Going Straight Page 2

It is currently being shown on Gold on Fridays at 8pm.

It's good, but obviously not a patch on Porridge.

I recently got this on DVD and it's pretty good, but something has always puzzled me:

Porridge was repeated over and over and over again for decades by the BBC - and rightly so, it's fantastic.

So why was this show never, ever repeated?

Doesn't make sense.

I've only ever seen it repeated on GOLD over the past few years.

Bizarrely, GOLD stopped the recent run halfway through the series......

It's a similar story with It Ain't Half Hot Mum.

Never gets repeated on the BBC and never seemed to when I was growing up.

Now, I've heard this is mainly to the un-PC way Indian people are portrayed in the show.

Just curious what the reason is with regards Going Straight?!

There are no off-colour gags in it from what I can recall. Perhaps those 'in the know' in BBC TV Centre just don't think it's very funny. :(

Well that never stopped them repeating Butterflies for years on end!

I love Going Straight. It gives entertaining closure.

Nicholas Lyndhurst's character is a dead ringer (in both looks and personality) for a friend of mine in high school.

Quote: Steve Sunshine @ March 22 2011, 7:30 PM BST

Just watching an episode of this.
Fletcher is working in a lobby as a receptionist, and the set looks suspiciously like it might be the same one they used for Fawlty Towers.

It's funny you mention Fawlty Towers, because in the first episode Timothy Bateson who plays the character that recognises Fletch on the train played the 'Basil' part (Mr. Clifford) in an episode of 'Doctor At Large' ('No Ill Feeling') written by John Cleese that was the archetype for what would become Fawlty Towers.

(It was based on the same real life hotel experience)

Quote: TopBanana @ April 6 2011, 7:30 PM BST

There are no off-colour gags in it from what I can recall. Perhaps those 'in the know' in BBC TV Centre just don't think it's very funny. :(

The official policy is that unless it's Dad's Army, no classic comedy is ever repeated.

Quote: lofthouse @ April 6 2011, 6:58 PM BST

It's a similar story with It Ain't Half Hot Mum.

Never gets repeated on the BBC and never seemed to when I was growing up.

Now, I've heard this is mainly to the un-PC way Indian people are portrayed in the show.

Just curious what the reason is with regards Going Straight?!

There is very little in the way of archive comedy ever repeated on the BBC. You get the big-name classics like Dad's Army, Porridge, Keeping Up Appearances and 'Allo 'Allo!, plus the odd run of Open All Hours or The Good Life, and occasionally a curio like Till Death Us Do Part as part of a themed evening/season - they just don't give over the scheduling space in order to show lesser-remembered series like Going Straight.

Quote: Aaron @ April 7 2011, 5:03 PM BST

There is very little in the way of archive comedy ever repeated on the BBC. You get the big-name classics like Dad's Army, Porridge, Keeping Up Appearances and 'Allo 'Allo!, plus the odd run of Open All Hours or The Good Life, and occasionally a curio like Till Death Us Do Part as part of a themed evening/season - they just don't give over the scheduling space in order to show lesser-remembered series like Going Straight.

I don't really mean being shown at the moment.

I mean I was born in 1973 and all through my childhood The Likely Lads, Steptoe & Son, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, 'Allo 'Allo!, Dad's Army and Porridge etc etc were forever being repeated.

Yet as far as I can tell Going Straight hasn't been re-shown EVER, which considering it's the sequel to Porridge seems strange.

If it hadn't been released on DVD I would never have seen it!

I'm not sure that there have ever been many repeat slots, have there? And generally I don't think that Going Straight is considered as good or funny as Porridge, so wouldn't be likely to draw people in in the same way.

Quote: Aaron @ April 7 2011, 7:05 PM BST

I'm not sure that there have ever been many repeat slots, have there?

In the late 1970s/80s the BBC was forever repeating and re-repeating its old sitcoms over and over and over and over again!

Of course it's different nowadays - Dad's Army is the only one that still seems to get aired on the BBC.

Still confuses me, Ronnie Barker was phenomenally popular at that time and ok, so it wasn't as good as Porridge, but it does seem to me that they actively made the decision never to repeat it. The show got over 16 million viewers when it was first aired!

Anyway, seems I'm not alone, the producer of the show sent a letter to the BBC years ago asking the very same question:

Lotterby wrote a letter to the BBC asking why.

"I've often wondered why you don't repeat 'Going Straight'?"

He explained all the plus points - the characters and the situations, that it was funny and got just as many laughs as 'Porridge'. The BBC replied to him,

'Dear Mr Lotterby, thanks for your letter. It was interesting. It's always nice to hear from members of the public.'

Bloody Beeb!

:S :S :S

Man, oh, man did I have the hots for Ingrid in this.

Unnaceptable comment now, of course, but I think it's ok to talk about the milestones in one's awakening sexuality, isn't it?

The other one was Michelle Dotrice ... actually, I'll just go now.

I can't remember it all that well but maybe - unlike Porridge - it appears a bit dated? Porridge had the advantage of being set in its own little timeless world, but Going Straight is set in the real world of the 70s.

Quote: Bomsh @ April 11 2011, 12:27 AM BST

The other one was Michelle Dotrice ... actually, I'll just go now.

You and me both buddy!

How the hell would a bell-end like Frank Spencer pull that?

Well sexy. Lovey