Porridge at 50: How the BBC sitcom overcame a rocky start to become a beloved classic | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV

It’s been half a century since the doors of Slade Prison slammed shut on Norman Stanley Fletcher, Lennie Godber and their fellow stragglers in Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais’ brilliant Behind Bars sitcom. And yet the show, which ran for three seasons between 1974 and 1977 and attracted an audience of 20 million, remains a much-revered mainstay of British daytime television.

This beloved gem grew out of Seven of One, a season of pilot episodes designed to find a comedy vehicle for Ronnie Barker, which aired in 1973. One of them, Prisoner and Escort, written by Clement and La Frenais, was approved and a full-fledged series, with a new title that referred to ‘serving time’, was born.

The only problem was that they had no plans to turn the single episode into a series.

“When we were asked to do this, it suddenly became discouraging. We visited different prisons to get inspiration, but we got really depressed,” admits La Frenais, 87.

“Then we spoke to Jonathan Marshall, an ex-con, about the routines of prison life – that meeting was valuable,” adds his writing partner Clement, 86. “He coined the phrase ‘It’s all about the small victories’, referring to enduring your sentence every day by winning ‘small victories’ against the system. With that one little phrase we found Fletcher’s character – it gave us a route in.”

There is no sign of a difficult start today.

Porridge was a beautifully polished comedy in which every aspect was spot on. Twenty brilliantly written scripts were brought to life by Barker et al under the supervision of the experienced BBC director Sydney Lotterby.

The California writers have nothing but admiration for the actors.

“Writing for Ronnie was the most fun we ever had, just in terms of feedback. He had the brain of a writer and an actor and would occasionally suggest an odd line or a little improvisation,” Clement enthuses.

“We wanted to make it clear that prison is a serious place and Ronnie fully recognized that, he liked to play serious and funny moments. It was a perfect collaboration and an incredibly nice experience.”

As for Richard Beckinsale, who died in 1979 at age 31, Ian La Frenais wonders how he ever got his first job.

“He was a terrible reader and if he had to read for the part he wouldn’t have gotten it, but he was the first to admit how bad he was,” he admits. “When he read through the script, he would give a long speech and the rest of the cast would groan and say, ‘Oh God!’ But he took it to heart.”

But the writers needn’t have worried.

“Even at the first rehearsal he was still bad, he would often read the lines slightly wrong – it was like he had just gotten out of bed,” laughs La Frenais. “But by the time we did the show he had transformed his performance and he was amazing.”

In creating the prison governors, the writers opted for a modernist and a traditionalist. “Having Fulton Mackay as the old hardliner and Brian Wilde as Barrowclough, the new, relatively liberal screw, created conflict and that was the life of our comedy,” Clement explains.

“I adored him (Fulton), he was a joy to work with. He was very versatile and polished. He loved the process of acting and I remember Syd Lotterby, the director, saying that Fulton always wanted one more rehearsal; he never stopped.

“But he was a perfectionist and in a way that was completely appropriate for the character. The subtleties in his performance were superb.”

According to La Frenais, one should not underestimate the contributions of all four main characters, including Wilde, who played the nervous Mr Barrowclough and later starred in Last of the Summer Wine.

“Brian’s was one of the hardest, but he made it work beautifully. He was sometimes overlooked in terms of dialogue, but he was great nonetheless.

“Brian belonged to that group of character actors whose work, understated and subtle, was consistently excellent and unnoticed. He ennobled Mr. Barrowclough with a compassion and gentle persistence that never left him pitiful or ridiculous.”

The writers also created a wide range of characters for the other prisoners, including the brilliant Harry Grout, also known as Grouty, played by Peter Vaughan, and Lukewarm, starring a young Christopher Biggins.

“We wanted a gay character (Lukewarm) in Slade Prison because it reflected reality,” Clement explains. “I heard recently that one or two people thought some of the comments were inappropriate in a more politically sensitive era.

“But I dispute that, because we wanted to highlight the fact that there are gay people in prison. Fletcher’s attitude towards them was one of complete tolerance and that was more important to me – to show that he was completely accepting.”

Fortunately, Porridge comes from an era before wokeism took over. Today, it seems that this phenomenon is influencing all aspects of society, including the entertainment industry.

Political correctness and the limitations it can impose on writers, especially those who specialize in comedy, had no effect on Clement and La Frenais.

“We don’t just write comedy, we do other genres,” says Clement, who – along with La Frenais – is halfway through Betrayal, which focuses on the fall of the Ottoman Empire. “It’s meant to be eight hours of TV. We haven’t found an announcer yet, because we’re still researching and writing.

“That’s not to say there aren’t subjects you have to tread carefully with – there always are – but we didn’t feel those constraints when we wrote Porridge.

“But now we are definitely aware of cultural diversity and we make sure that we address it when we write something. Sometimes the way writers and TV companies deal with it clashes with me. Sometimes you feel like people are getting themselves into a knot.”

While Clement and La Frenais can portray any type of character to perfection, they are exceptionally good at portraying working-class examples.

I wonder if the writers had any working class heroes?

“Not necessarily, but when we started writing, Ian and I were very influenced by the British films of the time that portrayed the working class, like Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner,” Clement explains. “And of course the first thing we wrote was The Likely Lads, about two working-class guys. I think we were more comfortable with people who were fighting against the odds than with rich guys who had already made it.”

In 1977, the bars of Slade Prison were finally demolished, but a sequel, Going Straight, was released, which chronicled Fletcher’s life after his release.

While the series was entertaining, it lacked the power and richness of its predecessor.

In 2017, a remake of Porridge was broadcast by the BBC, this time focusing on Fletcher’s grandson Nigel and starring Kevin Bishop. However, the film was never revived, much to the disappointment of the writers.

“I thought it worked well and the response from the studio audience in Manchester was warm and genuine,” recalls Clement, who doesn’t think the premise will be revisited. “It’s time to move on.”

But Porridge’s appeal remains, which explains why it is rightly regarded as a true classic. Dick Clement reflects on the sitcom’s success, adding: “It’s hard to see what made the show a success, although having Ronnie Barker in the lead role was a major factor. When something works, you don’t want to pluck the petals from the rose.

“But perhaps the best sitcoms on TV are a captive situation and Porridge was the obvious captive situation, both literally and figuratively. And then you have a great cast and great direction from Syd Lotterby and bingo!”

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