Going Straight

Going Straight is a BBC sitcom that serves as a direct spin-off from Porridge, starring Ronnie Barker as Norman Stanley Fletcher, freshly released from the fictional Slade Prison where the earlier series was set. The show follows Fletcher's bid to become an upstanding member of society, vowing to steer clear of crime upon his release. The title signals his attempt to go straight, with 'straight' denoting honesty and contrasting with 'bent' or dishonest. Richard Beckinsale returns as Lennie Godber, Fletcher's naïve former cellmate, who is now in a relationship with Fletcher's daughter Ingrid. Ingrid's brother Raymond is portrayed by a teenage Nicholas Lyndhurst. Only a single series consisting of six episodes was produced in 1978. It attracted an audience of over 15 million viewers and won a BAFTA in March 1979, but prospects for another series were already dashed by Beckinsale's premature death earlier in the same month.