Porridge (Season 0)

Porridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film also titled Porridge. 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. The series was followed by a 1978 sequel, Going Straight, which established that Fletcher would not be going back to prison again. Porridge was voted number seven in a 2004 BBC poll of the 100 greatest British sitcoms.

Prisoner and Escort - Pilot 0.0
Air date: 1973-04-01
Runtime: 30 min
Overview: Norman Stanley Fletcher, a career criminal and his escorts - soft-hearted Mr Barraclough (Brian Wilde) and authoritarian Mr Mackay (Fulton Mackay) going up to prison.
No Way Out 0.0
Air date: 1975-12-24
Runtime: 41 min
Overview: An escape plan is being hatched and Fletcher wants to stay well out of it. Perhaps spending Christmas in the prison hospital might help to keep him out of trouble
The Desperate Hours 0.0
Air date: 1976-12-24
Runtime: 44 min
Overview: Fletcher and Godber have spent months fermenting "Chateau Slade". They don't get chance to drink it, however, when the "screws" discover it's whereabouts. It begins to look as if Fletcher will be spending Christmas in solitary confinement.
Porridge - The Movie 0.0
Air date: 1979-08-12
Runtime: 30 min
Overview: This prison comedy is based on the popular British televison series of the same name. Long time Slade prison inmate Fletcher (Ronnie Barker) is ordered by Grouty (Peter Vaughan) to arrange a football match between the prisoners and an all-star celebrity team. Fletcher is unaware that the match is only a diversion so that an escape can take place. When Fletcher and his cell mate Lennie (Richard Beckinsale) stumble on the escape, they are taken along, and find themselves having to break back into prison to avoid getting into trouble.
Case for Britain's Best Sitcom 0.0
Air date: 2009-01-06
Runtime: 30 min
Overview: Johnny Vaughan argues the case for Porridge in BBC Britian's Best Sitcom "'Porridge' is set in the grimmest place imaginable - a prison. And yet still manages to be both gritty and witty". "Why? The scripts of course… and it doesn't hurt that Fletcher - the most brilliant sitcom creation of all time - is played by the comedy guvnor himself Ronnie Barker". "Fletch laid down the template for comedy rogues which Del Boy and 'Fools and Horses' followed shamelessly. David Jason even studied Ronnie Barker on the set of 'Porridge'". "And who could be a better comedy foil for Barker than doe-eyed innocent Richard Beckinsale. The pair made episode 'A Night In' the best ever two-hander to ever appear in a British sitcom". "'Porridge' had proper villains too! No sitcom has ever had a character quite as mean as the man who really runs Slade Prison - Harry Grout. And prison officer Mackay, played to neurotic perfection by Fulton Mackay, very nearly stole the show from under the convicts' noses". "And the show was ahead of its time. 'Porridge' had straight, black, white and gay all living together relatively harmoniously. Slade was - strangely - a tolerant utopian vision of society. Except for Grouty, that is". "'Porridge' is rich, satisfying, and packed with goodness. Never past its sell-by date, and guaranteed no artificial additives like labyrinthine plots, rubbish title music and stereotypical nagging wives." http://www.bbc.co.uk/sitcom/advocate_porridge.shtml
Interview with Ronnie Barker 0.0
Runtime: 15 min
Overview: Ronnie Barker looks back on the classic sitcom.
Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher 0.0
Air date: 2003-12-29
Runtime: 30 min
Overview: Spoof documentary looking at the life of Normal Stanley Fletcher, the star of 1970s sitcom Porridge played by Ronnie Barker. Featuring fictional footage and interviews with the character's family, friends and associates, the film documents Fletcher's chequered career.
Porridge: Inside Out - Sent Down 0.0
Air date: 2014-05-21
Runtime: 30 min
Overview: A making-of documentary celebrating the 40th anniversary of the television sitcom Porridge (Episode 1 of 3).
Porridge: Inside Out - Banged Up 0.0
Air date: 2014-05-28
Runtime: 30 min
Overview: A making-of documentary celebrating the 40th anniversary of the television sitcom Porridge (Episode 2 of 3).
Porridge: Inside Out - Good Behaviour 0.0
Air date: 2014-06-04
Runtime: 30 min
Overview: A making-of documentary celebrating the 40th anniversary of the television sitcom Porridge (Episode 3 of 3).