EarDelightBase Waste of Money.

ScoobyWell Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Onlinewsma Absolutely Brilliant!

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

RaspberryLucozade For a sitcom, 'Porridge' was a brave move. After all, a prison setting is not one in which you would expect to find laughs. However, as it turned out, 'Porridge' has had more than its fair share of that. Quite simply, it is an absolute gem of a show.'Porridge' first started as an episode of Ronnie Barker's seven part pilot series 'Seven Of One' entitled 'Prisoner & Escort', broadcast on April 1st, 1973, written by Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais and starring alongside Barker Fulton MacKay as obnoxious Principal officer McKay and Brian Wilde as kindly prison officer Barrowclough. 'Prisoner & Escort' featured Barker as Cockney criminal Norman Stanley Fletcher, who is sentenced to five years imprisonment at Slade Prison for theft. The pilot was so successful that it was later turned into a series, with the title being changed to 'Porridge'. Both Fulton MacKay and Brian Wilde returned to their posts. Richard Beckinsale was brought in to play Fletcher's naive cell mate Lennie Godber. Beckinsale gelled with Barker. In the first episode, 'New Faces, Old Hands', Fletcher showed Godber the ropes regarding prison survival. Over the course of the three series, Fletcher became a father figure to the lad.Other regular characters included the effeminate prison chef Lukewarm ( Christoper Biggins ), Scots born West Indian McLaren ( Tony Osaba ), slimy 'Orrible Ives ( Ken Jones from 'The Squirrels' ) and dim-witted Warren ( the late Sam Kelly ). Michael Barrington made occasional appearances as prison Governor Mr. Venables, as did sexy Patricia Brake as Fletcher's busty daughter Ingrid.My favourite episodes included 'A Storm In A Teacup' in which Fletcher tries to replace drugs that have gone missing from the Medical Officer's room. In 'No Peace For The Wicked', Fletcher finds it impossible to get peace and quiet from his fellow inmates, 'Men Without Women' saw Fletcher try to help out his inmates with their marital problems but the best one of all was 'Just Desserts' in which a tin of pineapple chunks goes missing from Fletcher's cell. Clement and La Frenais had wrote sitcom before in the '60's with 'The Likely Lads' but here their talent really shines through. Ronnie was born to play hardened lag Fletcher. Richard Beckinsale made a brilliant sidekick for Fletcher. When Beckinsale died of a heart attack in 1979, aged only 31, the country was shocked. Max Harris supplied the show's bouncy theme tune.In 1978, a short lived sequel was made - 'Going Straight' - which saw Fletcher try to adapt to life on the outside again after being released from prison. Although gaining respectable viewing figures, many found it hard to take to Fletcher no longer behind bars and after one series was brought to an end. In 1979, a successful feature film was made which alas turned out to be one of Richard Beckinsale's last acting roles.'Porridge' was, by turns, funny, sad and moving. A true television classic. Fortunately, it has not diminished at all with the passage of time.

naseby A comedy that doesn't fail to deliver on any episode of a series deserves full marks! Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais excellently, it must be said, provided the nation with a fine prison-comedy, that especially excelled with Ronnie Barker at the helm, aided by the other great comedy actor of the decade, Richard Beckinsale. Fletcher 'Fletch' (Barker) and Godber (Beckinsale) are at odds naturally with the system that incarcerated them. Godber's the nice, innocent 'first-timer' under Fletch's wing, though this sometime puts them at odds, but mostly they're the best of buddies. The main battle of course, is getting one over on the 'screws' - the Prison Chief, Mr McKay (the brilliant Fulton McKay) and the nervous, spineless, but respected (probably because of those qualities!) Mr Barrowclough, (The equally great, late, Brian Wilde). Always on the make and keeping ahead of the latter two, the 'lags' are ably supported in capers by some other small-time inmates, dumb-ish 'Bunny' Warren, hard Scot, McLaren, and 'horrible' Ives. Occasional support also from the great David Jason as 'Blanco' surfaced well. A special mention too, of the 'Mr Big' character, 'genial' Harry Grout (Peter Vaughan), who's less than that. Fletch makes an attempt to disuade 'Grouty' from 'persuading' Godber to 'throw' the boxing match he's in: "Oh, Harry, not the lad," says Fletch in vain to Grouty, "...he's Got scruples." "Well," says 'Grouty', "if he doesn't throw the match, tell 'im 'e won't 'ave 'em any longer!" An excellent comedy that never failed to please.

prohibited-name-1842 I'm not going to go on about why this is the greatest sitcom ever and what are the funniest lines ever; its up to whoever is reading this to go discover that for themselves and encourage you to do so.I do want to comment on how this is a sitcom with exceptional timing of both visual gags and one liners, some so blatant that they are funny because you can't belive they stuck them in!Possibly the best aspect of this programme though was the humanity.Fletcher might sometimes seem heartless towards godber, but it is all about surviving a harsh environment intact. For evidence about this watch the episode "a night in" which revolves around godbers first night in prison. The episode takes place in their cell and never really features anyone but the two principle characters. But this is still one of the funniest episodes of any sitcom anytime, containing a few throw-away one liners, but mainly the episode is about the subtle humour of how to survive in stir and not forget the outside.Ronnie Barker is possibly the greatest comic actor of all time, who provides perfect comic timing on every joke, but you will always believe that fletcher is real and you can see the emotion pouring out of every episode of porridge.Richard Beckinsale as godber was the perfect foil for fletcher and again his timing was immaculate for the restraint on the delivery of his lines. He always held his own with ronnie and will always be fondly remebered by so many for this role after he died so young.The two principles were also supported so well by other characters in the prison who came from all spectrums of life (well male life, sorry ladies)One of the most interesting features was that they represented the two opposites of attitude from the prison guards. Mackay was load, coarse and brutal, but you could always see that underneath he was a man trying to do his job to the best of his ability. Mr Baraclough is more interesting as a "screw" who just wants to help the prisioners and be their friends whilst trying to not to hurt either side. Some people found him unbelievable; but i actually know a guy who had to leave his job as prison guard as he identified more with the inmates than the guards he was supposed to work with!To be honest i don't care if anyone else has this as their favourite programme; it is mine and if i have persuaded just one person to go watch and love this as much as i do then i will be satisfied.

sixstringscouser I don't like this sitcom. It seems everybody else does, though. I find the gags are too obvious and I hardly laughed at all when watching it on T.V. It's a very old-fashioned style sitcom that probably only older folk will enjoy. The best comedy of all time is Only Fools And Horses. Without doubt! Oh and by the way, David Jason is in this series as Blanco. Check out the make-up! 4/10