Porridge

Unlike the Are you being served return, they opted for present day, with a host of new characters, albeit a set of characters that mirror those from the original run very closely.

I've always liked Kevin Bishop, he's a very funny actor who seems to have been around a good while, he made a good job of bringing the new 'Fletch' to us.

The show was definitely stolen by Mark Bonnar who played Mr Meekie brilliantly, very reminiscent of Mr Mr Mackay, not just in name, but delivery, he was fantastic.

One thing I've learned watching this and AYBS is the format of the show is that successful, that somehow it just works. For it to work it has to have good characters, funny moments and stand the test of time.

This was funny, and I can see this working well as a series.

More Fletch please. 7/10

Well written and amusing... support cast isnt bad... worth a watch

Same old Equity faces wheeled out... similar plot lines and characters... annoying laughter track to cover up the lack of actual laughs... The original writers have been wheeled out and it shows... still trapped in the 70s but with new trendy terminology added for the kids.

If you have never seen the original this may pass as watchable if you can get past the torturous interference of the laugh track. (Although, not quite as annoying as the show-killing laugh track on Blackadder Goes Forth.)

If you have seen the original series then you may enjoy the novelty of the references to the original. But you'll probably be disappointed with this thin copy of a classic and timeless favorite.

Times have changed and while this episode would have slotted in quite nicely with the original 40 years ago, today it looks a bit... well, naff!

The BBC will probably commission a series out of this pilot because it no longer has a clue what comedy is. Auntie Beeb is now a toothless and irrelevant temple of political correctness and left- wing ideology... famous for not finding humor in anything... so this remake will fit well into their brief.

In the end this re-boot needs kicking into touch.

I'm not a huge fan of the original but I do enjoy it, so I was prepared not to like this resurrected version. But I was pleasantly surprised: a good story-line and likable characters. Yes, many of them seemed to be updated versions of those from the original but that just added to the fun. I could easily picture Mackay and Barraclough in place of Meekie and Braithwaite, and Harry Grout instead of Richie Weeks. However the one character we had seen before was recast. Fletch's dad (the original Fletcher's son) was seen in the sequel, 'Going Straight', where he was played by a young unknown actor called Nicholas Lyndhurst. Whatever happened to him?

The difference between porridge in the 1970's and now is the fact that Ronnie Barker was a proper funny comedy actor, with the odd exception most actors now are products of talent shows. The other problem is that back in the 70's all you had to do was concentrate on the comedy, now, the first thing is making sure the programme is politically correct and the humour is non funny and non offensive.