter Ingrid (Patricia Brake)?


Porridge was written Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais who had previously made their name with The Likely Lads. They've been living in Beverly Hills since they were commissioned to adapt Porridge for American TV in the mid-1970's. They were also successful over there with the Tracey Ullman Show and over here with Auf Wiedersehen Pet. (La Frenais also wrote Lovejoy and Spender.) It was produced and directed by Sydney Lotterby who joined the BBC as soon as he left school, and worked his way up.
His name will be very familiar to comedy fans having produced many other sit-coms, including Open All Hours and Yes Minister.


Porridge was filmed in front of a live studio audience.
(well they wouldn't have laughed much if they were dead, would they?)

BBC2 are repeating Porridge again at 10pm on Tuesdays.
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| EPISODE GUIDE: |
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Pilot Episode (First broadcast 1st April 1973)
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PRISONER AND ESCORT
It's New Year's Eve, and Fletcher is being transferred from Brixton Prison to Slade, in the middle of Cumberland, as was (although it was actually filmed near Caerphilly) accompanied by two prison officers: Mr. Mackay
and Mr. Barrowclough.

Fletch is desperate for a jimmy riddle, so Mackay takes the handcuffs off and tells him to relieve himself round the back of the van - a big mistake, because while out of their sight he pees into the petrol tank...
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Series One (First broadcast: 5th September - 10th October 1974)
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NEW FACES, OLD HANDS
It's New Year's Day, and three new inmates arrive at Slade Prison:- Fletcher, Godber and Cyril Heslop (Brian Glover). Fletcher is not happy when he finds out he will have to share a cell and clean out the pigs.

THE HUSTLER
Fletch gets permission from Grouty for a Saturday afternoon dice game, but when Ives is excluded he decides to get his own back by reporting
the game to Mackay.

A NIGHT IN
To his annoyance, Fletch is given a new cell-mate: young Godber, who is having trouble coming to terms with being banged-up for the first time. Fletch advises him to bide his time and imagine he's just having a quiet night in. Apart from a couple of brief appearances by a prison officer, it's just the two of them, stuck in their cell for the whole episode - a triumph of top quality comedy-drama writing.

A DAY OUT
Fletch and Godber join a work party digging ditches. When Ives gets stung on the bum, Fletch, ever the opportunist, offers to go to the village nearby for some 'medication'. But he's not the only one...

WAYS AND MEANS
Fletch, having lost his job on the farm, is desperate to impress the governor in order to wangle a job in the library. Meanwhile McLaren's temper is getting him into trouble and a rooftop protest ensues...

MEN WITHOUT WOMEN
On visiting day Fletch's daughter Ingrid comes to see him with some bad news about his wife Isobel: she's gone off with another fellah! The prison welfare officer recommends some compassionate leave...
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Series Two (First broadcast: 24th October - 28th November 1975)
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JUST DESSERTS
My favourite episode. A tin of pineapple chunks Fletch has illicitly acquired, and was very much looking forward to consuming, goes missing. At fi
rst he is disgusted that someone would steal from a fellow inmate. But then the real 'culprit' has a word. Gammon Steak Hawaiian anyone? A joy to watch, and why is Godber's hat standing to attention..?

HEARTBREAK HOTEL
Godber receives a Dear John... letter from his fiancée Denise. Meanwhile, some soft toilet tissue has gone missing from the Governor's office, and he's having to use standard prison-issue. "That's rough", says Godber, "Rough? I'd say it is. That'll wipe the smile off his face" says Fletch.

DISTURBING THE PEACE
Mr. Mackay goes off on a course. Unbelievably his replacement, an old acquaintance of Fletch's from Brixton, is even worse, and a riot ensues...

NO PEACE FOR THE WICKED
Fletch just wants a nice quiet Saturday afternoon, but people just won't leave him alone to read in peace, so he ends up taking drastic action...

HAPPY RELEASE
My favourite episode. Erm, apart from the one with the pineapple chunks! Fletch is in the prison infirmary with a broken ankle when Blanco tells him how he once secretly buried the proceeds of a wages van heist in Leeds.
But 'Nasty' Norris is ear-wigging, and he is due for release...

THE HARDER THEY FALL
Godber takes up boxing and, rather improbably, Fletch becomes his coach. But Grouty has a lot of money riding on Godber's first bout, and tells Fletch to make sure the lad takes a dive in the second round. Godber refuses...
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Christmas Special (First broadcast: 24th December 1975)
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NO WAY OUT
Fletch doesn't want to get involved with another prisoner's escape bid that Grouty is organizing and instead tries to get himself admitted to the hospital wing or Christmas. He ends up being referred to a real hospital and in it up to his neck.
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Christmas Special (First broadcast: 24th December 1976)
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THE DESPERATE HOURS
Fletch and Godber are caught sampling the Christmas spirit they've been fermenting for months. But while waiting to be seen by the Governor,
they get caught up in a siege, and Mr. Barrowclough is held hostage...
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Series Three (First broadcast: 18th February - 25th March 1977)
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A STORM IN A TEACUP
Some pills go missing from the medical room and Grouty enlists Fletch's help to replace them and thus prevent Mr. Mackay discovering just how much drug pilfering is going on.

POETIC JUSTICE
Fletch and Godber have to share their cell with a third inmate by the name of Rawley (Maurice Denham). A name that rings a bell with Fletcher:
"He's the bleedin' judge that sent me here!"

ROUGH JUSTICE
The judge is called upon to preside over a kangaroo court, when his watch goes missing...

PARDON ME
Old Blanco (David Jason) refuses parole because it would mean admitting to killing his wife, having maintained his innocence for nearly twenty years.
A TEST OF CHARACTER
Fletch and Warren try to help Godber pass his History 'O' Level by stealing the exam paper.

FINAL STRETCH
Godber is up for parole, but he gets into a fight when another prisoner says something untoward about a certain young lady...

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Many thanks to Richard Webber, Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais
for their excellent new book about the making of the series:

"Porridge: The Inside Story" published by Headline.

¶ Hardback: £16.99 ¶ ISBN: 0747232946 ¶ pp 192 ¶
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