Going Straight

1970s British tv sitcom

When Fletcher gets out of the prison he makes the decision to go straight from that point in life. He moves in with his daughter and tries to keep low profile, but each day he trips on the things from his past.

Devised as sort of sequel to Porridge the series concentrates on the life of Fletcher after he is released from prison. And despite using the same main characters Going Straight is in completely different style from Porridge - the plots are more serious, the dialogues are more serious, the whole outlook is bent more on comedy-drama than typical sitcom. And it was interesting idea, but with limited potential (at least comparing to Porridge) - when you take away the setting in prison, the atmosphere of the prison all you get is another sitcom about family with the overtones of recidivist going straight and trying to open eyes of people who were or soon can end up in the prison.

It is quite nice sitcom, but far from the level set by the Porridge. Just like comparing Man About the House and the Robin’s nest - taking the main character from the environment that worked well and trying to build the new one around that single character so far never actually worked.

Rating	5.2
Funny	4 / 10
Entertaining	3 / 5
Characters	3 / 5
Nonrepetitive	3 / 5