Porridge Get New Series Following One-off Success

Following the successful one-off episode of Porridge on BBC One, a full series of 6x30’ episodes has been commissioned and will go into production in January 2017.

Starring actor and comedian Kevin Bishop, the series is written by the show's original creators, the legendary Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. Bishop plays Nigel ‘Fletch’ Fletcher, grandson of Ronnie Barker’s iconic character Norman Stanley Fletcher, banged up in Wakeley Prison for a series of cyber-crimes.


The one-off episode saw Fletch manage - just about - to stay on the right side of prison hard case Richie Weeks, while narrowly escaping the attentions of wily Officer Meekie. Whether he'll be able to keep them at bay for a whole series is another matter entirely...

The one-off episode saw Bishop joined by Mark Bonnar (Catastrophe) as Officer Meekie; Ralph Ineson (The Office) as prison bad boy Richie Weeks, and Dave Hill (EastEnders) as cellmate Joe Lotterby. The cast also included Dominic Coleman (Miranda) as Officer Braithwaite; Harman Singh (Rude Boys) as Aziz; Jason Barnett (The Javone Prince Show) as Shel and Ricky Grover (EastEnders) as Scudds. Cast for the series is still to be confirmed.

Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais say: “We're in a state of disbelief that Porridge is coming back after all these years, but Kevin Bishop is a worthy successor to Ronnie Barker. So even though we feel like recidivists, we're more than happy to go back inside."

Kevin Bishop told us: “It was an honour to be asked to play Fletch although I never thought it would go further than just the one off homage. To be welcomed back by Porridge fans and the BBC to make a full series, is one of the proudest moments in my career. Dick and Ian are true sitcom masters and I know they're going to write a brilliant series.”