It’s been nearly forty years since Porridge closed the gates on the life of Norman Stanley Fletcher, but a new episode has been commissioned by the BBC to fill in a few us in on what became of the long term inmate, played brilliantly by Ronnie Barker. The bad news for Fletcher’s lineage is that the Apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree as his grandson has also found himself at the mercy of her majesty’s service.
Air date
The new episode of Porridge has been confirmed for summer 2016 on BBC 1 as a stand-alone one-off special outing for the show. It’s scheduled to be a part of the BBC’s landmark sitcom season, which will run throughout the summer on BBC 1, BBC 2 and BBC 4, celebrating the impressive heritage they have built up over the years for great comedy. It’ll feature iconic sitcoms of the past, as well as acting as a launch platform for a raft of new sitcoms.
Story
Like father, like son, so the saying goes, but in this case it’s like grandfather, like grandson as Fletch’s wee wee man has grown up to be as much on the wrong side of the law as he was. However, this isn’t a place for the nature nurture debate, because it simply means we get to see a brand new story in the Porridge canon with Nigel “Fletch” Fletcher picking up where his dear old grandad left off; hopefully with two, scratch that, three fingers held aloft in the general direction of the nearest warden.
With the final episode of the original series ending on that same note, it’ll be interesting to see how much of the old magic the new episode can reproduce. It’ll also be fun getting an update on what became of the original Fletch following his decision to keep out of trouble at the end of spin-off sequel, Going Straight. However, with nearly forty years gone by, its bound to be at least a little on the sad side.
The criminal activity that gets the new Fletch banged up is as modern as it gets, with cyber crime being his forte. The episode focuses on him being at the mercy of the prison tough guy, leaving him with no option but to tap into his old hacking skills to try to turn the sticky situation to his advantage. It’s not all plain sailing though with Officer Meekie breathing down his neck.
Cast
Comedian Kevin Bishop takes on the central role as Nigel “Fletch” Fletcher, and he’ll be joined by Mark Bonnar (Catastrophe) as Officer Meekie, Ralph Ineson (The Office) as prison hard nut Richie Weeks, and Dave Hill (EastEnders) as his fellow cellmate Joe Lotterby. The cast also includes Dominic Coleman (Miranda) as Officer Braithwaite, Harman Singh as Aziz, Jason Barnett as Shel and Ricky Grover, who completes the ragtag band as Scudds.
Production
The one-off special episode is being produced by Richard Webb (The Kennedys) and directed by Dominic Brigstocke (I’m Alan Partridge, Green Wing). Gregor Sharp (The Rack Pack, Boomers, Count Arthur Strong) is the executive producer. However, perhaps the most important point for the production is that the story has been written by the original series creators, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais.
First impressions
It’s never easy to recreate a classic comedy series, let a lone in a single, stand-alone episode forty years after the original, so the 2016 Porridge special will have an uphill battle right from the beginning. However, with Clement and La Frenais on board as the writers, there’s a big element of continuity built into the production, but it will all hinge on how well Kevin Bishop comes across as the direct descendant of Norman Stanley Fletcher.
