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
Porridge (TV series) him at times. The other is Mr Barrowclough, a far more sympathetic and timid prison officer and Mackay's subordinate, who is more prone to manipulation by his charges because of the nature of his character. The programme's scriptwriters appear, uncredited, outside Fletch and Godber's cell in the episode "No Peace for the Wicked". Ronnie Barker had suggested the part of Lennie Godber for Paul Henry, but the decision to cast Richard Beckinsale was taken by the production team. "Porridge" originated with a 1973 project commissioned by the BBC "Seven of One", which would see Ronnie Barker star in seven different