Robert Ross continues his series of SitCom Masterworks doing Porridge in HM Slade Prison with the great Ronnie Barker!

B y the dawn of 1973 all-round comedy powerhouse Ronnie Barker could literally do no wrong. Rotund, saucy, and endlessly talented, BBC Television had become his manor. The previous Autumn, ratings had soared for the second series ofThe Two Ronnies-in tandem with his diminutive partner in laughter Ronnie Corbett -and Barker was all set to launch his own comedy anthology series.Six Of Onewas intended to be followed up withHalf a Dozen of the Otherbut, in the end, an essential, pressing, ready-to-be-made script was just too good to ignore. Thus, a stand-alone batch calledSeven Of Onewas set to showcase Barker’s multi-faceted character acting skills. And what a batch of seven!

Indeed, two of Ronnie’s best-loved situation comedy successes - if not *the* two best-loved - were spawned from the series. Yorkshire’s stuttering shopkeeper Arkwright and Open All Hours was up first, followed, a week later, on 1st April 1973, by Prisoner and Escort. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, the two likely lads had another script in the mix, a glorious Welsh odyssey called I’ll Fly You for a Quid. The writers, and Ronnie Barker himself, thought this had series potential, but the great British public wanted more of Norman Stanley Fletcher, the wry petty, “habitual criminal” of Prisoner and Escort.