Little Victories - Life in Slade Prison Quiz

Answer: New Year's Eve

The episode "Prisoner and Escort", which was produced as part of a series of potential sitcom pilots starring Ronnie Barker called "Seven of One", is the first appearance of Norman Stanley Fletcher, who has been sentenced to five years for his most recent conviction for breaking and entering.

The episode sees Mr MacKay and Mr Barrowclough assigned to escort Fletcher from Brixton Prison, where he has been on remand, to Slade Prison in Cumbria, where he will serve his sentence, on New Year's Eve, something that Mr MacKay in particular is put out about.

Although Fletcher engineers circumstances that allow him to make an attempt to escape during the journey, this proves unsuccessful, and he is safely delivered to the prison to begin his stretch.

Answer: Pears

One of the ways Fletcher finds to make life inside slightly more bearable is the occasional purloining of something from the prison's kitchen pantry, acts that are helped by the fact that his cell-mate Godber works in the kitchen. In the episode "Just Desserts", Fletcher is appalled to find that someone has purloined his already purloined tin of pineapple chunks, and determines to find out exactly who has done so. Circumstances lead to the tin of pineapple being replaced, only for another tin to disappear at the same time, leading to Fletcher, who is technically innocent, finding himself in trouble.

Answer: Denise

When Godber arrives at Slade Prison, one of the things that keeps him going during what is his first stretch inside is the thought of his fiancee, Denise. He often speaks of her to Fletcher during the long nights after lock-up, and looks forward to the day when they are reunited. So, in the episode "Heartbreak Hotel", his receipt of a "Dear John" letter from Denise, who tells him that she has in fact married another man, leads to Godber becoming disheartened, and causes him to assault another prisoner who had made fun of the situation. The mitigating circumstances convince the prison governor not to put him in solitary, while Godber himself perks up by starting a correspondence with Fletcher's daughter Ingrid.

Godber put up a photograph of Denise when he was first moved to Fletcher's cell in the episode "A Night In". This photograph was of Judy Loe, the wife of actor Richard Beckinsale, who played Godber.

Answer: Brixton

Although Mr MacKay, the senior prison officer at Slade, is a disciplinarian, he is fair (most of the time) with the prisoners. As a result, their joy at his departure on a training course in the episode "Disturbing the Peace" is short lived following the arrival of Mr Wainwright, his replacement. Fletcher knows him of old from his time at Brixton Prison, and the new officer soon begins living up to the reputation Fletcher imparts, bullying the prisoners mercilessly. Mr Wainwright also gets on the wrong side of his fellow prison officers, leading to Mr Barrowclough being moved to the prison farm. So, Fletcher and his comrades conspire to get Wainwright removed by having a kitchen riot that the overbearing officer is unable to quell, but which mild-mannered Mr Barrowclough stops with just a few words, leading to Wainwright's departure in disgrace.

Answer: Stealing the exam paper for Godber to see in advance

Godber is determined to make use of his two-year stretch inside by improving himself. One of the ways he tries to do this is to obtain more qualifications to add to his O-Level in Geography. The one he is most successful at his O-Level History, the exam for which he is preparing for in the episode "A Test of Character". Fletcher is convinced that Godber's efforts are a waste of time, but, if he is determined to go through with it, he should have as much help as possible, including access to the exam paper itself.

Despite Fletcher's efforts alongside his comrade Bunny Warren to steal the paper, Godber is able to succeed, both on his own merits and through the fact that the illiterate Warren purloined the wrong exam.

Answer: Half a pound of snout

Money is of little real use in prison, but that doesn't stop gambling as a means of staving off the monotony of prison life, with luxuries used as currency instead. One of the major luxuries for prisoners is tobacco, referred to as "snout". When Fletcher sets up an illegal game of snakes and ladders in the episode "The Hustler", 'Horrible' Ives, another prisoner for whom Fletcher has little respect, tries to get in on the action but is refused by Fletcher, and so makes a wager of half a pound of "snout" that it will not get to go ahead.

The game is discovered by the prison officers, and Fletcher is perfectly aware that Ives has informed on them. As a result, although Fletcher loses his privileges, and is moved to a single cell to prevent him being a bad influence on his cell-mates, he is more than happy with how things have turned out, as not only has he told the entire prison of Ives' treachery in grassing him up, but he also bet his entire landing that he would have a single cell by the end of the week, leaving him plenty of "snout" to pay up on his bet with Ives.

Answer: The judge who sentenced him to his stretch at Slade

At the start of each episode of "Porridge", in place of a theme tune, the ominous tones of the judge sentencing Fletcher are heard over the titles. The short speech was originally recorded for the pilot episode "Prisoner and Escort" by Ronnie Barker, and was first heard as we see the prison van taking Fletcher to St Pancras railway station.

In the later episode "Poetic Justice", we get to meet the man who passed sentence on Fletcher, when the Honourable Justice Stephen Rawley is sent to Slade Prison pending an appeal for his conviction on charges of accepting bribes. Fletcher is stunned to find himself sharing a cell with the man who put him there in the first place, but, having realised that Rawley is an old friend of the prison governor, Mr Venables, decides to make sure nothing happens to him, as it could prove of use having good relations with such a man. Rawley appeared in two episodes of the series, and was played by actor Maurice Denham.

Answer: Jaffa Cake

Finding time to yourself is almost impossible in prison, so any chance to be alone is to be savoured. In the episode "No Peace for the Wicked", it is a Saturday afternoon when others are playing football, watching the telly or doing crafts, while Fletcher tries to enjoy some time to himself, with just a piece of "gentleman's literature" for company.

However, he is unable to enjoy his alone time, as several of his comrades try to co-opt him for various endeavours, including Blanco Webb, the prison's oldest resident, for whom Fletcher has a soft spot. So, Fletcher concocts a scheme to swipe some of Mr Collinson's jaffa cakes for Blanco, which also serves as a way of getting the old lag out of his hair for a while.

Answer: Tottenham Hotspur

Being away from the family for the extended period of a prison sentence is hard, even for an old lag like Fletcher. In the episode "Men Without Women", Fletcher, having served as "agony uncle" to a number of his comrades, finds that his own marriage is in jeopardy when his daughter Ingrid informs him that his wife has taken up with another man.

As a result, the governor grants Fletcher 48 hours compassionate parole to allow him to return to London and try to sort his marital issues. However, it is proven to be a scam that Fletcher and his family have pulled before in an effort to get him out of prison for a short while when things are getting too much. Fletcher is able to spend his two days of freedom enjoying the things that can be done at the weekend, which includes being able to watch his beloved Tottenham Hotspur win at home, as well as spending the evening at the pub.

His experience this time has an effect, and, just before his return to prison, he vows to his wife that this will be his last stretch.

Answer: McLaren

Fletcher eventually gets his parole in "Going Home", the first episode of the series "Going Straight", which is around a year after his cell-mate Godber is released. By this time, all of his old comrades except McLaren, who was the last to have arrived at Slade, have also been released, with the most recent being Lukewarm just three months previously. Upon leaving prison, Fletcher finds himself on the train back to London with Mr MacKay, who has reached the compulsory retirement age. Once back home, despite temptation, Fletcher sets himself the difficult prospect of going straight, finding a job and living a normal life, with the addition to his family of Godber, who marries Fletcher's daughter Ingrid.