Porridge

The prison life of Fletcher, a criminal serving a five-year sentence, as he strives to bide his time, keep his record clean, and refuses to be ground down by the prison system.

Genre: Comedy, Crime

Cast:Ronnie Barker , Brian Wilde , Fulton Mackay , Richard Beckinsale , Sam Kelly , Tony Osoba , Michael Barrington , Christopher Biggins , Ken Jones , Paul McDowell , David Jason , Brian Glover , Peter Vaughan , Ronald Lacey , Patricia Brake , John Dair , Maurice Denham , Eric Dodson

1Season 1

S1.E1 ∙ New Faces, Old Hands

Thu, Sep 5, 1974

Like the old lag that he is, Fletch knows how to play the system and takes young, first-timer Godber under his wing when they have to share a cell with the dim-witted Cyril Heslop. Fletch pretends to have flat feet to get his own shoes back but the doctor isn't fooled. He does, however, tell Fletch that the governor keeps tropical fish so, on meeting the governor, Fletch claims to be an animal lover. And is duly rewarded with a job on the prison farm, mucking out the pigs.

2Season 1

S1.E2 ∙ The Hustler

Thu, Sep 12, 1974

Fletch is caught up in the inmates' mania for gambling and, working on the farm, has lots of eggs to use as stakes. After Fletch loses a bet with fellow con Ives, he is delighted when Mackay catches Ives with the eggs on him. However, Ives gets revenge by tipping Mackay off about an illegal Snakes and Ladders game run by Fletch in the coal-hole, to which he was not invited. Cue coal being emptied onto the players. However Fletch has the last laugh when he is moved to a single cell ...having bet everybody else that he would be.

3Season 1

S1.E3 ∙ A Night In

Thu, Sep 19, 1974

Godber and Fletcher are sharing a cell. Godber is starting to get quite homesick so Fletcher helps him find ways to kill the time and be more positive.

4Season 1

S1.E4 ∙ A Day Out

Thu, Sep 26, 1974

Fletch and Godber are members of an outside works party digging a sewerage trench in the churchyard. When Ives is stung by a bee, Fletch persuades Barraclough to let him go to the village for ointment, where of course he has a swift pint in the local pub, as well as meeting the local vicar. The prisoners end up in the church, to shelter from a threatened thunderstorm, causing Mackay to believe they have all run off as they are nowhere to be seen when he returns from his lunchtime drink. He alerts the chief officer who duly turns up to find the prisoners all present and correct, making Mackay look very foolish.

5Season 1

S1.E5 ∙ Ways and Means

Thu, Oct 3, 1974

As a punishment Fletch is sewing fishing nets with McLaren, an aggressive, quick-tempered prisoner. Fletch has a plan to turn them both from zero to hero, after a roof-top protest by McLaren, from which he will be talked down by Fletch, after attempts by others fail. The plan works, but not quite in the way Fletch hopes.

6Season 1

S1.E6 ∙ Men Without Women

Thu, Oct 10, 1974

After prisoner Warren gets a letter from his wife which causes him to doubt her fidelity, Fletch offers welfare services to him and some other prisoners, instructing them on how to write an appropriate letter to their partners. Fletch's daughter Ingrid visits with bad news about Fletch's wife, for which he gets a weekend's compassionate leave. There is no bad news - it is a ploy for Fletch to go home, spend time with his wife and watch football.

1Season 2

S2.E1 ∙ Just Desserts

Fri, Oct 24, 1975

Fletch's stolen tin of pineapple chunks has gone missing and the unlikely culprit is Mr. Barraclough, who took them home pending the opportunity to return them to the kitchen, only to discover his wife using them with a gammon steak. He likes Fletch, as he has been a good listener on his marital problems and says he will replace the tin if Fletch pays for it. Meanwhile, Godber steals another tin for Fletch from the kitchen and its absence is noted by Officer Birchwood, who informs Mackay. When Mackay goes to check, the tin has been surreptitiously replaced by Mr. Barraclough just a few seconds before, causing Warren to think it's a miracle. However, Mackay later finds Godber's "present" on his bed, and Fletch is on his way to the governor.

2Season 2

S2.E2 ∙ Heartbreak Hotel

Fri, Oct 31, 1975

Godber sends a request to a radio music show to play a record for his fiancee Denise, but it is rejected, probably because it is written on prison notepaper. At visiting time Fletch's daughter Ingrid causes a stir as she seems to be not wearing a bra and Godber is amongst the interested parties. He gets news that Denise has left him for another man, and attacks prisoner Jackdaw, who found the news amusing. His otherwise good record and the mitigating circumstances keep him out of a spell in the cooler, but later that day Fletch is less than pleased to find Godber writing another request to the BBC, this time on plain paper. It's a dedication to Ingrid.

3Season 2

S2.E3 ∙ Disturbing the Peace

Fri, Nov 7, 1975

Mackay is temporarily away on a promotion course, but Fletch's joy is short-lived when he finds that the replacement is 'Napper' Wainwright, an extremely harsh officer who makes Mackay look like a pussy-cat. To make things worse, Fletch's ally Mr. Barraclough is transferred to the prison farm. A plan is concocted where the cons start a riot in defiance of Wainwright, and Barraclough steps in to defuse the situation. Barraclough is thus seen as a hero, gets his old position back and Wainwright returns to Brixton Prison. As Mackay returns from his course, the prisoners sing 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow'.

4Season 2

S2.E4 ∙ No Peace for the Wicked

Fri, Nov 14, 1975

It's Saturday afternoon and Fletch just wants to be left in peace in his cell but there are constant interruptions - Barraclough coming in for a chat, Mackay showing prison visitors around, Blanco wanting to show off his toy mule and Maclaren wanting to borrow chewing gum. An irate Fletch threatens to throw the next caller over the rails. It's the chaplain and Fletch goes through with his threat. He gets solitary. Bliss. Could they make it three weeks?

5Season 2

S2.E5 ∙ Happy Release

Fri, Nov 21, 1975

Fletch is in the prison hospital, where an unpleasant con called Norris, shortly to be released, has won the possessions of an elderly prisoner, Blanco. Fletch hatches a plan involving a supposed treasure map which is 'reluctantly' handed over to Norris in exchange for Blanco's things, amongst them a radio. Some days later Fletch and Blanco hear on the radio how Norris, now released, has been arrested for digging for the buried treasure - on a football pitch.

6Season 2

S2.E6 ∙ The Harder They Fall

Fri, Nov 28, 1975

When Godber enters the prison boxing tournament, Fletch is under orders from prison 'Daddy', Harry Grout, a con who is more to be feared than the screws, to get him to throw the fight in the second round. Fletch tries to bribe Godber with chocolate, only to be told that Godber has already promised Moffatt, a rival of Grout, that he will lose the fight in the first round. In the event both Godber and his opponent throw the fight in the same round, to the delight of Fletch, the only man in the prison who was betting on a draw.

1Season 3

S3.E1 ∙ A Storm in a Teacup

Fri, Feb 18, 1977

Oily convict Harris has stolen some pills but he drops them and they land in Fletch's tea. There's big trouble from Grouty if the pills aren't replaced and, though Barraclough can provide some, they're the wrong size. Eventually replacements are found but in the mean time Fletch ends up swallowing the ones in his tea and learning that they are to cure the governor's dog's bad breath.

2Season 3

S3.E2 ∙ Poetic Justice

Fri, Feb 25, 1977

Fletch and Godber get a new cell-mate and Fletch is shocked to find it is elderly Judge Rawley, the man who handed him his five year sentence, now convicted of corruption. Though disappointed that Rawley has no dirt to dish on the governor, a friend, Fletch is protective towards him when the other prisoners decry Rawley's privileges. He also tells Rawley that if he had known he was bent he would have offered him a bribe.

3Season 3

S3.E3 ∙ Rough Justice

Fri, Mar 4, 1977

When Rawley's watch is stolen the prime suspect is oily toe-rag Harris and so a kangaroo court is set up, presided over by the judge, with Fletch prosecuting and Warren acting as the defending counsel. Without any evidence, Harris is found not guilty, though he then admits to having the watch and relinquishes it. Rawley's appeal against conviction has been successful and he leaves the prison, giving Fletch the watch as a present for being his protector. Unfortunately Harris has taken its workings out.

4Season 3

S3.E4 ∙ Pardon Me

Fri, Mar 11, 1977

Blanco is due to be granted his parole, but when Fletch hears Blanco claim that he was innocent of his wife's murder all along and that her lover killed her, he believes the old man should have a free pardon instead and organizes a petition, forging Mr. Barraclough's signature to add to the list. Eventually, after threats of hunger strikes, the free pardon is granted. However, when Fletch asks what happened to the wife's lover, Blanco replies that he killed him years ago.

5Season 3

S3.E5 ∙ A Test of Character

Fri, Mar 18, 1977

Godber is doing his history O Level exam and Fletch means to help him pass by getting Warren to steal the test paper for him, which he does. However, Godber prefers to pass on his own merits and refuses to accept it. Warren spies on him and sees him peep at the paper so that, when Godber finishes the exam and claims to be happy that pass or fail, it will have been all his own work, his two friends are outraged. Godber admits to looking at the paper but denies it helped him, explaining that Warren, who is dyslexic, brought him the biology paper.

6Season 3

S3.E6 ∙ Final Stretch

Fri, Mar 25, 1977

Godber is due to see the parole board in a few days where he is almost certain to get a parole. However, the prison troublemaker, a brute named Jarvis, is looking to start a fight with Godber and Godber seems keen to oblige him.