Synopsis
Porridge (1974), Season 1 is a BBC sitcom you can watch online on iFILM — six episodes set behind the walls of the fictional HMP Slade, where "doing porridge" is old British slang for serving time.
The first series throws hardened old lag Norman Fletcher together with Godber, a jittery first-timer, and Fletch sets about teaching the kid how to get through a sentence with his wits intact. Across six episodes it is all small-time prison craft: a smuggled gambling racket, angling for a soft library job instead of sewing fishing nets, surviving that first night by calling it a quiet evening in, and a working party's day out digging a ditch.
Writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais build the comedy on character rather than escape plots — Ronnie Barker's needling delivery hides real warmth. A 2004 BBC poll ranked it the seventh greatest British sitcom. Best for anyone who likes dry English humour and dialogue-driven comedy. Stream Porridge Season 1 online on iFILM.
6 episodes
S1·E1New Faces, Old Hands
“Twenty-three and you want to go straight? What kind of talk is that? You've got your whole life in front of you!” It's Godber's first time in prison, and Fletch is going to teach him the ways.
S1·E2The Hustler
Ives is such a loser that if Elizabeth Taylor had triplets, he'd have been the one in the middle. But there's no way he's going to be left out of Fletch's gambling enterprise.
S1·E3A Night In
Fletch explains to Godber that the best way to cope with his first night in prison, is to see it as just a "quiet night in". Trouble is, Godber's got another 698 to go.
S1·E4A Day Out
The rest of the working party are thrilled to have a day out, but Fletch is masking indifference - what's so exciting about digging a ditch anyway?
S1·E5Ways and Means
Who would want to spend eight hours a day sewing fishing nets? Not Fletch, who is hell-bent on a cushy job in the library.
S1·E6Men Without Women
Fletch fancies himself as a bit of an agony aunt and is called upon by his fellow inmates to help out with affairs of the heart.
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