Actor and comedian Kevin Bishop has been cast in a one-off special episode of Porridge.
Written by original series creators Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, the episode will form part of BBC One’s season of shows celebrating classic sitcoms.
The broadcaster has also recently confirmed plans for an Are You Being Served? special and a spin-off from Keeping Up Appearances featuring a young Hyacinth ‘Bouquet’.
In Porridge, Bishop will play Nigel ‘Fletch’ Fletcher – the grandson of Ronnie Barker’s iconic character Norman Stanley Fletcher – who has been imprisoned for a series of cyber-crimes.
Fletch soon finds himself beholden to Richie Weeks (Ralph Ineson) and forced to use his hacking skills to get Weeks off the hook. The problem being that wily Officer Meekie (Mark Bonnar) has got his beady eye on Fletch – he knows a wrong ’un when he sees one.
Kevin Bishop commented: “Dick and Ian have brought Porridge back to life again with a brilliant script and it is a genuine honour to be involved in a show that is iconic in so many ways.
“Ronnie Barker’s character was one of the most loved in BBC history and the thought of stepping into his grandson’s shoes fills me with both thrills and paralytic fear!”
Shane Allen, Controller of BBC Comedy Commissioning, said: “Dick and Ian are comedy writing royalty who have cleverly re-conceived the spirit of Porridge into a modern setting with new characters. Their endorsement of our sitcom season is a true blessing.”