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Overview

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.

  1. Ian La Frenais

    Creator

  2. Dick Clement

    Creator

Series Cast

  1. Cast 1

    Ronnie Barker

    Norman Stanley Fletcher

  2. Cast 1

    Richard Beckinsale

    Lennie Godber

  3. Cast 1

    Fulton Mackay

    Mr. Mackay

  4. Cast 1

    Brian Wilde

    Mr. Barrowclough

Last Season

Poster

Series 3

1977 | 6 episodes

season 3 of Porridge premiered on Feb 18, 1977.

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It's hard to believe that there were only ever twenty episodes of this classic British comedy ever made. Ronnie Barker ("Fletch") is fantastic as the habitual criminal sent to Her Majesty's Prison "Slade" - perched in the northern reaches of England - for five years. His cellmate is the honest, but supremely naive "Godber" (Richard Becksinsale) and the series depicts their antics surviving the authoritarian regime of "Mr. Mackay" (the outstanding Fulton Mackay) in his uniform, and "Grouty" (the comically menacing Peter Vaughan) on the inside. Dick Clement and Ian la Frenais have created a wond...

Facts

Status Ended

Network Network

TypeScripted

Original LanguageEnglish 

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