Porridge is a British sitcom, starring Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale, written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977.

The main storylines of the sitcom focus on its central character, Norman Stanley Fletcher, a man from Muswell Hill, London.

The sitcom also follows his cellmate Lennie Godber, a naïve inmate from Birmingham serving his first sentence, whom Fletcher takes under his wing.

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.

It was renamed Porridge, a British slang term for a prison sentence from the 1950s;[1] Barker, Clement and La Frenais actually came up with the same title independently of each other.

Struggling to think up plots and humour for such a downbeat, confined environment, a particular phrase used by Marshall – "little victories" – struck a chord and convinced them to base the series on an inmate who made his daily life in prison more bearable by beating the system, even in trivial ways.

[6] The BBC was forced to look around for locations because the Home Office refused permission for any production filming inside or outside a real prison.

[8] The first episode, "New Faces, Old Hands", was aired on BBC1 on 5 September 1974, attracting a television audience of more than 16 million, and receiving positive reviews from critics.

[10] The producers and the writers were keen to make more episodes, but Barker was wary of being "stuck with a character" and also wanted to move on to other projects, so the series came to a close.

A feature-length version of the show was made in 1979, and in 2003 a follow-up mockumentary entitled Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher was aired.

The interior shots of doors being locked were filmed in Shepherd's Bush police station as 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 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.

We therefore feel constrained to commit you to the maximum term allowed for these offences; you will go to prison for five years.For series 1, the narration is "clean" (i.e. no effects) and plays in one complete piece.

The cheery theme was "deliberately at variance with the dour comedy"[14] and given a music hall feel by Harris because of the lead character's Cockney origins.

Richard Beckinsale reprised his role as Godber, now the fiancé of Fletcher's daughter Ingrid (Patricia Brake), and the couple married in the final episode.

Warren is now a sign painter, Lukewarm is in a civil partnership with Trevor, McLaren is an MSP, Grouty has become a celebrity gangster, Horrible Ives collects money for non-existent charities, Godber is still a lorry driver and still happily married to Ingrid, and Fletcher runs a pub with his childhood sweetheart, Gloria.

In 2009 Porridge was adapted into a stage show, also written by Clement and La Frenais, starring former EastEnders actor Shaun Williamson as Fletcher and Daniel West as Godber.

The 2001 book Porridge: The Inside Story (not to be confused with the 1979 film novelisation of the same name) contains a series guide by Richard Webber and the scripts of the three seasons and the Christmas specials by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais.

Actors and celebrities, including two former cast members Christopher Biggins and Philip Jackson take a look back, discuss and pay tribute to the show.

The word is used in another Clement and La Frenais penned series, Auf Wiedersehen Pet, by the character of Oz who, after nearly being hit by falling scaffolding, calls one of the other workers a "naffing arsehole".