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Porridge originated from an idea used in a 1973 series, in which Barker starred, called Seven of One. Each of its seven 30-minute episodes saw him playing a new character in a different setting.

In the second instalment, "Prisoner and Escort", a prisoner, Norman Stanley Fletcher (played by Barker), was being escorted from London to Slade Prison by two warders: the easy-going Mr Barrowclough (Brian Wilde) and the stern Mr Mackay (Fulton Mackay).

After a long train journey, Fletch asks to relieve himself at the tiny station where the prison minibus is waiting to take them to the prison. He relieves himself into the petrol tank, and when the van stops in the middle of the moors, Mackay strides off to the prison for help. Fletch encourages Barrowclough to spend the night in an abandoned cottage. Here, Fletch escapes and spends the night running around the moors. He eventually discovers a second empty property and hides within it. Fletch finds that he is not alone, and prepares to attack his companion. Only then does it become obvious that the other resident is Barrowclough, and that the cottage is indeed the same one from which he had set off. Back at the prison, Mackay tells Fletch that the petrol tank was fuller than when last checked, and that it was 'definitely not 5-star'. Thus started the humorous conflict between Mackay and Fletch.

A year later, when the BBC were looking for a premise for a sitcom in which Barker could star, this episode was chosen. (The first Seven of One programme was also developed into a series: Open All Hours.)

• BBC Comedy Guide
• 100 Greatest Sitcoms: Porridge
• Porridge at IMDb
• British Film Institute Screen Online
• Porridge: The Unofficial Homepage
• British Sitcom Guide
• Porridge at www.phill.co.uk
• Erwin James (prisoner) article on Porridge in The Guardian (reg. required)

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