Classic English Comedies (Porridge)
England has lost something in recent years. Classic genuinely funny comedies replaced by nasty stand-up comic acts, that often are not even very funny. Let’s take a while to remember some of the funniest-ever comedies in England, a trip down nostalgia lane, and learn the interesting stories and history!
Porridge is regarded as one of the best comedy series ever written. Set in a prison (the indoor scenes for the feature film were filmed in Chelmsford as it was empty due to refurbishment after a fire), even real-life prisoners loved it. Some of the football players were real ones from a local team.
One recalled that unlike his character, Ronnie Barker was very reserved (almost shy) and very posh (unlike his character!) And that Richard Beckinsale would often happily visit the local Oddfellows Arms, to have a brandy and smoke a huge cigar!
Broadcast from 1974 to 1977, the series followed the exploits of Norman Stanley Fletcher (played by Ronnie Barker, who also played the audio of the judge sentencing him in the opening credits) and naive cellmate Lennie Godber, played by Richard Beckinsale. The series was set in the fictional HM Prison Slade in Cumberland (what is now Cumbria).
At first, Ronnie Barker was hesitant to take on the role, thinknig that a prison sitcom could not be funny. Thankfully he was convinced otherwise. As the Home Office refused to let the BBC film inside a real prison, most scenes were done inside a disused water tank at Ealing studios.
Why was Porridge so popular?
Apart from smashing scripts, it showed that you could have real warmth and friendships in the most trying of circumstances. And showed that most people deserve a second chance.
Even the relationships between the inmates and the prison officers were quite warm, despite the fierce exterior of one of them! It was tough love, but wiith heart.
This is evidenced in the famous scene where Barraclough (the soft prison officer) is replaced by a fierce strict one. So the inmates stage a riot (that only he can stop by saying softly ‘now let’s put those plates away and form a nice orderly line’). They do as they are told, knowing he will be back to look after them. It’s wonderful writing.
Doctor: You see that glass over there: I want you to fill it for me.
Fletcher: What from here?
Fletcher and Godber
Ronnie Barker was a very talented wordsmith, as evidenced in his sketches with The Two Ronnies. Very posh in real life (he talked nothing like Fletcher!), he is also known for the famous ‘four candles’ sketch (written by Roy Clarke).
A former bank clerk, after Richard Beckinsale’s early death, he quietly gave his widow (actress Judy Loe, mother of Kate Beckinsale) a job as a production assistant, to support her family. And eventually retired from showbusiness to run an antiques shop with his wife.
Richard Beckinsale as we all know, died unexpectedly of a sudden heart attack age just 31, leaving behind a wife and two daughters. A RADA graduate (one of just 31 students accepted of 12,5000 applicants), his ambition was to be a serious actor, but of course fate never made it that far.
He starred at the same time in Rising Damp, having to wear a wig for that series, as his hair was different lengths in each! A former folk singer and guitarist, he would play around clubs in Nottingham, before he got his big break.
Richard’s exotic good looks came from having some Burmese ancestry.
The prison officers!
Fulton McKay played Mr Mackay, the strict Scottish prison officer, who almost became Dr Who (the role that went to Tom Baker). A former quantity surveyor, he was also a playwright and trained at RADA. With memorable guest appearances in other sitcoms like Dad’s Army and Some Mothers Do ‘Av ‘Em.
Brian Wilde was yet another RADA graduate, playing softly-spoken Barraclough (he also played Foggy in Last of the Summer Wine, set on the edge of Yorkshire’s Peak District).
Just as quiet and unassuming as his character, in late life he retired to a quiet life of dogs, gardening and cricket, and frequented local pubs for a pint!
Other inmates
Christopher Biggins who played ‘lukewarm’ is one of England’s favourite pantomime dames, recently saying that he was paid under £100 per episode, and sometimes receives royalty cheques for 15p! He is famously best friends with Joan Collins.
Peter Vaughan played Harry Grout, the violent ‘leader’ of the inmates, and becames known to a new generation when he starred in Game of Thrones. A former footballer, he was father-in-law to Gregor Fisher (who played Scottish comedy character Rab C Nesbitt!)
Tony Osoba (as Jock’) was the first mixed-race Scottish actor to appear in a primetime British TV series. He trained at Scotland’s RADA and acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company, before gaining the role.
