Porridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, it stars Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale as two inmates at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland. "Doing porridge" is British slang for serving a prison sentence, porridge once being the traditional breakfast in UK prisons. The series was followed by a 1978 sequel, Going Straight. Porridge was voted number seven in a 2004 BBC poll of the 100 greatest British sitcoms. Porridge originated with a 1973... project commissioned by the BBC Seven of One, which would see Ronnie Barker star in seven different situation comedy pilot episodes. The most successful would then be made into a full series. One of the episodes, "Prisoner and Escort", written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, was about a newly-convicted criminal, Norman Stanley Fletcher , being escorted to prison by two warders: the timid Mr. Barrowclough and the stern Mr. Mackay . It was broadcast on 1 April 1973 on BBC2.
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| On the air: | September 5, 1974-March 5, 1977 |
| Network: | BBC One |
| Genre: | Comedy |