Episode no. Season 1
Episode 5 Original air date 3 October 1974 | Directed by Sydney Lotterby | |
Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais | ||
"Ways and Means" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Porridge. It first aired on 3 October 1974. In this episode, Fletcher intends to help new prisoner McLaren, a wild Scotsman.
Contents
Synopsis
The episode opens with Fletcher and several other inmates sewing fishing nets. Fletcher complains to Barrowclough, who is supervising them, but Barrowclough scolds Fletcher by saying it's his own fault that he lost his trusted position at the farm. Barrowclough also expresses shock at new prisoner McLaren's prison infraction of assaulting a prison officer by dunking his head in a pot of soup. McLaren says the officer insulted him by calling him a "black bastard", which Fletcher points out is not exactly wrong as McLaren is black and of illegitimate birth. Barrowclough then expresses disappointment at Fletcher's recent attitude, although he also admits he is grateful for Fletcher giving him advice for his marital problems. Taking advantage of this, Fletcher asks Barrowclough to help him get a job in the library.
Later that day, Fletcher leaves his cell and bumps into McLaren, who threatens him. Fletcher apologises but as McLaren bends over, Fletcher kicks McLaren's backside into his cell and pins him against his desk. Fletcher warns McLaren never to speak to him again like that. After McLaren apologises, Fletcher offers McLaren some tobacco, gives him his things back and has a talk with him about his wild ways. Fletcher says to McLaren that he is his own worst enemy. McLaren admits that he asked to be put in for psychiatric treatment, but the Governor does not believe him and says the Welfare Officer was not much help either. The two prisoners soon make friends, and McLaren leaves.
At the football match, McLaren gets into an altercation with a rival player. Mackay, who is refereeing the game, sends McLaren off the pitch. Barrowclough, who is watching the game, says to Fletcher that McLaren will be dropped from the prison's football team if he carries on the way he is.
A short while later, Barrowclough informs Fletcher that there is a situation. McLaren is holding a rooftop protest, and is refusing to come down. Fletcher says he might be able to help, as McLaren is not going to co-operate with members of authority and may instead listen to a fellow prisoner. After convincing the governor that he once spent his national service in Kuala Lumpur, Fletcher is sent up to the roof on the fire engine's ladder. On the roof, it becomes clear that this was arranged between Fletcher and McLaren. However, Fletcher suffers vertigo and slides down the roof. He lands groin first on the drainage pipe, giving him a sore one.
After this event, Fletcher is back in the Governor's good books. He is rewarded with the library position, and McLaren has been given a position in the infirmary. Fletcher and McLaren later meet in the infirmary, and the episode ends with the two men swapping The Godfather for a bottle of oil of wintergreen.