Going Straight

Like Porridge, Going Straight was a series that was to shine! In 1978 it won a Bafta TV Award and rightly so! With a fantastic theme tune (If you can find the elongated version on LP - do its magnificent!),Writing team and the superb acting of Ronnie Barker- Fulton Mackay and Richard Beckinsale who could say it was bad? As many posters have said here - it didn't live up to the expectations of Porridge and in a way this "could" be correct, but i feel it packs the same punch! It shows the strain of trying to reintegrate back into life, on the straight and narrow, fighting back temptation and the leering face of crime and Barker plays this to an Art! Be it the wittiness of Fletch,The stupidity of remarks from Raymond or the "happy ending" - The series is memorable for it.

And to say that Barker said it was up there with Porridge - what more can one say!

'Going Straight' is often thought of as a failed sequel to 'Porridge.' However, it would help to think of the show as an epilogue to 'Porridge.' If both shows were called 'Fletcher' then I very much doubt that any distinction would be made between the two.

By the time the show was written Ian La Frenais, Dick Clement and Ronnie Barker had the mind of Fletcher down to a tee. This in itself made the series superb - with some of the finest writing and acting to adorn our T.V. screens. But there is a more important point to 'Going Straight.' Although 'Porridge' tried to relate the daily grind of prison life it was, by it's very nature, a comedy programme. Fletcher's spirit, intelligence, humour and status inside 'Slade' almost made you want to commit a felony and go and join him. However, once outside he became a 'nobody.' The writers cleverly showed that outside a prison Fletcher was on life's bottom rung - on course for a life of menial work, low status and even lower pay. Fletcher finds himself very frustrated at the lack of opportunities for ex-cons, especially at his age, and this comes through in the series quite strongly. Personally, I admired him in 'Porridge' and pitied him in 'Going Straight.' In 'Porridge' it was often referred to that the system can't be beaten. 'Going Straight' showed that even after having served time for crimes the system still controls your destiny. A lesson for us all.

Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement did a solid job of following up a classic comedy by giving Ronnie Barker's great character Fletch another opportunity to shine.

Instead of prison life, Fletch negotiates his way through the unforgiving economic climate of 70s Britain. In six episodes, we see him attempt to rebuild his life, which has some fairly compelling moments. Will he go straight or revert to type?

Naturally, it has lots of humour thanks to the numerous situations the writers devise to generate laughs. The banter is as strong as Porridge and delivered wonderfully by Barker. The only weaker aspect in comparison is that Going Straight mostly relies on Barker and, in some scenes, his partnership with Richard Beckinsale to carry it. Porridge had an impressive range of characters that complemented each other so well.

My favourite episodes are 'Going Home', 'Going, Going, Gone', and 'Going Off the Rails'. However, all six are worth watching if you like Barker and Porridge.

For me, it's a 7.5/10, but I round up.

Brilliance, itself,as a follow on to porridge, unfortunately due to the untimely death of richard beckinsale, i believe this shortened, what would have become, a thriving, multi-series show, as porridge was... British comedy at its best, with legend status, shame nothing these days can come anywhere near , ronnie barkers wisdom and wit...

Julez.....

Well, I got the DVD of Going Straight the other week, and put it with my DVDs for Porridge. I've read all that stuff that says GS wasn't received as fondly as Porridge - and I've also read that Ronnie Barker thinks it's just as good. I am in full agreement with Mr Barker here.

First off - yes, Going Straight dispensed with the "less is more" approach that made Porridge (and almost all the greatest sitcoms bar Fawlty Towers) so brilliant. But that's the only problem I have with it.

I suspect that the people who dismiss this show were disappointed because it wasn't just more Porridge. Well, the whole point is that he's been released on parole. Alternately, for the people who miss Warren, Lukewarm and Grouty - remember that they were all sent down from different parts of the country, and so when released, all went home to different parts of the country. To have them all on the outside together would not be realistic. The only fellow ex-con to be kept in the series was, of course, Lennie Godber. Plus Fletch's daughter Ingrid has a much bigger part in this series - again, to be expected.

Certainly, the series still has the same emotional resonance - Porridge dealt with the pressures of being in prison, and Going Straight deals with life on the outside for ex-prisoners, and the prejudices they are up against. Much like the prejudices that sequels tend to be up against . . .

Overall, I like this series. Not quite as much as Porridge, I'll admit. But certainly enough to recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Porridge. Who said that sequels aren't as good?!