Ronnie Barker

Radio Times review

If Ronnie Barker's vote had counted, we could have been celebrating 40 years of Welsh gambler Evan Owen, not cynical jailbird Norman Stanley Fletcher. But instead of I'll Fly You for a Quid it was Porridge pilot Prisoner and Escort that was picked up for a series in 1974.

In the first of a three-part series, creators Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, now in their 70s but still pitching ideas in Hollywood ("It's Spielberg: tell him to go away!") reveal the unlikely origins of and initial fears for one of our finest ever sitcoms. One fab sequence sees the pair dissect their favourite scene, chuckling along with every familiar line.

Later, über-fan Keith Allen drives a police van around Porridge locations, while we hear rare Barker recordings intended for real prison inmates. Eric Idle points out the roundedness of HM Prison Slade's wiliest character, and Kate Beckinsale, daughter of Richard (Godber), reminds us that the series really clicked when it became a two-hander.

It's a total treat for devotees of the kind of comedy where not a word was wasted. David "Old Man Blanco" Jason is the narrator.

There are very few British sitcoms more beloved than Open All Hours, a slice of comic northern life as comforting as warm Yorkshire parkin.

Of course Ronnie Barker, who added grumpy, low-level-swindling shopkeeper Albert Arkwright to his portmanteau of great comedy characters, is no longer with us. But David Jason, his put-upon nephew and protégé Granville, has become an all-conquering TV star in the years since Open All Hours ended in 1985 and he returns to that little corner shop as its new owner.

He's helped by his son Leroy (Emmerdale's James Baxter), the result of a one-night stand 25 years ago - a handsome, ambitious lad who fights off female attention very much as Granville used to back in the old days.

This special episode, written by Open All Hours creator Roy Clarke, takes us back to the shop for a day, and reintroduces us to some familiar faces.

Anyone remember the Christmas 2007 revival of much-loved landed gentry sitcom To the Manor Born? Or have you done your best to expunge it from your memory, viewing it as an object lesson in the dangers of going back?

We weren't allowed to see any previews of this return to the Doncaster corner shop once haunted by Ronnie Barker's Albert Arkwright and his bumbling nephew Granville - which in itself, may not be a good sign. So here's what we've managed to piece together. Arkwright is no longer with us - the shop is now run by Granville (David Jason) and his rather too handsome son Leroy (James Baxter). Granville's still on the look out for some hot loving; tonight, he'll be attempting to arrange a date with old flame Mavis without her scary sister Madge finding out. Oh, and there's rather a lot of anchovy paste to be shifted. No doubt we can expect hilarious consequences.

There's apparently the prospect of a new series next year; we can't help but wince slightly at the prospect. G-g-g-give up while the g-g-g-going's g-g-g-good, G-G-G-Granville.

A w-w-worthy effort - but there's only one Arkwright

With Ronnie Barker gone, it was TV as Garfunkel without Simon, Wise without Morecambe, Hale and Pace without one of Pace or Hale.

TV viewers hail the one-off return of Open All Hours

TV viewers hail the one-off return of classic sitcom Open All Hours as 'warmly nostalgic' and 'a fitting tribute to Ronnie Barker'.

"Every time I see it I'm re-astonished by it," says comedian Steve Punt of the Rons' renowned Mastermind spoof. But as its writer David Renwick reveals, he came close to tearing it up: "I thought the premise was too contrived." It's these insights that have lifted this retrospectacle from papery clipathon to something more substantial. An influential 1937 photo of Ronnie Barker's dad provides another little frisson.

The final part focuses on the duo's song-and-dance finales and serials such as "The Worm That Turned" (set in a dystopian future of 2012!) and "The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town" (written by Spike Milligan with a pseudonymous Barker). It rather glosses over the eye-watering sexism of some of the Ronnies' sub-Benny Hill fare. But the mini-scoops make this a must-see for comedy completists.

Ronnie Barker: a performer hell-bent on perfection

Though painfully shy, comic actor Ronnie Barker didn't mind stepping on toes to get his own way, says his biographer Richard Webber.

Radio Times review

Did you know the "Fork Handles" hardware-store sketch was originally called "Annie Finkhouse?" (as in "anything else")? Or that master word-juggler Ronnie Barker infuriated himself with his rare fluffs? That This Is Your Life was indirectly responsible for the Two Ronnies' only falling-out in a 39-year partnership? Tonight - the first of a three-part series - you'll snack on many such comedy canapés.

Fans of the Rons will love the routine that's not been aired for 40 years - it's not great but it is rare - Barker's between-takes ad-libbing to keep the studio audience warmed up, and Corbett matching Barker for tongue-twistery. Remember the "producer" Corbett was always going on about? We meet the very man. And see the famous chair - now reupholstered four times!

All this plus, of course, a few late items of news. Horn-rimmed heaven.

Ronnie Corbett interview

Ronnie Corbett talks to TV Times magazine about the GOLD series The Two Ronnies Spectacle, and thanks David Frost for launching him to stardom as he also unearths a remarkable memorabilia collection made by his comedy partner Ronnie Barker...

How Ronnie Barker almost got the lead in 'I, Claudius'

Sir Derek Jacobi has revealed that he was in fact the fifth actor to be offered the starring role in I, Claudius, behind Charlton Heston and Ronnie Barker among others.