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) is referred to in Birds of a Feather when the main protagonists' husbands are imprisoned there after reoffending in Series 7). The interior shots of doors being locked were filmed in Shepherds Bush Police Station - the BBC had a good relationship with officers there. In the episode "Pardon Me" Fletcher speaks to Blanco (David Jason) in the prison gardens: this was filmed in the grounds of an old brewery outside Baldock on the A505 to Royston. The barred windows approximated a prison. The building has since been demolished. The 1974 episode "A Day Out", which features a prison work