MovieChat Forums > Porridge (1974) Discussion > if ronnie barker put a stop to porridge ...

if ronnie barker put a stop to porridge why did he agree


to do going straight and porridge the movie???

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He didn't exactly put a stop to it, but agreed with Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais (along with producer Sydney Lotterby and the BBC's then Head of Comedy, John Howard Davies) that Porridge shouldn't attempt to go on past its natural end.

They never intended to say goodbye to Fletcher quite that soon after the feature spin-off and six episodes of Going Straight. They intended to do a second series of Going Straight for the BBC, but the death of Richard Beckinsale in 1979 (at the age of thirty-one) meant that nobody wished to continue with the franchise.

Ronnie Barker (along with several surviving members of the cast) did briefly and belatedly reprise the role of Fletcher in 2003 for a one-off special about the life of Fletcher after prison - Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher. It showed us what happened to the characters in the years following Going Straight.

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I've never heard of Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher. Sounds interesting, will have to hunt it out

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It is worth while seeing in particular the part where Harry Grout is interviewed by Melvyn Bragg about his 'autobiography', Bragg talks about crimes described in the book making Grout having to talk to his ghost writer.

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Ronnie put a stop to Porridge over a big worry of becoming "typecast" as Fletch. He said he had seen it before with Harry H. Corbett. I believe Mr Barker was showing great modesty. His amazing talent and great skill at changing into so many characters would assure he would never suffer the same problem as "Arrrold"!

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Yes, I remember the retrospective documentary where Ronnie said that.

That was certainly a major part of the reason Porridge came to an end on the BBC in 1977, and is part of what I meant in my earlier post about Ronnie, the writers and the producer not wanting the show to go on past its natural end.

Going on and on and on with a character and a sitcom can be death to comedy, to inspiration and even to careers. Harry H Corbett is a rather sad lesson in what can happen when you stay too long playing the very character who has effectively kyboshed your future casting prospects.

I also don't believe that this could or would ever have happened to the versatile Ronnie Barker. He had multiple strings to his bow career-wise, and he could inhabit multiple comic personas with equal success without being absolutely defined by any single one of them.

However, Ronnie was happy to return to the role of Fletcher three more times. Going Straight in 1978 took Fletcher out of prison and into civvy street; and then the feature film of Porridge in 1979 - actually a prequel to Going Straight in that it takes place during the final year of Fletcher's incarceration at HM Prison Slade.

And then of course 2003 saw Ronnie doing what he had said back in 1979 that he would never do again, reprising the role once more - briefly appearing in the character mockumentary Life Beyond the Box as an elderly Norman Stanley Fletcher, living out his autumn years in luxury in sunny Spain.

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I suspect that after Steptoe Corbett was past his best as an actor . Barker still had it when he retired.

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