Overview
Porridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film also titled Porridge. 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, which established that Fletcher would not be going back to prison again. Porridge was voted number seven in a 2004 BBC poll of the 100 greatest British sitcoms.
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Keywords
prisonenglandjudgetheftconvictwardensitcom
Seasons
Specials10 episodes1973
1
Prisoner and Escort - Pilot
1973-04-01
30m8.0es578078
2No Way Out
1975-12-24
41m7.0es578079
3The Desperate Hours
1976-12-24
44m7.0es578080
4Porridge - The Movie
1979-08-12
30m0.0es578081
5Case for Britain's Best Sitcom
2009-01-06
30m0.0es578082
6Interview with Ronnie Barker
15m0.0es578083
7Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher
2003-12-29
30m0.0es578084
8Porridge: Inside Out - Sent Down
2014-05-21
30m0.0es578085
9Porridge: Inside Out - Banged Up
2014-05-28
30m0.0es578086
10Porridge: Inside Out - Good Behaviour
2014-06-04
30m0.0es578087
Series 16 episodes1974
Series 26 episodes1975
Added: 5/14/2026Updated: 6/4/2026