Porridge
This
superb British comedy from the pens of Dick Clement and Ian La
Frenais was set inside the walls of HMP Slade, an isolated prison
in deepest Cumbria, and centred on Norman Stanley Fletcher - a
habitual criminal who accepted imprisonment as an occupational
hazard.
So it was that this Muswell Hill wide-boy with a heart of gold
was sentenced to a five year term at Her Majesty's pleasure.
Against his wishes, 2215 Fletcher was forced to share a cell
with young 3470 Lennie Godber, a first-time offender from
Birmingham, embarking on a two year stretch for breaking and
entering. Fletch became a father-like figure to the amiable Godber,
helping him to weather his first period of confinement, showing
him the tricks of survival and leading him through the vagaries of
prison etiquette.
Fletcher's considerable experience in incarceration brought him
respect from most of the criminals around him, the likes of
'Bunny' Warren, illiterate and easily led; decrepit Blanco; 'Black
Jock' McLaren, the Glaswegian heavy; and Lukewarm, the gay cook.
But there were also less agreeable inmates like 'Orrible' Ives,
the slimy Harris and 'genial' Harry Grout, the wing's Mr Big, who
ran all the rackets and enjoyed life's little luxuries in his own
comfortably appointed private room.
On the other side of the fence was the chief warder, Mr Mackay,
whose exaggerated speech patterns and neck twisting created one of
the few likable fascists on television: "I am firm but fair.
Remember I treat you all with equal contempt".
Despairing of the ineffective Governor, Mr Venables, he longed
to regiment the prisoners and rule the prison with iron jackboots.
But like his easily conned, hen-pecked assistant, Mr Barrowclough,
he was never a match for our hero.
Laced together with Fletcher's sparkling wit and skilful
repartee, Porridge extolled the ironies and paradoxes of
prison life, never glorifying life inside but cleverly commenting
on the difficulties and pressures endured by convicted criminals.
The series - which grew out of a play entitled Prisoner and
Escort (seen as part of Ronnie Barker's Seven Of One
anthology in 1973) - became a firm favourite in jails across
Britain. Unfortunately, a short-lived sequel, Going Straight
(1978), featuring Fletch's life back on the outside, failed to
reach the heights of the original series.
A cinema version of Porridge was released in 1979.
At the height of its UK success, Clement and La Frenais
instigated an American adaptation of Porridge, entitled On
The Rocks, which was screened by ABC.
After weathering initial criticism from the US National
Association For Justice, which worried it painted too rosy a
picture of prison life, the series - set in Alamese Minimum
Security Prison - enjoyed some success, especially with its
employment of real-life inmates as extras and walk-ons (The UK
series had done likewise).
Running to 22 episodes in 1975 and 1976, the US version starred
José Perez as the scheming Hector Fuentes, and Mel Stewart as his
adversary, the stern prison officer Gibson.
Brian Wilde (who played Mr Barrowclough) died in his sleep in
March 2008, after suffering a fall some weeks earlier. He was 80.
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