40 Fun Facts About Porridge (TV Series)

The BBC sitcom Porridge takes its title from 1950s British slang for what?

A prison sentence was called porridge after the breakfast once served in British jails. The show's star and both of its writers hit on the title independently.

Which comedy great played the wily old lag Norman Stanley Fletcher in the BBC sitcom Porridge?

Ronnie Barker played Fletcher and also recorded the stern narration over the opening titles, a choice he reportedly came to regret.

Which future Only Fools and Horses star played the elderly inmate Blanco Webb in the sitcom Porridge?

David Jason was only in his thirties when he aged up to play old Blanco, a lifer who appeared in three episodes.

In the Porridge film, what do Fletcher and Godber do after a fleeing armed robber dumps them outside the walls?

Break back in is their only option. With months left to serve, being caught outside would add to their time, so they sneak home in a coach's luggage hold.

In the Porridge episode Poetic Justice, who turns out to be Fletcher's unwelcome new cellmate?

The judge who jailed him, Mr Justice Rawley, ends up sharing the cell and stays until his own appeal succeeds an episode later.

Which word did the BBC sitcom Porridge popularise as a stand-in for the inmates' ruder swearing?

Naff was almost unknown before Porridge. Its star admitted decades later that he never knew what the word actually meant.

In the Porridge episode Just Desserts, the theft of which smuggled treat from his cell enrages Fletcher?

Pineapple chunks were the prize, and the culprit proved to be kindly Mr Barrowclough, who confiscated the tin and took it home, where his wife ate the lot.

Brian Wilde, Porridge's soft-hearted Mr Barrowclough, also played Foggy Dewhurst in which long-running BBC sitcom?

Last of the Summer Wine cast him as the ex-army schemer Foggy, a part he took on while Porridge was still running.

In Porridge's first Christmas special, No Way Out, what are the prison carol singers there to cover up?

An escape tunnel was being dug beneath the carols. Fletcher's plan to drop Mr Mackay into it ended with him falling in himself.

Which Rising Damp actor played the young first-time inmate Lennie Godber in the BBC sitcom Porridge?

Richard Beckinsale, father of the actress Kate, made both sitcoms at once. He died of a heart attack at 31, weeks after finishing the Porridge film.

Which sequel to the BBC sitcom Porridge follows Norman Stanley Fletcher after his release on parole?

Going Straight ran for only six episodes yet won a BAFTA for best situation comedy, and it ends with a wedding for a couple who met on visiting day at Slade Prison.

Lennie Godber, the first-time inmate who shares Fletcher's cell in Porridge, comes from which English city?

Birmingham is Godber's home city: he supports Aston Villa and shared a flat with his girlfriend in nearby Smethwick.

In which part of Slade Prison does Fletcher's young cellmate Lennie Godber work in the sitcom Porridge?

The kitchen gave Godber the chance to lift butter and other treats for Fletcher, who toiled on the farm before wangling a job in the library.

Which future I'm a Celebrity winner played the mild-mannered inmate Lukewarm in the BBC sitcom Porridge?

Christopher Biggins won the jungle show in 2007, three decades after playing Lukewarm, the cellmate who fussed over old Blanco.

What prison term is handed to Norman Stanley Fletcher in the opening titles of the BBC sitcom Porridge?

Five years is the maximum for his offences, announced in a booming narration that replaced a theme tune because music was thought wrong for a show set in jail.

In the Porridge episode A Day Out, where does Fletcher sneak off to when sent to buy ointment?

The village pub was his real destination: he spent the ointment money on a pint and crisps, then fled on a stolen bike when Mr Mackay walked in.

In the Porridge episode The Harder They Fall, two rival gang bosses order Godber to lose at which sport?

Boxing was Godber's new hobby. Told to throw the bout by both sides, he and his opponent each went down after one punch, so every bet was void.

In the 2016 revival of Porridge, Fletcher's grandson Nigel is locked up for which crime?

Computer hacking put Nigel Norman Fletcher inside, and the revival was written by the same two men who created the original four decades earlier.

Which other hit sitcom for Porridge's leading man grew out of the same run of BBC pilots?

Open All Hours also began as a try-out in the same anthology, though its star's own favourite was a third pilot about a Welsh gambler.

Which young actor played Fletcher's teenage son Raymond in the sequel series to Porridge?

Nicholas Lyndhurst played the gormless Raymond as a teenager, three years before Only Fools and Horses made him a household name.

In which historic English county is Slade Prison, the fictional jail of the BBC sitcom Porridge, set?

Cumberland gave the writers a bleak, remote setting: the pilot shows the jail sitting in the middle of nowhere, reached by van after a long train ride north.

Fulton Mackay, Porridge's strict Mr Mackay, later played the Captain in which Jim Henson children's series?

Fraggle Rock had a separate British version, and Mackay played its Captain from 1984 until 1987, the year of his death.

Porridge writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais first made their names with which 1960s sitcom?

The Likely Lads launched their partnership in the mid-1960s, and they went on to write Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and even the 2016 Porridge revival.

Norman Stanley Fletcher, the old lag at the heart of Porridge, hails from which part of north London?

Muswell Hill is where Fletcher claims he reigned as king of the Teds in the 1950s, with a seamstress girlfriend who took in his trousers.

Which actor, later Maester Aemon in Game of Thrones, played the feared prison kingpin Harry Grout in Porridge?

Peter Vaughan played Grouty on television and in the film, and his turn in Game of Thrones, begun in his late eighties, was his final role.

In Porridge, why does the inmate Bunny Warren ask Fletcher to deal with the letters from his wife?

He cannot read, and that is also how he was caught: he missed a sign warning that the place he was burgling had an alarm.

According to Fletcher in Porridge, his daughter Ingrid was conceived on whose tomb in Highgate Cemetery?

Karl Marx is the name Fletcher drops in a sleepless late chat in the cell, adding that his children were spaced out by his spells inside.

In Porridge's pilot, Prisoner and Escort, how does Fletcher sabotage the van carrying him to Slade Prison?

Urinates in the fuel tank: allowed a quick stop behind the van, Fletcher eyes the filler cap, and the breakdown later strands him overnight with one soft-hearted warder.

In the Porridge episode The Hustler, Fletcher's secret gambling den in the boiler house centres on which game?

Snakes and ladders was the game of choice, until Mr Mackay broke it up by timing a coal delivery to arrive mid-game.

Which team does Fletcher cheer on at home during his weekend of compassionate leave in Porridge?

Tottenham Hotspur win while he is home, a trip he wangled with a fake marriage crisis. In the film, though, he claims to follow Leyton Orient.

In Porridge, Fletcher's fake treasure map tricks the newly freed con man Norris into digging up what?

A football pitch in Leeds is where the map led, landing Norris back in custody a day after his release, in revenge for cheating old Blanco at cards.

In Porridge, why does the elderly lifer Blanco Webb turn down the parole he is finally offered?

He insists he is innocent of killing his wife, so accepting would mean admitting guilt. Once pardoned, he confides that he did kill her lover.

In the Porridge episode A Test of Character, Lennie Godber is revising for an O-level in which subject?

History was the exam, and when Fletcher had the paper stolen to help him, the thief came back with the biology one by mistake.

In the Porridge episode A Storm in a Teacup, the stolen pills Fletcher ends up swallowing were meant for whom?

The doctor's dog had bad breath, Mr Mackay reveals, moments after Fletcher and Godber gulp down the evidence to avoid being caught with it.

In Porridge's special The Desperate Hours, hostage-taker Urwin demands £10,000 and which getaway vehicle?

A helicopter from the nearest RAF base was his demand, backed by a home-made gun that Fletcher wrongly assumed was a harmless fake.

Porridge began as Prisoner and Escort, one pilot in which BBC anthology of try-out comedies?

Seven of One was originally to be called Six of One, with a planned follow-up named And Half a Dozen of the Other.

The Porridge feature film was shot inside which real prison, standing empty after a fire?

Chelmsford was being refurbished after a blaze in one wing, a stroke of luck for a show that had never been allowed to film inside a working jail.

In Porridge, the inmates stage a riot to get rid of which harsh stand-in for the absent Mr Mackay?

Mr Wainwright, an old foe of Fletcher's from Brixton, is sent packing after only gentle Mr Barrowclough proves able to calm the uproar.

Which producer-director of Porridge has characters named after him in both the film and the 2016 revival?

Sydney Lotterby directed every episode of the three series, and John Cleese liked his name so much that he wrote a sketch about four identical men who shared it.

In Porridge, the sneak thief Harris was caught after an elderly victim hid what in her handbag?

A brick weighed down the bag, and the old lady then pinned Harris to the ground until the police arrived.