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 (TV series) the traditional breakfast that used to be served in British prisons, and the British slang for serving a prison sentence - "Doing porridge". "Porridge" was critically acclaimed and is widely considered to be one of the greatest British sitcoms of all time, with it being ranked No. 35 on the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes compiled by the British Film Institute in 2000. In 2004 "Porridge" placed seventh in a poll to find Britain's Best Sitcom. The series was followed by a 1978 sequel, "Going Straight", which saw Barker reprise his character as he tries to avoid going back to