Porridge: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Porridge_Logo.jpg|frame]]

 

Named for the then slang for being imprisoned (Doing Porridge) Porridge is a prison comedy that aired on [[The BBC]] between 1973 and 1977 with three seasons, two Christmas specials and [[The Movie|a film.]] Set in the fictional Slade Prison it starred [[The Two Ronnies|Ronnie Barker]] as Fletcher, a career criminal, and Richard Beckinsale as Godber, a naive new boy. The plot centered around the prisoners attempts get things past the prison wardens (the stern Mr Mackay and the soft Mr Barrowclough mostly), avoid trouble with the Prison Governor (who thinks he runs the place) and avoid the wrath of Harry Grout (an East End gang boss who really does).

 

* Fletcher - Probably breaking and entering, although a speech that may have been a joke claims it was the theft of a lorry. (five years)

* Godber - Breaking and entering. (two years)

* Bernard 'Horrible' Ives - Fraud. sentence unknown. Universally loathed.

 

Inspired a short-lived American TV sitcom, ''On The Rocks''.

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* [[And a Diet Coke]]: Fletcher is offered cocoa, which he accepts, and then sugar. He refuses the biscuits, citing watching his weight, as he dumps at least four heaping spoonfuls of sugar in his already-sweet cocoa.

* [[Bottle Episode]]: ''A Night In'' may be the ultimate example. It consists almost entirely of two men talking in a darkened room.

* [[The Butcher]]: Parodied with "The Butcher of Eastgate". He fiddled his VAT.

* [[The Danza]]: Mr. Mackay is played by Fulton Mackay.

* [[Dawson Casting]]: Inverted by having the then thirty-five year old [[David Jason]] play the extremely elderly Blanco Webb.

* [[Gosh Dang It to Heck]]: The prisoners use the words "Naff" or "Naffing", depending on context, for viewer-friendly swearing.

** Also possibly a case of [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]], since "naff" was originally, in gay slang, an acronym of "not available for fucking".

'''Godber:''' You can't fool me, sir. Five. }}

* [[It Tastes Like Feet]]

* [[Military Moonshiner]]: Or prisoner moonshiner in this case.

* [[Moral Dissonance]]: Blanco, a kindly older prisoner who insisted for years that he was innocent of murdering his wife, later telling Fletcher it was his wife's lover who had actually done it. As he's now paroled, Fletcher tells him not to go looking for revenge, but Blanco replies that he's long dead, and he should know.

* [[The Movie]]: aka ''Doing Time'' in the U.S. Made in 1979, featuring the same cast and writers but with no BBC involvement. Not as well-received as the series, though not as bad as some TV spinoffs. This was Richard Beckinsale's last performance before his untimely death.

* [[No Theme Tune]]: The opening is the top-of-the-page quote (voiced by Barker as the judge) over a locking-the-prisoners-up montage. There is a closing theme tune.

* [[Scary Minority Suspect]]: Ditto

* [[Second Episode Introduction]]: Godber and all other prisoners except Fletcher himself do not appear in the pilot.

* [[Unusual Euphemism]]: Retasked the existing word 'naff' as an expletive, as in "naff off". Also created 'nerk' (presumably in place of 'berk') and possibly 'scrote'.

* [[Vetinari Job Security]]: When Mr Mackay is promoted a stricter, crueler screw from a prison Fletcher had been in earlier in his life replaces him and bullies both the criminals and [[Kick the Dog|Mr Barrowclough]]. The prisoners get rid of him by orchestrating a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for Mr Barrowclough and welcome back Mckay with a rendition of "For he's a jolly good fellow."

** To be clear he ''eats lightbulbs''

 

* [[Expository Theme Song]]: "I'm going straight, along the straight and narrow, and I don't mean straight back to crime..."

* [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming]]: All the episodes begin "Going..."

* [[Spinoff Sendoff]]

 

* [[Character Outlives Actor]]: Ingrid (Fletch's daughter, who married Godber in ''Going Straight'') gets a phone call from her husband that he can't make it back for the documentary. Richard Beckinsdale died shortly after ''Going Straight'' completed filming.

* [[Distant Finale]]: Quite literally.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:British Series]]

[[Category:Britcom]]