0:00:20 > 0:00:25When Porridge first hit our screens in the mid-'70s,
0:00:25 > 0:00:31it pulled in audiences of 20 million and was hailed as a British sitcom classic.
0:00:31 > 0:00:38Our map of Comedy Connections takes us on a 40-year journey to see how writers, director and actors
0:00:38 > 0:00:44created a series where the "sit" and "com" were in perfect harmony.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49People say Porridge was the best thing I did. I think they're right.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53The reason it has endured well is it doesn't date.
0:00:54 > 0:00:59One, two, three, four, five, six, seven - EIGHT.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06Huh! Would you Adam and Eve it? "Go to jail"!
0:01:07 > 0:01:13At the time, none of us thought this would be going 25 years later!
0:01:13 > 0:01:16It was just impossible to believe.
0:01:16 > 0:01:22- All right, Fletcher. Just don't let me catch you thieving!- I won't.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26- You won't what?- I won't let you catch me, Mr Mackay!
0:01:26 > 0:01:31The recipe of Porridge's success is easy to see with hindsight.
0:01:31 > 0:01:36Two of TV's best writers gave great material to a talented director,
0:01:36 > 0:01:40who brought the best out of a gifted cast. How could it fail?
0:01:40 > 0:01:47Especially when, at the heart of Porridge, in the part of Norman Stanley Fletcher,
0:01:47 > 0:01:50was a comic giant - Ronnie Barker.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01To achieve that success, it needed Ronnie Barker,
0:02:01 > 0:02:05and the reason why is because you needed
0:02:05 > 0:02:10an actor of consummate skill in acting
0:02:10 > 0:02:13and a total knowledge of comedy.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17- That's from me. Bit mundane after cigars - but- I- knitted them!
0:02:17 > 0:02:21Did you? Aren't they nice! Lovely!
0:02:21 > 0:02:25I'll wear the other one when I get the bandage off, cos...
0:02:25 > 0:02:28- They're mittens!- Eh?
0:02:33 > 0:02:36Oh, yeah - look at that! Oh, yeah!
0:02:37 > 0:02:39So how did it all begin?
0:02:39 > 0:02:43In the early '60s, the BBC gave two friends -
0:02:43 > 0:02:49trainee TV director Dick Clement and insurance salesman Ian La Frenais -
0:02:49 > 0:02:54the opportunity to write a comedy series called The Likely Lads.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58Two teas, love. One with, one without.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01Sugar's on the table.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04Steady! Some's gone into the cups(!)
0:03:04 > 0:03:08Audiences appreciated The Likely Lads' grip on real life
0:03:08 > 0:03:11and its lack of sitcom sofas.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16But sofas became part of the furniture in the follow-up success,
0:03:16 > 0:03:20Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?
0:03:20 > 0:03:23It was an interesting time in TV -
0:03:23 > 0:03:26people willing to try new things.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30So we were lucky to be in the right place at the right time.
0:03:30 > 0:03:37Meanwhile, Ronnie Barker had been playing second fiddle to Jimmy Edwards in More Faces Of Jim.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42Then he emerged from the shadow, appearing in The Frost Report
0:03:42 > 0:03:47with Ronnie Corbett and a pre-Monty Python John Cleese.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51You stand before this court charged with arson, manslaughter,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54robbery with violence, rape, treason
0:03:54 > 0:04:00and three separate cases of murder. What have you to say for yourself?
0:04:00 > 0:04:02I'm terribly sorry!
0:04:02 > 0:04:09The success of The Frost Report marked Barker as a talent to watch and he was given his own show.
0:04:09 > 0:04:14Hark At Barker saw the start of a long association with David Jason.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17But it was the collaboration with Ronnie Corbett
0:04:17 > 0:04:22that launched the BBC on a hunt for a suitable starring vehicle.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26Seven Of One was designed to be pilots for possible series.
0:04:26 > 0:04:31It WAS to be Six Of One, so I could then do Half A Dozen Of The Other.
0:04:31 > 0:04:38But some wise executive added another script which put paid to that as a title.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42I commissioned some writers I'd been working with.
0:04:42 > 0:04:47Two from - cos there were seven programmes - so I got two from...
0:04:47 > 0:04:54Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, cos I'd done Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? with them.
0:04:54 > 0:05:00The first of the two pilots by Clement and La Frenais introduced the public to Fletcher
0:05:00 > 0:05:06and to prison officers Mackay and Barrowclough.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10I suggested one episode could be a prison episode
0:05:10 > 0:05:15but mine was much more jokey - a sort of Bilko in prison.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20I talked to Dick and Ian and they wanted to do something deeper.
0:05:20 > 0:05:25- A Happy New Year to you, Fletcher. > - Oh, yes - very witty, very droll(!)
0:05:25 > 0:05:28Prisoner And Escort had a guy
0:05:28 > 0:05:35who wanted to escape, so we knew that the character, mixed with Ronnie's kind of attitude,
0:05:35 > 0:05:41was someone up to something, So that was the core comic thing.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45- Don't come it with me! - I wouldn't, Mr Mackay,
0:05:45 > 0:05:50or you'd wait till Hemel Hempstead and chuck me out the window.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53- He wouldn't do that!- I suppose not.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57He couldn't spell Hemel Hempstead - he'd wait till we got to Rugby.
0:05:57 > 0:06:03CLEMENT: It's fair to say that the fact that it had great performances
0:06:03 > 0:06:06by Brian Wilde and Fulton Mackay
0:06:06 > 0:06:14gave you a head start. One had already established the bones of a different relationship
0:06:14 > 0:06:18between Fletcher and each of those two prison officers.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21He'd bring back the birch, him.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24- What's he on about? - Mr Mackay runs group activities.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29Oh, yeah? Like rock-breaking and compulsory potholing.
0:06:29 > 0:06:35This is where another essential ingredient was added - the director Sydney Lotterby,
0:06:35 > 0:06:40whose record included Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and The Liver Birds.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44His skill at getting performances from artistes
0:06:44 > 0:06:47is demonstrated by Frankie Howerd in Up Pompeii.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50- There, there, there, there! - Oh!
0:06:50 > 0:06:53- Oh, there, there, there, there!- Oh!
0:06:53 > 0:06:56- Ever so there, there, there! One for the road.- Oh!
0:06:56 > 0:06:59Oh, there, there, there, there!
0:06:59 > 0:07:03LOTTERBY: The thing about comedy - about ALL television -
0:07:03 > 0:07:08is that the actor and the director - we are both, in fact, interpreters.
0:07:08 > 0:07:13The person who's got all the business, of course, is the writer.
0:07:13 > 0:07:19The creative team of writers, director and star that would make Porridge was now in place.
0:07:19 > 0:07:25They also did a second Seven Of One pilot - I'll Fly You For A Quid -
0:07:25 > 0:07:28about a Welsh family of gamblers.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32That's all going at 13-2, plus his original stake,
0:07:32 > 0:07:35that's 1, carry...5...that's 7, that's...
0:07:37 > 0:07:42My God! £848.42!
0:07:42 > 0:07:44Approximately.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46Less tax.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49No - I've allowed for that!
0:07:49 > 0:07:53It was make-your-mind-up time, as they said in the '70s.
0:07:53 > 0:07:59How different the history of TV comedy might have been if the BBC had followed Barker's instincts.
0:07:59 > 0:08:06It wasn't my favourite episode. The Welsh one, I thought would make the best series but I was talked round.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10The BBC agreed to a series based on Prisoner And Escort
0:08:10 > 0:08:14but it would be 18 months before it started recording,
0:08:14 > 0:08:21and Clement and La Frenais tested the waters at ITV with a series called Thick As Thieves.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25It starred Bob Hoskins as an ex-con who returns home
0:08:25 > 0:08:29to find best mate John Thaw has moved in with his wife.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32Cut yourself shaving?
0:08:32 > 0:08:34Every time you raised your voice!
0:08:34 > 0:08:38- There's TCP in there. - No, we keep it in the bathroom.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41Oh, DO we?!
0:08:41 > 0:08:47- ITV were...- It didn't quite work. - There's something about ITV, they didn't do that stuff as...
0:08:47 > 0:08:54The BBC always did the half-hour comedies better than ITV, but this SHOULD have worked.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58We liked it. We were high on Thick As Thieves then.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02Confronted by the reality of six Porridge half-hours,
0:09:02 > 0:09:07getting laughs from incarceration looked like being hard labour,
0:09:07 > 0:09:11though the setting had one big advantage.
0:09:11 > 0:09:16The best situation comedy has always been in a confined environment,
0:09:16 > 0:09:24and there's nothing more confined than prison, so all those were valid reasons, but we had to overcome...
0:09:24 > 0:09:29the real horror of it, because prison is a deeply depressing place.
0:09:31 > 0:09:36The breakthrough came when they met former jailbird Jonathan Marshall
0:09:36 > 0:09:43who'd written a book about his time inside. This gave Clement and La Frenais the key to their character
0:09:43 > 0:09:46and how he could handle the daily, grinding tedium.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50Fletcher would survive on little victories.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52I get a bit depressed at times...
0:09:52 > 0:09:55We both remember that key phrase,
0:09:55 > 0:10:02that it was the kind of minutiae of everyday existence,
0:10:02 > 0:10:09the way that people like Fletcher, who are survivalists, look for an edge, or victory over "the man".
0:10:09 > 0:10:12You see yourself as working-class,
0:10:12 > 0:10:19- do you?- Yeah. At least, I used to until I went up to Glasgow once - now I see myself as MIDDLE-class.
0:10:21 > 0:10:27Those victories were won against the man who embodied the system.
0:10:27 > 0:10:34Bringing the character of Prison Officer Mackay to life was his namesake, actor Fulton Mackay.
0:10:34 > 0:10:41Mr Mackay's battles with Fletcher gave the series most of its conflict and plenty of big laughs.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44Do everything by numbers?
0:10:47 > 0:10:51I refuse to rise to your bait, Fletcher.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55And it is naive of you to assume that I would.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59Even with your old lady - numbers?
0:10:59 > 0:11:05- IN SCOTTISH ACCENT: - I'm about to make passionate love to you. Stand by your bed!
0:11:07 > 0:11:12Wait for it, wait for it! Two, three - knickers down!
0:11:13 > 0:11:19Before entering Slade Prison, Fulton Mackay had played a host of straighter roles,
0:11:19 > 0:11:23including one where the Doctor arrived a little too late.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31Fulton Mackay was in the running to play Doctor Who
0:11:31 > 0:11:34when Jon Pertwee hung up his hat.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38But the prison gates opened as the TARDIS door shut.
0:11:38 > 0:11:43On his release from Slade, Mackay was to play Local Hero's beach bum
0:11:43 > 0:11:48and appear with the Muppets as the lighthouse-keeper in Fraggle Rock.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54Fulton's whole body language,
0:11:54 > 0:11:58everything he did, the way he moved
0:11:58 > 0:12:02and his little twitches - you can't WRITE that.
0:12:02 > 0:12:07That's when an actor takes over a role and says, "This is now mine.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11"This is my suit of clothes and I'm wearing it." Fantastic!
0:12:11 > 0:12:18- Never turn your back on them! - I've always thought the way to encourage trust was to SHOW trust.
0:12:18 > 0:12:24Mackay's cohort, Barrowclough, was a whole boxful of soft centres
0:12:24 > 0:12:30and a gift for Brian Wilde who had worked with Barker in the 1964 film The Bargee.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34Then he played Foggy in Last Of The Summer Wine.
0:12:34 > 0:12:39I'm all right. It's just that I get these murderous tempers!
0:12:39 > 0:12:42No, on the whole,
0:12:42 > 0:12:48you really shouldn't say anything to me that you couldn't safely say to John Wayne.
0:12:49 > 0:12:54Meanwhile, back in the clink, cast members were still being recruited.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58An important piece of the jigsaw - finding Fletcher's cellmate.
0:12:58 > 0:13:04We wanted to create a character who had never been to prison before.
0:13:04 > 0:13:10That way, the audience could learn about...the routine things
0:13:10 > 0:13:13that prison life involves.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16So cast as Fletcher's cellmate -
0:13:16 > 0:13:20step forward Lennie Godber, played by Richard Beckinsale.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23You WAS expecting me? They informed you?
0:13:23 > 0:13:26- They informed me.- Only temporary.
0:13:26 > 0:13:33- You're too right, only temporary! Single cell, this is - it's mine. - It's not MY fault.- I'm just saying.
0:13:33 > 0:13:39Richard Beckinsale first starred on TV as Geoffrey Scrimshaw, the boyfriend of Paula Wilcox,
0:13:39 > 0:13:42in two series of The Lovers.
0:13:42 > 0:13:49He then played student Alan Moore in the bedsit sitcom Rising Damp and took on Leonard Rossiter.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54- Shake hands.- Get him out of here! - Why?- It's morbid.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58I have to study anatomy, or how can I set bones?
0:13:58 > 0:14:04- If they make you a doctor, I'll write to the Medical Council! - It's someone to talk to,
0:14:04 > 0:14:09and it's musical. # Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones... #
0:14:09 > 0:14:10That's not funny!
0:14:12 > 0:14:18Godber started prison life working in the kitchens but rose rapidly to be Fletcher's sidekick
0:14:18 > 0:14:21and perfect bottom-bunk occupant.
0:14:21 > 0:14:26How different it might have been if the BBC followed Barker's instinct.
0:14:26 > 0:14:32I didn't know his work. Indeed, I'd suggested a guy called Paul Henry
0:14:32 > 0:14:37as Godber to the director. He's a chap I'd worked with a year before.
0:14:38 > 0:14:44But the director said no. He thought that Richard had such warmth and charm and...innocence.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48Keep your nose clean, do your porridge.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51- I'm only here due to tragic circumstances.- What?
0:14:51 > 0:14:54I got caught.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58He and Ronnie hit it off immediately
0:14:58 > 0:15:04and there was a father-son thing which worked extremely well. And Lennie was enormously sympathetic.
0:15:04 > 0:15:11- You stop that!- What!- That! Drawing attention to other people's peculiarities.
0:15:11 > 0:15:17I was saying to Jackie, too many youngsters poke fun at people cos they got short legs or long legs.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19Who's Jackie?
0:15:19 > 0:15:21Jackie - him in the hobby shop.
0:15:21 > 0:15:26Little fat poof with the ears like jug handles.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29- LA FRENAIS:- Fletcher became the reluctant mentor of this guy
0:15:29 > 0:15:32who he didn't want in his cell but was put in his cell
0:15:32 > 0:15:35and who also didn't know anything.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40So the audience got a sense of the rules, what you do or don't do.
0:15:40 > 0:15:47It's the one place where you can get freedom. Dreams is your escape. No locked doors, no barriers.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50Dreams is freedom.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52- Freedom?- Yeah.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55No locked doors, is there?
0:15:55 > 0:15:59Hey, yeah. ..Hey, yeah - you're right, Fletch!
0:15:59 > 0:16:05The Porridge team now had to find a cast of supporting characters to ensure this prison worked.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08Out came the form book and the names selected were...
0:16:08 > 0:16:11Sam Kelly as Bunny Warren...
0:16:11 > 0:16:14I'd read books if I could read.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19'Never knew what his real first name was.'
0:16:19 > 0:16:23And he was in for burglary
0:16:23 > 0:16:27because he couldn't read the sign that said "Burglar Alarm"!
0:16:27 > 0:16:30Christopher Biggins as Lukewarm...
0:16:30 > 0:16:33- Reading a book?- Oh, don't YOU start!
0:16:33 > 0:16:38Go on knitting your balaclava - there might be another war.
0:16:41 > 0:16:46BIGGINS: Lukewarm was the iron hoof, in the Cockney slang - the poof.
0:16:46 > 0:16:51This character - an extension of myself - was always knitting.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54Tony Osoba as Mad Dog McLaren...
0:16:54 > 0:17:00Never knew my father, ma that didn't want me, orphanage, and I'm black with a Scots accent.
0:17:00 > 0:17:02What d'you want - happy-go-lucky(?)
0:17:02 > 0:17:05- It could be worse, son.- Could it?
0:17:07 > 0:17:11No, I don't suppose it could, really.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13OSABA: The scripts were just easy -
0:17:13 > 0:17:19easy to learn, easy to do. You felt, "This just works beautifully."
0:17:19 > 0:17:25And playing Fletcher's daughter, Ingrid, with a voice that could strip paint, Patricia Brake...
0:17:25 > 0:17:27..Are you wearing a bra?
0:17:28 > 0:17:31- I don't need to.- What d'you mean?
0:17:31 > 0:17:35Haven't for ages. My breasts are firm and pliant.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37Please, Ingrid!
0:17:39 > 0:17:43This isn't St Tropez - it's Slade bleedin' Prison!
0:17:43 > 0:17:47There's 600 men in here who'd go berserk at the sight of a shin,
0:17:47 > 0:17:50never mind unfettered knockers!
0:17:50 > 0:17:52I knew it was special in rehearsal.
0:17:52 > 0:18:00If something makes YOU laugh that you're in, you know it's good.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03Paul Henry might've missed the boat as Godber,
0:18:05 > 0:18:09but national acclaim came his way as Benny in Crossroads.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13A casting idea of Barker's that did pay dividends
0:18:13 > 0:18:17was a young actor who played characters much older than he was.
0:18:17 > 0:18:23As the geriatric lifer Blanco Webb, shuffle forward David Jason.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26We all know you didn't kill your old lady,
0:18:26 > 0:18:31so some other bloke did and you've paid the penance for it,
0:18:31 > 0:18:35but I don't want you going out harbouring any thoughts of revenge.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39No. I know him what did it. It were the wife's lover.
0:18:39 > 0:18:45- But I shan't look for him. He died years ago.- That's all right, then.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47That I do know. I killed him.
0:18:50 > 0:18:56I had no idea who David was. Ronnie said, "I know who can do this part."
0:18:56 > 0:19:00So I looked at David Jason and thought, "He's so young!
0:19:00 > 0:19:04"He can't do this." He said, "HE can do it."
0:19:04 > 0:19:08David Jason had a glorious comedy future ahead of him.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12He had form and most of it was linked to Ronnie Barker.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15As well as appearing in Porridge,
0:19:15 > 0:19:20he appeared with Ronnie in Hark At Barker as a 100-year-old gardener
0:19:20 > 0:19:26and as a hitman in The Odd Job, hired by a suicidal Barker to bump him off.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30Leave it to me. When you're least expecting it...
0:19:33 > 0:19:40- Y-Yes, that sounds reasonable. - Think nowt of it.- Thanks.- Right. - Well, I suppose...
0:19:44 > 0:19:49The relationship continued when Jason appeared again with Barker
0:19:49 > 0:19:51as Granville in Open All Hours.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55Porridge, meanwhile, went from strength to strength.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00Its smooth running meant everyone got time off for good behaviour.
0:20:00 > 0:20:05It was an incredibly smooth process. It doesn't happen that way.
0:20:05 > 0:20:11- It was too easy.- Nothing went wrong.- We'd record the programmes...
0:20:11 > 0:20:16- What time?- Eight o'clock. - We'd be in the bar by 9.15.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20Mr Mackay is a strict Glasgow Presbyterian, you know.
0:20:20 > 0:20:25Sex is only allowed up there when Rangers beat Celtic!
0:20:25 > 0:20:31'I found Fletcher a very appealing character to play. He was crooked,'
0:20:31 > 0:20:36always looking for a swindle and trying to trick the authorities,
0:20:36 > 0:20:38but he respected fairness, I think.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42A cheeky character - he made me laugh.
0:20:42 > 0:20:477.30 - slop-out, supper, 7.45 - lights out. Any questions?
0:20:47 > 0:20:50- Any point?- None whatsoever.
0:20:50 > 0:20:55Clement and La Frenais' writing was always very, very funny.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00Very little alteration required. I would add the odd gag,
0:21:00 > 0:21:05but it was practically the finished article on the first read-through.
0:21:05 > 0:21:12Their scripts are always so good there's not much to do, which is great for a director.
0:21:12 > 0:21:18And if you've got good actors, all you do is let them get on with it,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21make sure you don't get in the way.
0:21:21 > 0:21:28And as you'd expect from a prison comedy, Clement and La Frenais liked to give themselves a stretch.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33The episode, A Night In, was set entirely in one cell.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37Dear God, thank you for getting me through another day.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41Thank you for the letter from Denise and the liquorice allsorts.
0:21:41 > 0:21:47Please look after Denise, and the same applies to me mam, dad -
0:21:47 > 0:21:53- wherever he is - Auntie Vi, Uncle Donald, Uncle Les and Auntie...- Here!
0:21:53 > 0:21:58Is this a prayer or a dedication on the Jimmy Young Show?!
0:21:58 > 0:22:02It was a great challenge to have just two people talking in a cell.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06It was lit very dark - it was at night.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10It was just very atmospheric and very good
0:22:10 > 0:22:16and it was the first BAFTA it won, so that's a reason why it was my favourite too!
0:22:16 > 0:22:23Despite its huge audiences, Porridge came to an abrupt stop after a mere 21 episodes,
0:22:23 > 0:22:29bringing to an end if not Her Majesty's, then everybody else's pleasure.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32We only did three series. That was my fault.
0:22:32 > 0:22:37I didn't want to get stuck with being identified as Fletcher.
0:22:37 > 0:22:45I've seen actors stay too long in one character. Harry H Corbett as Steptoe - it happened to him.
0:22:45 > 0:22:50After Porridge, Barker returned to another of the Seven Of One pilots,
0:22:50 > 0:22:52corner shop sitcom Open All Hours.
0:22:52 > 0:22:58He teamed up once again with Sydney Lott and his protege David Jason.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02David Jason was, as always, a delight to work with.
0:23:02 > 0:23:07His timing and sense of comedy are superb, and a riot off camera.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11I've never laughed so much as I did with David.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15- Who's it for?- 11.- You wrote 111.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19I've started st-stuttering in writing now!
0:23:19 > 0:23:25Even though Ronnie Barker wanted to move on, that didn't cut much ice with the BBC,
0:23:25 > 0:23:30and in their efforts to revive Fletcher, they resorted to drink.
0:23:30 > 0:23:36The BBC invited us to a thank-you lunch which went on till 5 o'clock,
0:23:36 > 0:23:41and after the seventh or second - I lost count - large brandy,
0:23:41 > 0:23:46we walked out having agreed to do a sequel called Going Straight.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50# I'm going straight, I am
0:23:50 > 0:23:54# Straight as an arrow... #
0:23:54 > 0:23:58I'd agreed to do one series of Going Straight,
0:23:58 > 0:24:05but it didn't seem to please the public. They missed the threat and discipline of prison.
0:24:05 > 0:24:10When I decided to work, I worked out all my qualifications.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13Know what they boiled down to?
0:24:13 > 0:24:19One driving licence. 45 years on this earth, that's all I got! One driving licence.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22Even that's got two endorsements.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25Fletcher was always a winner inside.
0:24:25 > 0:24:32When he went outside, for Going Straight, he was a bit of a loser.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37- They're all right. - They don't go in this room.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40They will do when they're personalised.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43All you need's a family photo.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48That's all you need. Just a little ornament, like that. Perhaps a...
0:24:50 > 0:24:55Going Straight marked the first sitcom role for Nicholas Lyndhurst
0:24:55 > 0:24:58as Fletcher's gormless son Raymond.
0:24:58 > 0:25:05The series had an impeccable pedigree. All the collaborators from Porridge were involved again,
0:25:05 > 0:25:10but despite a plot which saw Godber marrying Fletcher's daughter,
0:25:10 > 0:25:15it showed the public thought Fletcher belonged behind bars.
0:25:15 > 0:25:21I think the reason it didn't work was the public wanted more Porridge and it wasn't the same.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24But there was more. In 1979,
0:25:24 > 0:25:30Porridge followed in the footsteps of many '70s sitcoms, making the transition to the big screen,
0:25:30 > 0:25:34although it never measured up to the original.
0:25:34 > 0:25:41For the American market, they had to reintroduce characters that were already well-known in this country.
0:25:41 > 0:25:47So, in a way, for me, 20 minutes of the film was...wasted,
0:25:47 > 0:25:53because they had to reintroduce Mr Mackay and Mr Barrowclough, which was a shame, really.
0:25:53 > 0:25:59Luckily, there was more to life after Porridge than repeat fees, though they're still coming in.
0:25:59 > 0:26:04Sam Kelly made a good impression, appearing in The Two Ronnies,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07and starred as Hans Geering in 'Allo 'Allo.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10CUCKOO! CUCKOO!
0:26:13 > 0:26:20Tony Osoba kept Charlotte Coleman in line in Educating Marmalade.
0:26:20 > 0:26:26Patricia Brake recreated June Whitfield's part of Eth in the TV version of The Glums
0:26:26 > 0:26:31before become really glum, after appearing in the doomed Eldorado.
0:26:32 > 0:26:37Christopher Biggins became successful in panto, playing...
0:26:37 > 0:26:40Christopher Biggins.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43What about the stars of Porridge?
0:26:43 > 0:26:47Richard Beckinsale never fulfilled his glorious early promise.
0:26:47 > 0:26:53In 1979, he died during the filming of the sitcom Bloomers, at the age of 31.
0:26:53 > 0:26:59His daughters Kate and Samantha carry on the Beckinsale acting tradition.
0:26:59 > 0:27:05# For he's a jolly good fellow For he's a jolly good fellow... #
0:27:05 > 0:27:12Fulton Mackay continued to deliver meticulous performances up to his death in 1987.
0:27:12 > 0:27:19But it's for his creation of Mackay, the scourge of Slade, that he's most fondly remembered.
0:27:19 > 0:27:25# For he's a jolly good fellow For he's a jolly good fellow... #
0:27:26 > 0:27:31Sydney Lotterby retired from TV in January 2003,
0:27:31 > 0:27:35after an association with the BBC that lasted over 60 years.
0:27:35 > 0:27:42He rounded off his career directing As Time Goes By, which ran for 10 years.
0:27:42 > 0:27:47Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais moved to Hollywood after Porridge -
0:27:47 > 0:27:53something that suits them. Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and The Commitments were written in LA.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57But for them, Porridge remains an enduring highlight.
0:27:59 > 0:28:05Now and again, everything goes, "Click, click, click." I don't think it's happened since!
0:28:05 > 0:28:08It was just extraordinary.
0:28:08 > 0:28:14And what of Ronnie Barker? Playing Fletcher made him king of comedy,
0:28:14 > 0:28:20a title he held on to until his last series Clarence in 1988,
0:28:20 > 0:28:23when he decided to retire.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27In the last couple of years, I've appeared in films, just for fun.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31But I'm still definitely retired again now.
0:28:33 > 0:28:35You see a difference in Fletcher.
0:28:35 > 0:28:40Sending him home has made him realise what he's been missing.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43He's been on a mug's game all these years.
0:28:43 > 0:28:49He's had the cockiness knocked out of him. We've seen the last of him.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53You can't beat the system, Mr Barrowclough.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00Oh, sorry.