Talk:Porridge (1974 TV series)

Untitled
Nerk a genuine neologism? What about the Goons' use of the name "Fred Nurk"? Andy G 21:58, 19 May 2004 (UTC)

Deleated information
I didn't think that bit about Beckinsdale dying after the making of the film really belonged in the cast list. Especially seeoing as how whoever put it there put it right next to a link that held said information. --Crestville 21:34, 27 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Banyard
Mr Banyard isn't a one-off: he appears early in Just Desserts when Fletcher breaks the news that his tin of chunks has gone missing. Ives also raises the issue of his having inappropriately used laughing gas in that episode. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Brendan again etc (talk • contribs) 13:22, 19 August 2005 (UTC)

Porridge
I could be wrong, but I thought "porridge" meant specifically five years prison... JW 23:24, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
 * I heard porridge was from stir... stir the porridge (get it?) Don't know if this is true. Asa01 01:38, 9 October 2005 (UTC)
 * I thought it was a description of the prison diet, SqueakBox 01:48, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

Real Prison Location
was it St Albans or Maidstone? Andymarczak 14:01, 29 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I don't know if certain scenes were filmed in St Albans but as far as I am aware Chelmsford prison was used mostly due it being refurbished following a fire, however this may have only been for the final series or the film. http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/360/prison.shtml Angryafghan 00:05, 10 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Earling Studios was the location, had a tank measuring 20 ft by 40 ft was for the ground floor with cells with a upper floor with metal walkway add above the tank to make it look like a prison {Ucebaggie (talk) 18:44, 6 October 2008 (UTC)}

McLaren
Did he have a first name? I seriously don't recall him being named anything other than McLaren... Thehalford 05:21, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
 * He was nicknamed Jock. Bentley Banana 10:24, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
 * This could of course simply refer to him being Scottish. --Bonalaw 11:15, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
 * It's also covered in Life Beyond The Box Andymarczak 10:53, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Location of Slade
Is it ever stated in the series that Slade is in Cumberland? By the time the first episode was transmitted it had become Cumbria. Timrollpickering 11:42, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I think they say in the prisoner and escort where it is.--Crestville 12:28, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Mackay in New Faces, Old Hands says to Heslop, "We're in Cumberland man, Cumberland! A wild windswept fell north of the penigns..." So yes, Slade is referred to as being in Cumberland. :) Thehalford 02:51, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

It is Pennines, not Penigns. 78.149.119.114 (talk) 12:21, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

Contribution: Naff
This needs attention - the article is presently completely contradictory on the subject and overflows into a section it ought not to. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.201.50.210 (talk) 15:07, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

"you know what i mean"
does anyone know how many times ronnie barker uses that sentence thoughout the 3 series —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.24.175.199 (talk) 12:37, 12 April 2007 (UTC).

St. Bernard,s Hospital
Many years ago a psychiatric nurse at St. Bernard's Hospital, Southall, in West London, mentioned in passing that some bits of Porridge was sometimes filmed there because it looked like a prison. Does anybody know of a good solid reference to this particular location, so that I can use in the article on said Hospital. Thanks. --Aspro 08:07, 11 June 2007 (UTC)
 * There seem to be several references to filming taking place outside psychiatric hospitals in London, but none are named. Andymarczak 09:12, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks Andymarczak.  I'm hoping for someone (maybe a BBC employee with access to the film library index), to narrow it down to the episode(s)).  Also, it contained  inside footage. It makes logistical sense to  have  kept using  St. Bernard's because of the proximity to the many local BBC facilities (and especially all the Pub's and restaurants) in the borough of Ealing.   --Aspro 11:23, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
 * I thought it was a disued swimming poole, so you have a low and up levels in shot with a pan camera {Ucebaggie (talk) 19:35, 1 October 2008 (UTC)}.

Fair use rationale for Image:Mrmackay.PNG
Image:Mrmackay.PNG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use. Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page. If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. BetacommandBot (talk) 17:14, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Porridge Movie
There is a refernce to this but should be recreated as a new reference page as the movie and tv series are seperate {Ucebaggie (talk) 18:45, 6 October 2008 (UTC)}.

"old brewery outside Baldock"
I lived close to here for many years. I imagine it is Rayment's brewery, which was taken over by Greene King then closed down. But not sure how to confirm that. SimonTrew (talk) 19:41, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Hair colour
Any one know why Barker dyed his grey hair brown for this show? Format (talk) 08:50, 9 June 2010 (UTC)

Leeds United Ground
at the end of the episode where Blanco reveals his money is buried in Leeds, it shows a scene depicting Elland Road. However, in the back ground one can see a two tier stand. LUFC did not have a two tier stand till the 90's .... can anyone shed any light on this? Chilkoot (talk) 19:46, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

Deletion discussion regarding Porridge characters
I probably should have linked to this discussion here sooner. Sorry about that. Transcluded below. – Wbm1058 (talk) 17:49, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

I'm generally not a contributor to Wikipedia articles relating to TV series, but after the close of the above referenced discussion, I researched how Wikipedia handles a couple of other TV series, and found John-boy Walton and Hot Lips Houlihan, which I redirected to List of The Waltons characters and List of M*A*S*H characters, respectively. There's also a List of M*A*S*H cast members. Yuck, I need to make sure to distinguish the difference in the redirects I recently edited. – Wbm1058 (talk) 18:34, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

Oh, I see: CharR to list entry, which could be used if there were a List of Porridge characters. – Wbm1058 (talk) 18:54, 1 March 2013 (UTC)

Merger proposal
Request received at Merge Request Noticeboard: Merge Lennie Godber (and others) into Porridge (TV series); reason: No references 5+ years, not notable characters, discuss below:  GenQuest  "Talk to Me" 23:09, 25 April 2014 (UTC)
 * "It is now my duty to pass sentence". They are largely written from an in-world perspective that would perhaps be more suitable for a character section in the main sitcom article. So yes a merge and redirect would seem a good solution, even including Norman Stanley Fletcher, although Godber and Fletcher are in every episode, unlike, say, Grouty who appears in far fewer episodes. Bob talk 23:24, 25 April 2014 (UTC)
 * These are pre-internet characters so most of the references would be to offline material, but considering the importance of the series to British culture of the time I have no doubt that such referencing could be done. There is no deadline, so no need to worry about harmless stubs existing, and with the rise of mobile we should be breaking up long lists of characters into multiple smaller articles rather than the reverse.  Ϣere Spiel  Chequers  09:18, 26 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Well, I'd say Fletcher and Godber, McKay and maybe Barraclough may well have book references that are substantial enouogh to fill an article. Every other character almost certainly won't as they're virtually interchangeable. Ged  UK  12:05, 29 September 2014 (UTC)
 * I'm in favour of merging all the character articles into Porridge (TV series) and shortening most of them. While there is some relevant information on them I don't believe they warrant being separate pages, nor do I believe that enough material can be found to expand them into proper articles without simply repeating huge chunks of the TV show. Mobile is not a problem as each section after the first starts off minimised and must be tapped to open. Danielklein (talk) 13:30, 19 May 2015 (UTC)

On the Rocks
While it’s true that the American version of Porridge ran for a single series, it actually comprised 24 episodes, making it in some respects longer-lasting than the combined run of three shorter series on the BBC. It also should be mentioned that the last series of the British Porridge was in fact adapted from scripts written by Clement and La Frenais for the American show, so the traffic wasn’t just one–way… Jock123 (talk) 20:33, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

Ranking in Top Sitcoms list
This article says that Porridge was rated Number 35 in the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes list. It could also say here that it came seventh in the 2004 poll to find Britain's favourite sitcom. Vorbee (talk) 08:38, 9 December 2017 (UTC) See Britain's Best Sitcom. Vorbee (talk) 17:59, 9 December 2017 (UTC)

Wakeley Prison
The article does not appear to mention that the new series of "Porridge" in which Kevin Bishop plays Nigel Norman Fletcher is not based in Slade Prison but in Wakeley Prison. Vorbee (talk) 17:36, 10 February 2019 (UTC)

International Broadcast
Was this shown in the US? if so it could be the first LGBT characters shown on TV there?sailor iain (talk) 08:41, 8 April 2021 (UTC)

Requested move 20 July 2019

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 

The result of the move request was: Moved; as proposed first one; proposed alt title (but in title case) for second one – Policy based arguments against partial disambiguation carry; proposed natural disambig of the second was supported enough. (non-admin closure) Dicklyon (talk) 02:59, 2 August 2019 (UTC)

– Nominations centering around partial disambiguations are usually considered uncontroversial technical requests, but since some recent RMs, such as the currently active Talk:Farnace (opera) or the completed Talk:Manhattan (1979 film) and, in particular, Talk:Vincent (Don McLean song), show that there is not always unanimity on the subject, it seemed best to submit the above main title headers for disambiguation from Porridge (2016 TV series) and On the Rocks (2008 play). Depending on WP:WikiProject Theatre guidelines, the plays may be more properly indicated as On the Rocks (Shaw play) and On the Rocks (Rosenthal play) or even as On the Rocks (George Bernard Shaw play) and On the Rocks (Amy Rosenthal play). — Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 06:42, 20 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Porridge (TV series) → Porridge (1974 TV series)
 * On the Rocks (play) → On the Rocks (1932 play)
 * Support the TV series proposal and support second play proposal. If I'm not mistaken (couldn't find the naming convention, but I think there was a RM lately about this) plays should be disambiguated by their author and not year. --Gonnym (talk) 08:35, 20 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Comment regarding play disambiguation: both date and author disambiguations are used, and there were several move requests about this last year that resulted in no consensus for one or the other as a standard. So either the first of second proposal for the play could be acceptable. --RL0919 (talk) 14:15, 20 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Support doing something per WP:INCDAB. Partial disambiguation is generally a bad idea. I'm not sufficiently familiar with the convention for plays to express an opinion about whether to use the year or something else. —BarrelProof (talk) 20:00, 20 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Support per WP:PDAB but maybe the 2nd should be moved to On the Rocks: A political Comedy?  Crouch, Swale  ( talk ) 20:08, 20 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Many of Shaw's works had descriptive qualifiers added to the main title headers, among them:
 * Passion Play: A Dramatic Fragment
 * Major Barbara: A Discussion
 * The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet: A Sermon in Crude Melodrama
 * Press Cuttings: A Topical Sketch Compiled from the Editorial and Correspondence Columns of the Daily Papers
 * The Glimpse of Reality: A Tragedietta
 * The Music Cure: a Piece of Utter Nonsense
 * O'Flaherty V.C.: A Recruiting Pamphlet
 * The Inca of Perusalem: An Almost Historical Comedietta
 * Augustus Does His Bit: A True-to-Life Farce
 * Annajanska, the Bolshevik Empress: A Revolutionary Romancelet
 * Heartbreak House: A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on English Themes
 * Back to Methuselah: A Metabiological Pentateuch
 * The Apple Cart: A Political Extravaganza
 * Village Wooing: A Comedietta for Two Voices
 * Geneva: A Fancied Page of History, to name but fifteen. If consensus skews towards the full form On the Rocks: A Political Comedy, with Amy Rosenthal's play remaining at On the Rocks (2008 play) or moved to On the Rocks (Rosenthal play), with the possibility of On the Rocks (Amy Rosenthal play), I would support any such revised title forms. —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 21:21, 21 July 2019 (UTC)


 * For the TV series, I Support as proposed. For the play, I favor the alternative of On the Rocks: A Political Comedy as a natural disambiguation; the 2008 Rosenthal play can stay at its current title. --RL0919 (talk) 14:48, 23 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Support second, oppose first. The original TV series was a defining series on British television; the later sequel will probably fade into obscurity. Sometimes partial disambiguation should be acceptable. -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:45, 24 July 2019 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Maidstone or not
The article says both that no actual prisons were used for filming, *and* that some of the exterior shots were filmed at HMP Maidstone. It can't be both! Marnanel (talk) 05:37, 1 January 2022 (UTC)