Porridge (TV series) Essex. The opening credits consist of outside shots of Slade prison and of several doors and gates being closed and locked, which was intended to set the scene for the programme. In the first series, there were also shots of St Pancras railway station, which was changed in subsequent series to shots of Fletcher walking around Slade prison. Title music was thought unsuitable for a show set in prison, so instead there is a booming narration (performed by Barker himself) given by the presiding judge passing sentence on Fletcher: Subsequently, Barker is reported to have said that he regretted recording
Porridge (TV series) the word meant, as he hadn't a clue. A genuine neologism was "nerk", which was used in place of the more offensive "berk". "Berk" has changed meaning since its inception and is generally used now to mean "fool" while the original rhyming slang meaning refers to female genitalia. Another term was "scrote" (presumably derived from scrotum), meaning a nasty, unpleasant person. 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