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 Maxine Peake and Sam Kelly. In Barker's home town of Oxford, a Wetherspoons pub on George Street is named after his Four Candles sketch. A bronze statue of Barker sculpted by Martin Jennings, and showing him in character as Norman Stanley Fletcher, was unveiled at the entrance of the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre in September 2010 by his widow Joy, David Jason, and Ronnie Corbett. In 2015, the Ronnie Barker Comedy Lecture (also referred to as The Ronnie Barker Talk) was commissioned by the BBC at the instigation of the head of comedy commissioning, Shane Allen. The first lecture was given