Ronnie Barker same year, determined not to be remembered only as Fletcher, Barker opted to end "Porridge" after three series and instead focused on the second pilot "Open All Hours", alongside David Jason. Barker starred as Arkwright, a money-grabbing, stuttering shopkeeper. Arkwright's stutter was not in the script; Barker was inspired to use it by Melvyn's performance and use of a stutter in a 1955 play the two performed at the Palace Theatre called "Hot Water". "Open All Hours" aired one series in 1976 on BBC Two but was not renewed due to low ratings. As a result, Barker backtracked on his
Ronnie Barker he did not tell Barker. His first radio appearance was in 1956, playing Lord Russett in "Floggit's". He went on to play multiple characters, but primarily the put-upon Able Seaman 'Fatso' Johnson and Lieutenant-Commander Stanton in "The Navy Lark", a navy based sitcom on the BBC Light Programme, which ran from 1959-77, with Barker featuring in some 300 episodes. He also featured in the show's radio spin-off "The TV Lark", in which his character, Fatso, was now a camera operator after the main characters were drummed out of the service, and as a trainee chef in "Crowther's Crowd" in 1963,