Porridge

I was more than pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I absolutely love the original and know it inside out - I often quote from the original Porridge with friends and family (e.g. " I read a book one, Green it was"; "When I think of me going home to my wife...................Sometimes I wish I was in here with you lot"; the list goes on and on. So having read poor reviews from the luvies at the Guardian and Telegraph along the lines of it was a very poor replica, my expectations were set low. Perhaps that explains why I enjoyed it: low expectations. Bishop is excellent ; OK he is doing a bit of an impression of Fletch, but it is an excellent and convincing one and I got drawn into his character in a similar way I did with Barker's Fletch. The ensemble cast is very strong: some brilliant performances. The scene with the lad on the phone to his girlfriend with Fletch telling him what to say had me in stitches. You can never get near the original. That was absolute perfection. Consign that to history. But I felt privileged to be able to watch such a strong cast perform a script from the original writers. The indelible DNA of those two writers is evident in the dialogue and the construct of the jokes and situations, which is a bit like getting into a warm bath. Lovely to see all of this working and being brought back to life in this sitcom. More please. I will be watching it. As for the luvies, I will give them 2 fingers from Fletch through the keyhole.

Generally I prefer the classics to be left alone, and this is a little dated in its format and of course no prison was ever like it.

But there was enough to make me smile and laugh a few times. The thing I do dislike is Kevin Bishops delivery, its too reminiscent of Ronnie Barker and I understand why, I just find it annoying.

Pity it was axed, was looking forward to Raymond Fletcher (Going Straight), Fletch's dad in future episodes.

I need not make any further comment about this remake of an iconic sit-com, other than a pilot episode was made as part of a celebration of great British sit-coms. I'm just wondering where the sense was in making a whole series, which nobody wanted or asked for?

Don't expect laugh out loud hilarity. But then there was not that much in the original. What this is - for me - is a welcome half hour of relaxation with the odd smile. No filth, no bad language, a welcome trip down memory lane. To summarise, it was like meeting a friend you haven't seen for a few years. And listening to some familiar stories. Bring on the next series.