Double act habitual criminal", Fletcher (played by Ronnie Barker, already famous for his comedy partnership with Ronnie Corbett) and a young, naive, first-time prisoner, Lennie Godber. The two would bicker but endured a relationship of mutual respect. Barker also formed a partnership with David Jason in Open All Hours, with Jason playing Granville while Barker played Albert Arkwright. Many don't see this as a comedy duo, but the straight-man element coupled with Barker's funny-man antics on the show are still compressed into the script. Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson combined their success in sitcoms ("The Young Ones") and as a double act
Ronnie Barker best light entertainment performance four times, among other awards, and received an OBE in 1978. Later television sitcoms such as "The Magnificent Evans" and "Clarence" were less successful and he retired in December 1987. The following year, he opened an antiques shop with his wife, Joy. After 1999, he appeared in smaller, non-comic roles in films. He died of heart failure on 3 October 2005, aged 76. Barker was born on 25 September 1929 at 70, Garfield Street, Bedford, Bedfordshire, the only son of Leonard William (inexplicably, but always, known as "Tim") Barker and Edith Eleanor (née Carter; known as