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
The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town it was actually Barker's co-star from "Open All Hours", David Jason who was responsible for the sound effects. Jason confirmed this in his 2013 autobiography. One episode featured Ronnie Corbett as the diminutive yet domineering Queen Victoria and Barker as her browbeaten son "Edward, Prince of Wales" (in reality the future King Edward VII was known to his family as "Bertie"), which was a parody of the recent TV series starring Timothy West. On August 7th 2015 it was announced that a stage version was being produced by The Ministry of Entertainment. This was adapted by Lee Moone and included