Norman Stanley Fletcher
Encyclopedia
Norman Stanley "Fletch" Fletcher (born 2 February 1932) is the main character in the popular BBC
sitcom Porridge, and the less-successful spin-off, Going Straight
. He was played by Ronnie Barker
and is widely renowned as one of the great comic creations.
Fletch claims that criminal life to him is something of a career and has been in and out of prison
all of his life, including Borstal
, Shepton Mallet
, Maidstone
and Brixton
. He was married to Isobel with three children: Ingrid
(who was conceived in Highgate Cemetery
on the tomb of Karl Marx
), Marion and Raymond. In the episode "Ways and Means" he is given the back-story
of having completed National service
with the Royal Army Service Corps
during the Malayan Emergency
. It is mentioned that he lives in Muswell Hill
.
He was sentenced to serve the particular stretch of 'porridge' detailed in the series after a failed attempt to steal an articulated lorry
. It was only after climbing into the driving seat and starting the engine that Fletch realised he had no idea how to operate the vehicle. The subsequent crash sent him through the back of several gardens. He was arrested for robbery and dangerous driving, although "several other fences were taken into consideration". The conviction led to a sentence of five years in Slade prison.
He is a fan of Tottenham Hotspur
but also claims to have been a lifelong watcher of Orient
during the Porridge film
.
Fletch endures his prison sentence by the constant perpetuation of 'little victories' against the wardens, especially the hard-nosed Mr Mackay
.
His tactics range from the practical (stealing pills from the prison doctor
and egg
s from the prison farmyard), to the symbolic (finding new and imaginative ways to stick two fingers up at Mackay and get away with it). In return, Mackay's frenzied, neurotic attempts to catch Fletch out, when fruitful, give the warder a level of smugness and satisfaction that is only accentuated by his charge's hostility and skulking.
Fletch is also surprised when this spell in prison finds him taking on the role of the father
figure. It is left to him to help Warren when he needs a letter read or written, and to oversee new, younger inmates such as McClaren
and Godber
.
As Fletch's cellmate, Godber became a close associate, and is frequently involved in his various schemes. The doe-eyed, optimistic Brummie was the perfect sidekick for the grouchy, world-weary Londoner, and the banter between the two became one of the main attractions of the series.
This was best illustrated in the ambitious episode "A Night In", a bottle episode
set entirely in relative darkness within the confines of their cell, with only the pair's conversation for entertainment.
This concept has been imitated by many other sitcoms, such as Friends
("The One Where No One's Ready
") and Bottom ("Hole"). However, few, if any of these have managed to recreate the minimalistic feel of the original, falling back on other comedy devices (the former had several characters, each with their own storyline, and the latter was set atop a Ferris Wheel, and much of the comedy derived from this setting). Perhaps a better example would be the One Foot in the Grave
episode "Timeless Time", which also feature only the two characters, Margaret and Victor
Meldrew, during the events of one sleepless night, but even then, there are moments when one or the other leaves the room, which was not possible in "A Night In".
Fletch is also manipulative, and can play upon the sympathies and weaknesses of people like the liberal warden, Mr Barrowclough
, and the ineffectual prison governor to acquire more pleasant employment
, accommodation
or special privileges.
Upon release from prison Fletch decided to give up his criminal career. In the follow-up series, Going Straight
, he took a job as a hotel night-porter, but found himself often tempted back into crime, although he resisted. His wife, Isobel, had left him, leaving him in sole charge of Raymond.
When last seen, in the mockumentary
Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher
, Fletch was landlord of a pub in Muswell Hill
, alongside his second wife, Gloria (an old flame briefly mentioned in Porridge).
In 2009, the character was revived in a stage production, penned by Dick Clement
and Ian La Frenais
, and is played by Shaun Williamson
.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
sitcom Porridge, and the less-successful spin-off, Going Straight
Going Straight
Going Straight is a BBC sitcom which was a direct spin-off from Porridge, starring Ronnie Barker as Norman Stanley Fletcher, newly released from the fictional Slade Prison where the earlier series had been set....
. He was played by Ronnie Barker
Ronnie Barker
Ronald William George "Ronnie" Barker, OBE was a British actor, comedian, writer, critic, broadcaster and businessman...
and is widely renowned as one of the great comic creations.
Fletch claims that criminal life to him is something of a career and has been in and out of prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
all of his life, including Borstal
Borstal
A borstal was a type of youth prison in the United Kingdom, run by the Prison Service and intended to reform seriously delinquent young people. The word is sometimes used loosely to apply to other kinds of youth institution or reformatory, such as Approved Schools and Detention Centres. The court...
, Shepton Mallet
Shepton Mallet (HM Prison)
HMP Shepton Mallet, sometimes known as Cornhill, is a prison located in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England. It is the United Kingdom's oldest operating prison.Shepton Mallet is a Category C Lifer Prison and holds 186 prisoners...
, Maidstone
Maidstone (HM Prison)
HM Prison Maidstone is a Category C men's prison, located in Maidstone, Kent, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:...
and Brixton
Brixton (HM Prison)
HM Prison Brixton is a local men's prison, located in Brixton area of the London Borough of Lambeth, in inner-South London, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:...
. He was married to Isobel with three children: Ingrid
Ingrid Fletcher
Ingrid Rita Godber was a character in the BBC sitcom Porridge, played by Patricia Brake.Ingrid is Fletch's eldest child . She often visited her father in Slade Prison, oblivious to her appeal to the other inmates, much to her father's despair. It was on one of these trips that she met Fletch's...
(who was conceived in Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery is a cemetery located in north London, England. It is designated Grade I on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. It is divided into two parts, named the East and West cemetery....
on the tomb of Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
), Marion and Raymond. In the episode "Ways and Means" he is given the back-story
Back-story
A back-story, background story, or backstory is the literary device of a narrative chronologically earlier than, and related to, a narrative of primary interest. Generally, it is the history of characters or other elements that underlie the situation existing at the main narrative's start...
of having completed National service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
with the Royal Army Service Corps
Royal Army Service Corps
The Royal Army Service Corps was a corps of the British Army. It was responsible for land, coastal and lake transport; air despatch; supply of food, water, fuel, and general domestic stores such as clothing, furniture and stationery ; administration of...
during the Malayan Emergency
Malayan Emergency
The Malayan Emergency was a guerrilla war fought between Commonwealth armed forces and the Malayan National Liberation Army , the military arm of the Malayan Communist Party, from 1948 to 1960....
. It is mentioned that he lives in Muswell Hill
Muswell Hill
Muswell Hill is a suburb of north London, mostly in the London Borough of Haringey. It is situated about north of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. Muswell Hill is in the N10 postal district and mostly in the Hornsey and Wood Green parliamentary constituency.- History :The...
.
He was sentenced to serve the particular stretch of 'porridge' detailed in the series after a failed attempt to steal an articulated lorry
Lorry
-Transport:* Lorry or truck, a large motor vehicle* Lorry, or a Mine car in USA: an open gondola with a tipping trough* Lorry , a horse-drawn low-loading trolley-In fiction:...
. It was only after climbing into the driving seat and starting the engine that Fletch realised he had no idea how to operate the vehicle. The subsequent crash sent him through the back of several gardens. He was arrested for robbery and dangerous driving, although "several other fences were taken into consideration". The conviction led to a sentence of five years in Slade prison.
He is a fan of Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....
but also claims to have been a lifelong watcher of Orient
Leyton Orient F.C.
Leyton Orient F.C. are an English professional football club in East London. They currently play in Football League One and are known to their fans as the O's.Leyton Orient have spent one season in the top flight of English football, in 1962–63...
during the Porridge film
Porridge (film)
Porridge is a 1979 film based upon the television series of the same name which was released under the title Doing Time in the United States....
.
Fletch endures his prison sentence by the constant perpetuation of 'little victories' against the wardens, especially the hard-nosed Mr Mackay
Mr Mackay
Mr. Mackay was a character in the popular BBC sitcom Porridge, played by Fulton Mackay.Mackay is a neurotic and tough prison warder whose constant obsession in life is to catch out Fletcher. The rivalry between Fletch and Mackay was a thing of comedy legend...
.
His tactics range from the practical (stealing pills from the prison doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and egg
Egg (food)
Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...
s from the prison farmyard), to the symbolic (finding new and imaginative ways to stick two fingers up at Mackay and get away with it). In return, Mackay's frenzied, neurotic attempts to catch Fletch out, when fruitful, give the warder a level of smugness and satisfaction that is only accentuated by his charge's hostility and skulking.
Fletch is also surprised when this spell in prison finds him taking on the role of the father
Father
A father, Pop, Dad, or Papa, is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring. The adjective "paternal" refers to father, parallel to "maternal" for mother...
figure. It is left to him to help Warren when he needs a letter read or written, and to oversee new, younger inmates such as McClaren
McClaren (Porridge)
Jim McClaren was a character in the popular BBC sitcom Porridge played by Tony Osoba.McClaren, who claims to have been adopted, is Black and also Scottish. This led to a string of racist abuse when he first arrived at Slade prison. Fletch also attacks him for being Scottish in a manner similar to...
and Godber
Lennie Godber
Leonard Arthur "Lennie" Godber was a character in the popular BBC sitcom Porridge. He was played by Richard Beckinsale.Godber is from Birmingham, supports Aston Villa F.C., has an O Level in geography, and studies for a history O Level while in prison. Before he was arrested he shared a flat with...
.
As Fletch's cellmate, Godber became a close associate, and is frequently involved in his various schemes. The doe-eyed, optimistic Brummie was the perfect sidekick for the grouchy, world-weary Londoner, and the banter between the two became one of the main attractions of the series.
This was best illustrated in the ambitious episode "A Night In", a bottle episode
Bottle episode
The term bottle episode is used in episodic television to refer to episodes which are produced using the least money, and restricted in their scope to use as few, or no, non-regular cast members, effects, and sets as possible...
set entirely in relative darkness within the confines of their cell, with only the pair's conversation for entertainment.
This concept has been imitated by many other sitcoms, such as Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
("The One Where No One's Ready
The One Where No One's Ready
"The One Where No One's Ready" is the second episode of the third season of the American television situation comedy Friends, which aired on NBC on September 26, 1996...
") and Bottom ("Hole"). However, few, if any of these have managed to recreate the minimalistic feel of the original, falling back on other comedy devices (the former had several characters, each with their own storyline, and the latter was set atop a Ferris Wheel, and much of the comedy derived from this setting). Perhaps a better example would be the One Foot in the Grave
One Foot in the Grave
One Foot in the Grave is a BBC television sitcom series written by David Renwick. The show ran for six series, including seven Christmas specials, two Comic Relief specials, over an eleven year period, from early 1990 to late 2000...
episode "Timeless Time", which also feature only the two characters, Margaret and Victor
Victor Meldrew
Victor Meldrew was a fictional character in the popular BBC One sitcom One Foot in the Grave. Created by David Renwick and played by Richard Wilson, the character was the archetypal grumpy old man...
Meldrew, during the events of one sleepless night, but even then, there are moments when one or the other leaves the room, which was not possible in "A Night In".
Fletch is also manipulative, and can play upon the sympathies and weaknesses of people like the liberal warden, Mr Barrowclough
Mr Barrowclough
Mr Barrowclough was a character in the popular BBC sitcom Porridge. He was played by the late Brian Wilde.Henry Barrowclough is a prison warder...
, and the ineffectual prison governor to acquire more pleasant employment
Employment
Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...
, accommodation
Prison cell
A prison cell or holding cell or lock-up is a small room in a prison, or police station where a prisoner is held.Prison cells are usually about 6 by 8 feet in size with steel or brick walls and one solid or barred door that locks from the outside. Many modern prison cells are pre-cast. Solid doors...
or special privileges.
Upon release from prison Fletch decided to give up his criminal career. In the follow-up series, Going Straight
Going Straight
Going Straight is a BBC sitcom which was a direct spin-off from Porridge, starring Ronnie Barker as Norman Stanley Fletcher, newly released from the fictional Slade Prison where the earlier series had been set....
, he took a job as a hotel night-porter, but found himself often tempted back into crime, although he resisted. His wife, Isobel, had left him, leaving him in sole charge of Raymond.
When last seen, in the mockumentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher
Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher
Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher is a 2003 BBC Television comedy docudrama telling the life of Norman Stanley Fletcher from Porridge and Going Straight.-Synopsis:...
, Fletch was landlord of a pub in Muswell Hill
Muswell Hill
Muswell Hill is a suburb of north London, mostly in the London Borough of Haringey. It is situated about north of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. Muswell Hill is in the N10 postal district and mostly in the Hornsey and Wood Green parliamentary constituency.- History :The...
, alongside his second wife, Gloria (an old flame briefly mentioned in Porridge).
In 2009, the character was revived in a stage production, penned by Dick Clement
Dick Clement
Dick Clement, OBE is an English writer.Born in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England, Clement was educated at Bishop's Stortford College and is best known for his writing partnership with Ian La Frenais. Generally, Clement and La Frenais write comedies, or dramas with a comic tone...
and Ian La Frenais
Ian La Frenais
Ian La Frenais, OBE, , is an English writer best known for his creative partnership with Dick Clement. They are most famous for television series including, The Likely Lads, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Porridge, Lovejoy and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.They have also written various other work...
, and is played by Shaun Williamson
Shaun Williamson
Shaun Williamson is an English actor, singer, media personality and occasional presenter, best known for his former role as Barry Evans in soap opera EastEnders and as a version of himself in BBC sitcom Extras.- Career :...
.