No Way Out (Porridge) No Way Out (Porridge) "No Way Out" is the first Christmas special of the BBC sitcom "Porridge". It first aired on 24 December 1975. In this episode, prisoner Tommy Slocombe makes an escape attempt in the lead-up to Christmas. Christmas time has come to Slade Prison. Godber with his innocent nature likes the idea of Christmas, but Fletcher tells him that Christmas in prison is not much different from any other day. Godber points out that there are carol singers, but Fletcher remarks that they are used to drown out the sound of Tommy Slocombe's tunneling. Fletcher attempts to visit
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