The Great British Sitcom

[Spells & Karma]

Quite naturally, watching Six Dates With Barker from 1971 has led me to Ronnie Barker's 1973 anthology series. Apart from the first episode - Open All Hours - this will be my first time watching these episodes, which is quite exciting.

7 of 1* was a series of seven sitcom pilots for BBC2, each starring Ronnie B.

The first two episodes - Open All Hours and Prisoner And Escort - would each eventually be picked up to become two of Ronnie's best-known series. I plan to visit both of these later on, alongside their respective series, so I've started with the third episode (which was also picked up to be a series. In a roundabout way).

I'll post some thoughts on each episode in the following posts.

Oh, and apparently it was originally meant to be titled 6 of 1, with a potential second series to be called And Half A Dozen Of The Other. Which makes far more sense.




* The title as shown onscreen is numeric, despite sources like Wikipedia listing it as "Seven Of One".

 

[Spells & Karma]

7 of 1
My Old Man

This is an instalment I've never seen before. I knew nothing about it other that when it wasn't picked up by the Beeb the entire concept was taken to ITV where it ran for two series on Yorkshire Television as a vehicle for Clive Dunn and with an entirely different supporting cast.

I feel like I had low expectations of this one and I'm not sure why. Actually, I really liked it.

The premise is really good and it's easy to see why this could make a great series: Sam Cobbett's old terraced house is condemned and after 40 years of living there he's forced to move in with his daughter and son-in-law at their swish new high rise flat, where he is unsettled by the altitude, the fitted wardrobes, the central heating and the lack of a garden or fireplace. Meanwhile his snobby, social-climbing son-in-law (who has a touch of the Jeffrey Fourmiles) is unsettled by Sam's loud mouth and lack of social graces.

The cast was great. As well as Ronnie, there's Sonia from Fresh Fields as his daughter, and Graham Armitage as the son-in-law. He was last seen in the Six Dates With Barker episode Lola as the German officer and seems even more familiar with a British accent, though IMDb doesn't suggest I've seen him in too much. I'm surprised as he was very good. Oh, and there's Hi-de-Hi's Mr Partridge as a friend of Sam who finds himself in the same position. Together they work to change the tone of the son-in-law's upmarket local to something with which they're more comfortable.

It has the requisite cosiness with a bit of an edge. And some nice lines (bewailing the absence of a garden, Sam comments that he has "green fingers an' nowhere to stick 'em but up me nose"). But what really sold me was the heart. Beneath the humour there's a genuine sadness to Sam with a few little moments of genuine pathos as he adjusts to the harsh realities of his new living arrangements. And peacekeeper daughter does get her hubby to give a little to make her father feel more at home.

Despite my fondness (weakness) for sitcoms of the era, I haven't yet been tempted to invest in the following series despite its availability on DVD (mainly because a Clive Dunn led series simply doesn't float my boat). However, having watched this and in turn having looked at a couple of clips of the series I have to say I'm a little curious.

 

[Spells & Karma]

7 of 1
Spanner's Eleven

What a great title (perhaps inspired by Ocean's 11 from a decade or so earlier), but it's nicely oblique, perfectly fitting (once one does understand once it means). And "spanner" is one of those words that has a funny ring to it anyway.

The idea of a sitcom based on a football team doesn't appeal at all. Thankfully it became apparent very quickly that one doesn't need to know or care for the game in order to enjoy the series. In many ways the premise is similar to the early Carry On formula where a group of hopeless misfits try to pull it out of the bag for the man in charge because it means the world to him. And when he's not playing coach, Albert Spanner drives a taxi which opens up another world of possibilities.

A few familiar faces include Bill Maynard as a local councillor and a young Christopher Biggins as member of the team with a touch of the Billy Bunters.

Roy Clarke's touch is everywhere with some great characters and dialogue. The episode has a running Barry and Freda type gag where she wants it but he's been made impotent by the worry over the team. Even the sexy negligee doesn't work. Then after a win he comes home all randy, but by the time she's changed into the slinky nightwear he's in front of the box and completely oblivious to her presence. It's all very human.

Like Roy's other entry for this series of pilots, Barker's character gets an opening and closing narration of sorts. This time it's driving his taxi and chatting to two newlyweds who have other things on their minds. Most of the chat seems to revolve around love. I wonder if the plan was for there to be a different theme each week, based on events in the episode. Sadly, we'll never know.

One thing I'll say for both this and the previous episode is that they feel very much ready to go as a series. They feel comfortable and kind of worn in, but also very special and filled with interesting characters who could easily become iconic. It's a real shame this one didn't go any further.

 

[Spells & Karma]

7 of 1
Another Fine Mess

It's difficult to know where to begin with this one. In the context of a pilot for a potential series it's just bizarre, but it does fare better as a one-off little skit.

The first thing to say is that as Laurel and Hardy lookalikes, Roy Castle and Ronnie Barker are absolutely spot-on. They have all the little looks and mannerisms, right down to the littlest movements and noises. Ronnie B. also nails Ollie's voice while Roy's American accent is very dodgy. I kept getting distracted trying to work out if it was meant to be American or regional UK.

It's really clear that Ronnie Barker knows his stuff in this area and he's studied well. The same goes for writer Hugh Leonard. Everything about the situations and the type of comedy feels authentic and a taste of what the pair might have given us were they still doing their thing in the Seventies.

The episode begins with a very British sitcom wake in which Northern battleaxes - including Barker's character's wife - sit around in the aftermath of her mother's death:

Did she suffer much?

All 'er life. She never got over me marrying an American. [She scowls at the husband in question as he tops up her drink] During the war I was a G.I. bride. Me mother hated them all. Said it was bad enough having to chew their gum without bearing their children. On me wedding day she said "Doris, this'll kill me". And sure enough, in twenty seven short years, off she went.

This aspect of the episode is brilliant. It's exactly the kind of show I'd like to watch. But it also brings us to some of the problems I had with this episode. Because Barker's character - at this point dressed informally - looks, speaks and acts exactly like Oliver Hardy and it just feels bizarrely incongruent. Even before he and Roy dress up as Laurel and Hardy and get into full-on pastiche they're already them. And as well done as the whole thing is, it simply doesn't work for me. It's like two worlds colliding. And, frankly, Ronnie Barker shouldn't be one of the less interesting characters in a series.

I'm glad it didn't become a series, but it's well worth a look to see just how fantastic it is as a homage to the comedy duo.

 

[Spells & Karma]

7 of 1
One Man's Meat

With some of the earlier pilots feeling very much like "origin" stories, here's one that feels fully formed. In fact, this feels exactly like an episode of Terry & June. It's a little surprising, then, that this instalment preceded the first episode of Happy Ever After by over a year. I suppose one could argue that it's your standard safe sitcom setup which was already established with, say, Bless This House, but this feels tonally very much like your Scott/Whitfield from the cosy setup to the dialogue to the dynamic between the couple to the situation specific to the episode. Ronnie B. even sounds like Terry Scott here.

The basic premise of the episode is that wife (Prunella Scales) goes out on crash diet day. Not trusting hubby Alan to adhere to his enforced starvation, Marion removes every item of food from the house (including his "hidden" supplies) and takes all his clothes for good measure, leaving him with just a nightshirt to cover his modesty.

This means that a good part of the episode sees Barker delivering soliloquys as he plans ways to get round it, from ordering a Chinese takeaway to pouncing on the daily woman (Joan Sims giving great char as always) and forcibly removing her clothes so he can drag up and go out for cream cakes.

As a one-off episode an enjoyable. Slightly workaday, perhaps. But that's the appeal. The joy of this concept is that there isn't really a concept at all. Recognising that less is more, it's situation comedy at its most basic. One can easily imagine Alan and Marion in some other predicament the following week, with Mrs Dawkins the daily arriving at an inopportune moment as things steam towards their chaotic end. These are enjoyable, likeable characters with well-defined, functional, simple roles to play in driving the comedy along.

Helping things along are some familiar faces. In addition to Barker, Scales and Sims (which sounds like a solicitors' practice as it is), there's Dave the barman from Minder as a police sergeant, and Sam Kelly playing a young police photographer whose natty orange trousers Alan quickly tries to remove, leading him to think Alan wants his body.

At its core, this is an episode about obsession. Marion is obsessed with Alan bending to her will. Alan is obsessed with getting what is verboten - perhaps solely because it is verboten. Is he suffering with an eating disorder? Or is he simply trying to reclaim his free will? Perhaps it's both. Whatever the case, it works really well.

 

[Spells & Karma]

7 of 1
I'll Fly You For A Quid

Said to be Ronnie Barker's favourite of the seven pilots and the one he wanted to develop into a series before the Beeb persuaded him to adapt the other creation from the same writing team. I think knowing this elevated my expectations of the episode and I ended up feeling a little underwhelmed by it. Not that it's bad by any stretch.

There's an awful lot that makes this one of the more interesting ideas on display in this series. Not least death, which is one of the episode's main focusses.

First we hear about Grandpa Owen's moribund state from his family attending church. Then Reverend Simmonds attends his deathbed where Grandpa derides the euphemistic language he's heard over the year: "passed away", "gone to his rest", etc. He states matter of factly that he's going to die and that's part of life. Then he asks the Reverend about heaven, hints at some mistakes in his past and seems to take comfort in the Reverend's assurance. To the episode's credit it's all played perfectly straight.

This gives way to a tasteful death scene which utilises and exterior shot with the cliche of the shaft of light coming from the bedroom window to the sky. It sounds cheesy and cartoony but, by contrasting the heavenly light with an aerial shot of the bleak mining village and throwing in a Welsh male voice choir as the soundtrack, it was very effective and quite moving without being a downer.

Then there's the coffin, laid out in the front room (never used by the family other than " for death or dignitaries or the woman from the Avon cosmetics") while the family talk in the next room separated only by the open partition doors where Evan Owen - having torn his father's room apart - has deduced that his father's winning betting slip is clutched in his father's hand in the coffin, leading to a moral dilemma of whether or not to open the coffin and retrieve it.

And that's the episode's other key theme: gambling. The fact that the whole village can't resist a flutter and it all takes place under the critical eye of the Church makes it feel enjoyably sinful.

The cast is enjoyable. Apart from Ronnie's double role as the dying old man and his son and Emrys James as the Reverend, there's Talfryn Thomas who seemed to undertake every Welsh male role going for a time and whose face will be instantly recognisable to many. There's also Richard O'Callaghan who to me will always be Carry On Loving's Bertrum Muffett. His Welsh accent is very dodgy indeed, while Ronnie Barker's is most splendid.

It's difficult to say how far this concept could be stretched. One would think the gambling may need to become less in your face were this to have run to a series. But the characters - especially the sparring between Barker's Evan Owen and Emrys James's Reverend - would certainly have made it worth a go.

 

[Spells & Karma]

7 of 1
Prisoner And Escort


Having reached the end of the series with I'll Fly You... it's time to fill in some gaps. For (possibly) obvious reasons, we'll come to the second episode - Open All Hours - in due course, but for now I'm skipping it and going on to the second.

First, a confession: I've never watched Porridge. That is, I haven't watched every episode and I couldn't even swear to having watched a single complete episode. There would have been opportunity. I'm sure on more than one occasion I'll have been in a room when an episode was playing and it may have registered with me. And I do have a memory of watching the end of the film version when it aired on TV late at night over Christmas at some point in the Eighties. And of course I'm familiar with the character of Norman Stanley Fletcher and that iconic opening narration. But as for sitting down and consciously watching... it's just never happened. Until now.

How I managed to avoid it this long is difficult to say. As to why, I'd say it was a combination of the dismal setting and the almost exclusively male cast, both of which I found off-putting in my younger days. At this point neither of those things is a bar to me watching, and looking at the cast of the series proper fills me with excitement as there are many I've enjoyed in lots of other roles.

Even this pilot episode has grabbed me and made me feel more excited about what lies ahead. Perhaps I've seen more of it than I realise, because watching Fulton Mackay's officer in particular feels like being reunited with an old friend (albeit a grouchy one).

As Prisoner And Escort did its thing, I became more and more impressed with the fact that it's essentially a three-hander with Fletcher, Mackay and Mr Barrowclough. Indeed, with Mackay disappearing for much of the time - to get refreshments on the train and to seek help after the minibus broke down on the moors - this felt very much like a starring vehicle for Ronnie Barker and Brian Wilde.

This intimacy gave us a great starting point and we got a sense of all three characters. In particular, Barrowclough's naïve idealism felt essential. Not only did it provide the perfect yang too the yin of Mackay's hard nut exterior, but it also gave us the chance to show how Fletch operated.

The character of Fletcher is well and truly established in this episode. He's an opportunist and doesn't miss a trick to sabotage (peeing in the fuel tank of the minibus) or even engineer a situation to his advantage, as seen in his persuading Barrowclough to allow him to break into a cottage and remove his handcuffs with the suggestion that it would be good for his rehabilitation to be trusted. It felt particularly mercenary to take advantage of Barrowclough in order to escape, albeit briefly (and with a really funny twist, even though it could be seen coming for some distance).

These are possibly a taste of the "small victories" on which the series' dynamics will be built, but even if it's more implicit it'll be highly enjoyable. The repartee alone is extremely promising. Two of my favourites came from Fletcher at Mackay's expense:

When bored on the train, Fletch says "I spy with my little eye something beginning with 'C'", while nodding his head in Mackay's direction (the answer was "constable". Or at least that's his story).

With Fletcher and Mackay both knowing the reason the minibus had broken down was because Fletcher had peed in the petrol tank, Fletcher - during a dressing down on arrival at the prison - revels in reminding Mackay of his little victory by commenting that "no-one would dare take the petrol out of you".

As it stands, I'm strongly suspecting Prisoner And Escort will end up being a favourite episode of Porridge (if it can be considered an episode of the series). And if things get better than this, I'll be in sitcom heaven.

 

[Spells & Karma]

Which means I can now veer directly into the series proper of Porridge for the very first time.

Despite airing seventeen months after Prisoner and Escort, the series picks up immediately following it with Fletch being admitted/inducted and meeting his new wing-mates. I was expecting this aspect to be a little jarring after the reasonably quiet three-hander that preceded it, but it's very carefully done. Four episodes in I feel we're still easing into the broader cast, with new faces in each episode. In addition to Fletch, Barrowclough and Mckay, the first episode introduced the governor and just two other prisoners: Godber and Heslop.

Naïve young first-time prisoner Godber serves an important function in this and other early episodes. In addition to being a kind of straight man to Fletch, we're also introduced to prison life through his eyes. Whereas experienced Fletch flips back into prison mode immediately, it's Godber who experiences the ups and the downs, from the isolation of night-time lockup to going without sex to the excitement of digging a trench outdoors. In many ways he's the heart of the series and the one who grounds it in reality. Some of his reflections have been quite touching.

Heslop is at the other end of the scale: slow-witted to the point of caricature. I'm a bit thrown by seeing Brian Glover in this kind of role since I associate him with threatening hardman type roles, and there's something about him even in this role that I find very discomfiting.

Familiar faces in the second regular episodes came with Biggins (last seen with Barker in Spanner's Eleven) and two famous scousers - Ken Jones and Ray Dunbobbin. Except the latter - who will forever be Brookie's Ralph to me - is using a dodgy Welsh accent as Evans, a prisoner who self-harms by eating lightbulbs and mirrors. Meanwhile, frequent Ronnies collaborator Johnnie Wade (best known to me from You're Only Young Twice) appeared as Scrounger to join them for A Day Out.

Looking at the series visually I can understand why it never appealed to me when I was young. As you'd expect, the aesthetics feature lots of brick walls painted in neutral and dark colours and clanging metal doors and walkways. It's no doubt authentic and quite atmospheric, but by its nature it's cold, grim and oppressive and most unwelcoming.

The warmth, of course, comes from the writing. I'm impressed by the balance between character and situation in the writing and both are well utilised in the stories, with the gambling and chain gang episodes slightly heavier on situational comedy while A Night In gave us a lot of lovely, little character moments with much of the episode being a simple conversation between Fletch and Godber during lockup, which gave the episode an appealing play-like quality.

With this series it feels very much as though the Devil's in the detail. It's in the craftsmanship of the writing and it's certainly in the performances. There's a lovely, small moment in A Night In where Fletch and Godber are chatting and Fletch sits on Godber's bed with chocolate and offers some of it to Godber. Considering what we know of prison life so far, and of Fletch's tendency to be one of life's takers (pocketing Godber's fags at every opportunity, swiping supplies from the kitchen) it feels very significant and one gets a real sense of their bonding. Another wonderfully subtle little physical comical moment comes during one of Mackay's tirades where as he finishes, he briefly juts his head forward and back again. Fletch has anticipated this and does exactly the same movement at the same time, facing Mackay but slightly off to the side so they appear to almost collide (this also means Mackay doesn't see). It's really funny and it also feels very truthful.

I'm really looking forward to continuing with this series.

 

[Spells & Karma]

With the Fletch/Godber partnership such a big part of the series to date it was intriguing to find that Richard Beckinsale didn't appear in the final two episodes of Series One. I'm assuming this was down to a scheduling conflict with Richard Beckinsale, either with Rising Damp or stage or film work. It's really impressive to see how in demand he was at this point and really makes me feel he might have become absolutely huge if he hadn't died so very young.

What surprised me is that I didn't even noticed Godber's absence until someone pointed it out after we'd watched. This goes to show how well the ensemble works.

Each of the last two episodes featured Fletch bonding with a fellow prisoner having difficulties, which made me wonder (retrospectively) if Godber had been intended to be part of the episodes. In particular, Bunny Warren's illiteracy and him asking Fletch to read out a letter feels like a thread that could have originally been written for Godber and Fletch. I'm less sure about McLaren and the business on the roof. Perhaps that was one episode in which Godber would have had a smaller role anyway. Who knows, perhaps he didn't appear by design.

Both Warren and McLaren are played by familiar faces to me. Warren is Barker regular Sam Kelly, probably best known to me as Hans "'tler" Geering in 'Allo 'Allo. McLaren is played by Tony Osoba who I remember best as Chas in Dempsey & Makepeace. In that series his role was pretty much on the sidelines in what felt like a supporting role, so it's great to see him as McLaren whose loud and lairy ways give a role for him to get his teeth into. I was going to say he does a great Glaswegian accent, but on looking further into it he is actually from Glasgow, so I'll say instead that his London accent as Chas was impressive as I'd assumed that was his natural speaking voice.

Another Barker regular, Patricia Brake has appeared as Fletch's daughter Ingrid (named after Ingrid Bergman with some references to her films that I'm sure would impress @Barbara Belle of the Ball). It was nice to have some oestrogen for the Men Without Women episode with the inmates' various partners arriving to confront their men about the letter Fletch had drafted on their behalf.

Interesting, too, that Biggins's Lukewarm is openly gay, right down to having a steady partner. By the standards of the time it's reasonably well done and avoids the usual Seventies sitcom trap of having a lot of humour at the expense of a flamboyantly camp character who is never explicitly acknowledged to be gay.

 

[Barbara On A Broomstick]

Porridge is one ofmy all time fav comedies and comes 2nd after Fawlty Towers with OFAH dropping into 3rd place

The casting was perfect, Ronnie Barker proves what a great actor he is with perfect timing and their are so many superb one liners and memorable lines

I thought I was working class then i went to Glasgow and realised i was middle class

Loved how they always tried to beat the system.

The ensemble cast is the reason it works with the Yin and Yang of McKay and Barraclough and all his cell inmates including Maurice Denham as the judge who put him away in the 1st place

Its something I can watch again and again and never tire of it, its sad seeing Richard Beckinsale in his prime yet he died during filming

All the inmates from Bunny Warren, Luke Warm, McLaren were great in the roles and an honorable memtion to genial Harry Grout who steals the show at times, with his proson cell all decked out, the Archers on the radio, a budgie and running all the crime and his empire behind bars

It gets an A+ from me x

 

[AndyB2008]

With the Fletch/Godber partnership such a big part of the series to date it was intriguing to find that Richard Beckinsale didn't appear in the final two episodes of Series One. I'm assuming this was down to a scheduling conflict with Richard Beckinsale, either with Rising Damp or stage or film work. It's really impressive to see how in demand he was at this point and really makes me feel he might have become absolutely huge if he hadn't died so very young.

What surprised me is that I didn't even noticed Godber's absence until someone pointed it out after we'd watched. This goes to show how well the ensemble works.

Each of the last two episodes featured Fletch bonding with a fellow prisoner having difficulties, which made me wonder (retrospectively) if Godber had been intended to be part of the episodes. In particular, Bunny Warren's illiteracy and him asking Fletch to read out a letter feels like a thread that could have originally been written for Godber and Fletch. I'm less sure about McLaren and the business on the roof. Perhaps that was one episode in which Godber would have had a smaller role anyway. Who knows, perhaps he didn't appear by design.

Both Warren and McLaren are played by familiar faces to me. Warren is Barker regular Sam Kelly, probably best known to me as Hans "'tler" Geering in 'Allo 'Allo. McLaren is played by Tony Osoba who I remember best as Chas in Dempsey & Makepeace. In that series his role was pretty much on the sidelines in what felt like a supporting role, so it's great to see him as McLaren whose loud and lairy ways give a role for him to get his teeth into. I was going to say he does a great Glaswegian accent, but on looking further into it he is actually from Glasgow, so I'll say instead that his London accent as Chas was impressive as I'd assumed that was his natural speaking voice.

Another Barker regular, Patricia Brake has appeared as Fletch's daughter Ingrid (named after Ingrid Bergman with some references to her films that I'm sure would impress @Barbara Belle of the Ball). It was nice to have some oestrogen for the Men Without Women episode with the inmates' various partners arriving to confront their men about the letter Fletch had drafted on their behalf.

Interesting, too, that Biggins's Lukewarm is openly gay, right down to having a steady partner. By the standards of the time it's reasonably well done and avoids the usual Seventies sitcom trap of having a lot of humour at the expense of a flamboyantly camp character who is never explicitly acknowledged to be gay.

Richard Beckinsale's role in the radio sitcom Albert and Me had to be recast after his death.

The first series went out in 1977, but the second didn't air until 1983, so Robert Lindsay replaced him. Would have been hard for Robert as well as Pat Coombs (who provided the voice of Albert)- Robert had big shoes to fill, and Pat had to work with a different co-star.

 

[Spells & Karma]

Richard Beckinsale's role in the radio sitcom Albert and Me had to be recast after his death.

Thanks. I hadn't realised he'd been doing radio as well. It seems he was extremely busy doing every media at this point.

In terms of other work he was doing, I knew that Bloomers had to be cancelled after Richard's death. And of course the film version of Rising Damp came after he'd died so Christopher Strauli was cast in a similar role (though Richard's character Alan was also referenced. And Alan had already been absent from the final series due to Richard's work schedule).

 

[Spells & Karma]

Oh - apologies @Barbara Belle of the Ball. I completely missed this post of yours earlier.

Porridge is one ofmy all time fav comedies and comes 2nd after Fawlty Towers with OFAH dropping into 3rd place

Wow. Given how flawless Fawlty Towers is that's high praise indeed. And now that I'm almost two thirds of the way through I can understand why. I feel really excited that I'm experiencing watching this series for the first time all these years later.

Ronnie Barker proves what a great actor he is with perfect timing and their are so many superb one liners and memorable lines

He's absolutely the best and having watched some of his other series right before this (The Two Ronnies, Hark At Barker, Six Dates With Barker, Seven Of One) I can appreciate how truly great a character actor he is. He convinces in each diverse role he plays.

All the inmates from Bunny Warren, Luke Warm, McLaren were great in the roles

Agreed. They're all brilliant. I'm not a David Jason fan at all, but he's great as Blanco.

an honorable memtion to genial Harry Grout who steals the show at times, with his proson cell all decked out, the Archers on the radio, a budgie and running all the crime and his empire behind bars

Oh yes. I watched his first episode last night, with the rigged boxing match. Loved the curtains and the Italian lamp!!

 

[Spells & Karma]

Having finished the second series of Porridge I've moved on to the first of the two Christmas specials that fell between this and series three.

No Way Out was enjoyable for the wackiness of a choir covering the sounds of an escape being dug as well as Fletch's attempts to get into the prison infirmary for Christmas by feigning a knee problem.

The first scenario gave a terrifically funny moment where Mckay silenced the choir then, thinking the (digging) sounds he heard were coming from the radiator he walked up to it and gave it a couple of taps, only for the men in the tunnel to tap back. It's a great case of anticipation making the humour even funnier. I almost held my breath as Mckay walked up to the radiator, and then I realised exactly what was going to happen which filled me with delight. And the characters reacted the same way as they too saw it coming. Except they were horrified. Warren and Lukewarm's faces were priceless.

The two threads came together nicely when Fletch fell into the sinkhole created by the tunnel being dug and ended up having his Christmas cake in the infirmary as he’d hoped.

There was also a nice bit of business with Barrowclough taking Fletch to a civilian hospital to satisfy the prison doctor's suspicions that there's nothing wrong with Fletch's knee. Their little chats away from the prison setting felt like a nice callback to Prisoner And Escort. Once again there was wheeling and dealing for Fletch who was under Grouty's orders to collect a fake passport for the escapee.

A couple of familiar faces appeared along the way. Graham Crowden - best known to me for Waiting For God - was the prison doctor, while Carol Hawkins - who also appeared in a number of Two Ronnies episodes, along with half the British comedy films and series of the era - was a chatty nurse who turned out to be an associate of Grouty's disguised as a chatty nurse.

There were also some great lines. I especially liked Fletch's response to Godber asking if they'd get turkey for Christmas:

Well, they call it turkey, don't they? But not 'aving seen it carved we don't know, do we? I mean, if it is then the one we 'ad on our block last year must o' been a very funny shape. Twenty eight legs and no breasts. Like Lulu and The Young Generation.

 

[AndyB2008]

Having finished the second series of Porridge I've moved on to the first of the two Christmas specials that fell between this and series three.

No Way Out was enjoyable for the wackiness of a choir covering the sounds of an escape being dug as well as Fletch's attempts to get into the prison infirmary for Christmas by feigning a knee problem.

The first scenario gave a terrifically funny moment where Mckay silenced the choir then, thinking the (digging) sounds he heard were coming from the radiator he walked up to it and gave it a couple of taps, only for the men in the tunnel to tap back. It's a great case of anticipation making the humour even funnier. I almost held my breath as Mckay walked up to the radiator, and then I realised exactly what was going to happen which filled me with delight. And the characters reacted the same way as they too saw it coming. Except they were horrified. Warren and Lukewarm's faces were priceless.

The two threads came together nicely when Fletch fell into the tunnel and ended up having his Christmas cake in the infirmary.

There was also a nice bit of business with Barrowclough taking Fletch to a civilian hospital to satisfy the prison doctor's suspicions that there's nothing wrong with Fletch's knee. Their little chats away from the prison setting felt like a nice callback to Prisoner And Escort. Once again there was wheeling and dealing for Fletch who was under Grouty's orders to collect a fake passport for the escapee.

A couple of familiar faces appeared along the way. Graham Crowden - best known to me for Waiting For God - was the prison doctor, while Carol Hawkins - who also appeared in a number of Two Ronnies episodes, along with half the British comedy films and series of the era - was a chatty nurse who turned out to be an associate of Grouty's disguised as a chatty nurse.

There were also some great lines. I especially liked Fletch's response to Godber asking if they'd get turkey for Christmas:

Carol Hawkins is one of the few surviving cast of Please Sir\Fenn Street Gang who played the pupils. Peter Cleall, David Barry and Penny Spencer (who Carol replaced as Sharon) are the others.

John Alderton is now the only survivor of the adult cast following Richard Davies's death.

(Ref the Please Sir film - although they go on a coach to the camping trip miles away, the cast didn't really have to go far, as those scenes were filmed at Black Park, adjacent to Pinewood Studios, where most of the filming took place. Well, it was distributed by Rank, who did the Carry Ons, which mainly filmed at Pinewood)

 

[Spells & Karma]

Series Three nears its end. In fact I thought I was watching the final episode last night, but there's another one it seems.

The little changes over the episodes have gone mostly unnoticed, until I take a step back from the episode and realise I haven't seen Heslop or Horrible Ives for some time. I suppose this reflects the nature of prison which is going to feature comings and goings, many of which probably go unnoticed. Ronald Lacey's Harris has taken a while to grow on me, but he's proving a good fit for the ensemble.

Maurice Denham as the judge who put him away in the 1st place

He was great in his two episodes and really created an interesting third cellmate for Fletch and Godber. Of course, it's probably highly unlikely they'd put Rawley in with the man serving the sentence he'd ordered, but for the purposes of character development it was great, and Fletch growing to support Rawley despite his initial misgivings gave some really heartwarming moments.

This arc also gave what I felt was the series' heaviest moment when Rawley was forced into a cell and threatened with violence from McLaren, Harris and another prisoner. The genuine sense of menace and there being no escape from the threat with them having made sure there were no screws around felt unusually bleak for a sitcom of this era.

those scenes were filmed at Black Park, adjacent to Pinewood Studios, where most of the filming took place. Well, it was distributed by Rank, who did the Carry Ons, which mainly filmed at Pinewood

Yeah. It has that early Seventies Carry On vibe to it, and if memory serves that extended to the familiar-looking locations.

I've been to Black Park - mostly down to my thirst for visiting as many Carry On locations as possible - and it's a really beautiful place. I wish my visit hadn't been so late in the day as I could have walked there for many hours. But I'm sure there'll be other times.

 

[Spells & Karma]

I've just discovered there was an American remake of Porridge:

(Series trailer from 26 minutes...)

And another little trailer here:

It looks absolutely abysmal. Everyone's doing that bouncy, smiley, over-gesticulating, sing-song voiced "I'm in a wacky sitcom" thing.

They sucked the heart and soul from brilliantly-written classic British sitcoms in the Seventies and Eighties, and it never worked.

 

[AndyB2008]

I've just discovered there was an American remake of Porridge:

(Series trailer from 26 minutes...)

And another little trailer here:

It looks absolutely abysmal. Everyone's doing that bouncy, smiley, over-gesticulating, sing-song voiced "I'm in a wacky sitcom" thing.

They sucked the heart and soul from brilliantly-written classic British sitcoms in the Seventies and Eighties, and it never worked.

On The Rocks was doomed anyway - although having Barney Miller as a lead-in, it primarily faced The Waltons on Thursday nights, which will not have helped. The low ratings On The Rocks received hurt the Michael Douglas drama The Streets of San Francisco, which followed it at 9pm.

In a desperate bid to boost ratings, ABC moved Welcome Back Kotter from Tuesday into the 8pm slot on Thursdays and put Barney Miller into the 8.30pm slot. In turn, On The Rocks was moved to Monday nights against Rhoda, and couldn't compete with that show either.

There is a connection between On The Rocks and Rhoda though - Tom Poston of On The Rocks was later to voice the Capital City Goofball in an episode of The Simpsons, of which Julie Kavner, who played Rhoda's sister Brenda, is one of the main cast.

 

[Spells & Karma]

it primarily faced The Waltons on Thursday nights, which will not have helped.

No, I'm sure it wouldn't have.

The low ratings On The Rocks received hurt the Michael Douglas drama The Streets of San Francisco, which followed it at 9pm.

Gosh - that's surprising. I get the impression Streets is a really good series, and certainly a popular one. At this point it had been going long enough to have gained an audience so I'm sure anything that impacted on this would have been a worry.

In turn, On The Rocks was moved to Monday nights against Rhoda, and couldn't compete with that show either.

Given what you've said I wonder if the network by this time viewed the series as an albatross around its neck and did this as a way of quietly killing it off.

 

[Spells & Karma]

The final series of Porridge came to a satisfying end last night with the final episode.

In terms of balancing closure with a sense that life in Slade will continue, the ending had its cake and ate it. Godber's release gave us an ending and a sense of event. Meanwhile Fletch's final conversation with Mackay gave us something of a reflection on their journey together, and on Fletch's growth and potential reform, while also coming with its own new beginning.

It might have been a nice touch was if Barrowclough had been present for this final scene, since we met these three characters before we even arrived at Slade. But this series has become known for the intimacy of its one-to-ones and so it's right that the final scene is a two-hander.