7 /10 1 Votes
7/10 TV Country of origin United Kingdom Final episode date 7 April 1978 Predecessor Porridge | 7.1/10 IMDb Producer(s) Sydney Lotterby | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Starring Ronnie BarkerRichard BeckinsalePatricia BrakeNicholas Lyndhurst Cast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Porridge going straight going off the rails part 1 of 2
Going Straight is a BBC sitcom which was a direct spin-off from Porridge, starring Ronnie Barker as Norman Stanley Fletcher, newly released from the fictional Slade Prison where the earlier series had been set.
Contents
It sees Fletcher trying to become an honest member of society, having vowed to stay away from crime on his release. The title refers to this: 'straight' is a slang term meaning being honest, in contrast to 'bent', i.e. dishonest.
Also re-appearing was Richard Beckinsale as Lennie Godber, who had been Fletcher's naïve young cellmate and was now in a relationship with Fletcher's daughter Ingrid (Patricia Brake). Her brother Raymond was played by a teenage Nicholas Lyndhurst.
One series of six episodes was made in 1978. It attracted an audience of over 15 million viewers and won a BAFTA award in March 1979, but hopes of a further series had already been dashed by Beckinsale's premature death earlier the same month.
Theme tune
The theme tune, sung by Ronnie Barker, detailed Fletch's determination to go straight, an ambition first laid out in the Porridge episode "Men Without Women": This was released as 7-inch single by BBC Enterprises. The B-side is a track called 'The String Bean Queen'.