Porridge (2016)

TV sitcom
BBC One
2016 - 2017
7 episodes (1 series)

Reinvention of the classic Ronnie Barker sitcom Porridge. Fletch's grandson, Fletch, is imprisoned for cyber crimes. Also features Kevin Bishop, Dave Hill, Mark Bonnar, Dominic Coleman, Jason Barnett and more.

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Porridge

Nigel Fletcher is imprisoned for a series of cyber-crimes and finds himself beholden to prison bad boy Richie Weeks, forced to use his hacking skills to get Weeks off the hook. The greater problem is that wily prison officer Meekie has got his beady eye on Fletch - he knows a wrong 'un when he sees one.

Notes

This episode was commissioned and produced as a one-off special rather than a pilot for a prospective series.

Broadcast details

Date: Sunday 28^th August 2016
Time: 9:30pm
Channel: BBC One
Length: 30 minutes

Cast & crew

Cast
Kevin Bishop	Fletch
Dave Hill	Joe Lotterby
Mark Bonnar	Officer Meekie
Dominic Coleman	Officer Braithwaite
Jason Barnett	Shel
Harman Singh	Aziz
Ricky Grover	Scudds
Pippa Haywood	Governor Hallwood
Zahra Ahmadi	Dr Tessa Marsden
Colin McFarlane	Judge (Voice)

Guest cast
Ralph Ineson	Richie Weeks
Martin Trenaman	Raymond Fletcher
Joanne Mitchell	Prosecuting Counsel
Edward Kagutuzi	Skinny Kid
Steve Marsh	Andy

Writing team
Dick Clement	Writer
Ian La Frenais	Writer

Production team
Dominic Brigstocke	Director
Richard Webb	Producer
Gregor Sharp	Executive Producer
Peter Hallworth	Editor
Jo Sutherland	Production Designer
Tracey Gillham	Casting Director
Orla Smyth-Mill	Costume Designer
Martin Hawkins	Director of Photography
Clare Golds	Make-up Designer
Max Harris	Composer
Claire Grossmith	1st Assistant Director

Press

'Porridge' (BBC1) review

Where was the originality? Where was the charm that made the series so popular in the 70s, and continually so to this day? It all just seemed to be badly pitched and not thought-through well enough at all.

UK TV Reviewer, 30th August 2016

At the risk of romanticising the past, Ronnie Barker's Porridge really was a thing of beauty. This isn't, though: scripted by original writers Clement and La Frenais, with Kevin Bishop as Fletcher's "cyber-criminal" grandson, it's a shockingly unfunny reboot full of crowbarred modern references and hoary jokes about Millwall FC. Hey, BBC comedy commissioners: experiencing symptoms of ennui? Why not greenlight some fresh writing from talented newcomers?

Ali Catterall, The Guardian, 28th August 2016

Porridge review: Kevin Bishop can't sustain the wit

It's difficult to know why this new serving of Porridge was ever cooked up.

David Lewis, Cult Box, 28th August 2016

Landmark comedy season: Porridge gets an update

The depth of the night-time conversations between Old Fletch and Godber, in particular, to a great extent laid in what was not said. When Richard Beckinsale's Godber asks: 'Fletch, are you awake?' Barker - after a beat - replies 'No'. A whole world of pain existed within that silence, and this was missing.

Deborah Shrewsbury, The Custard TV, 28th August 2016

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