Porridge (TV series) himself as the judge, a character role subsequently played by Maurice Denham in two episodes of the third series. The theme music for the closing credits was written by Max Harris, who had also written the theme music for numerous other TV shows, including "The Strange World of Gurney Slade" and "Doomwatch", and would go on to write the theme for "Open All Hours", another of the Seven of One pilots. The cheery theme was "deliberately at variance with the dour comedy" and given a music hall feel by Harris because of the lead character's Cockney origins. Following the pilot
Porridge (2016 TV series) and a deep respect for Fletcher. For the one-off special, Colin McFarlane portrayed the character of The Judge, who sentences Fletcher for his crimes. Much like in the original series, the narration given in the opening titles, is voiced by McFarlane. In March 2016, it was announced that a sequel pilot to "Porridge" would air as part of the BBC's "Landmark Sitcom Season", starring Kevin Bishop as Norman Stanley Fletcher's grandson and written by the original writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. After the success of the pilot, in October 2016, BBC One commissioned the show for a full