Porridge (TV series) Porridge (TV series) Porridge is a British sitcom, starring Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale, written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and broadcast on BBC One from 1974 to 1977. The programme ran for three series, and included two Christmas specials and a feature film of the same name (in the United States, the film was released under the title "Doing Time"). The sitcom focuses on two prison inmates, Norman Fletcher (played by Barker) and Lennie Godber (played by Beckinsale), who are serving time at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland. The show's title is a reference to both
Characters of Porridge (TV series) that Fletcher is fond of. Godber also briefly took up a career as a boxer in the prison, although this was short-lived when he became involved in match fixing. Godber appears in all but four episodes of Porridge. He is absent from the pilot (Prisoner and Escort) series 1 episodes Ways and Means and Men Without Women, and series 2's No Peace for the Wicked In the sequel "Going Straight", Godber is engaged to Fletcher's daughter Ingrid, having met her whilst she was on a prison visit. In the 2003 mockumentary "", they are still married, and have a son.