Best movies & TV Shows like Porridge

A prisoner about to be pardoned puts it off until he can put on one last variety show for his fellow inmates.

Based on a play by Jean Genet, a small-time thief battles with his gay cellmate over a third illiterate, muscular convict.

Gunner O'Hara is about to be released from prison after serving a five-year sentence, and receives a visit from his twin brother John, a divinity student soon to be ordained as a priest. Aware that Gunner plans to resume his criminal career, John decides to stop him.

In this feature film version of the popular BBC sitcom, the staff of Grace Brothers go on holiday to Costa Plonka, where they find themselves in the middle of a revolution.

The film is a semi-biographical story based on the experiences of former prison guard Ronnie Thompson who spent seven years working in some of the UK's most dangerous prisons. Based on Thompson's book of the same name, the project stars James D'Arcy (Master & Commander), Noel Clarke (Kidulthood), Frank Harper (The Football Factory), Jamie Foreman (Layer Cake), Andrew Shim (This Is England) and Kate Magowan (Stardust). The story revolves around former soldier Sam Norwood who takes a job as a prison officer when he returns from Iraq and becomes exposed to the underworld of prison culture - including corrupt guards and drug trafficking.

Times are hard for habitual guest of Her Majesty Norman Stanley Fletcher. The new prison officer, Beale, makes MacKay look soft and what's more, an escape plan is hatching from the cell of prison godfather Grouty and Fletcher wants no part of it.

A reporter investigates the murder of a showgirl, who was the widow of a millionaire. While digging in to the mysterious murder of a showgirl (Vivian Wilcox), intrepid reporter Bob Martin (Robert Lowery) uncovers a connection between that case and another one he's been working on. An inmate (Lawrence Creighton) holds the key to the crime, but there's one problem: He's deaf and mute. Meanwhile, the murderers (Jan Wiley and Charlie Hall) appear to be working for a very powerful person.

SERVING LIFE documents an extraordinary hospice program where hardened criminals care for dying fellow inmates. Narrated and executive produced by Academy Award®-winner Forest Whitaker, the film takes viewers inside Louisiana's maximum security prison at Angola, where the average sentence is more than 90 years.

After his death sentence is commuted to life in prison, John Resko is transferred from Sing-Sing to Dannemora where, with the help of a humane prison guard, he becomes a rehabilitated man and a successful painter.

Boston Blackie is a former prison inmate campaigning to outlaw Warden Benton's infamous "Water Cross" torture. Benton, however, is successful in his attempt to have Blackie arrested and returned to the prison, but his evil schemes are ultimately thwarted by Mary Carter, Blackie's girlfriend, who manages to alert the governor.

An agent for the state attorney general poses as a convict to learn about bank loot.

Spoof documentary looking at the life of Normal Stanley Fletcher, the star of 1970s sitcom Porridge played by Ronnie Barker. Featuring fictional footage and interviews with the character's family, friends and associates, the film documents Fletcher's chequered career.

A down on his luck young man stumbles into a gang of robbers who all get landed in prison. Will he be reformed, or is he ensnared into a life of crime?

Adults meet up with the people who changed their lives twenty years ago by confronting them about their lifestyles as teenagers.

A group of young delinquents well on the road to careers in crime, are given a shock course in prison life. Brought face to face with hardened criminals many serving life sentences for rape and murder, they are suddenly confronted with the harsh realities of a top-security U.S. Penitentiary.

A state prison is threatened by approaching floods, an epidemic of typhoid fever breaks out among the inmates, the prison's only doctor falls sick, there are only three nurses to administer vaccines and take care of stricken patients--and a group of prisoners is planning to use the chaos as a cover for a mass escape.

Bad Girls is a British television drama series that was broadcast on ITV from 1 June 1999 to 20 December 2006 and starred Simone Lahbib, Mandana Jones, Debra Stephenson, Linda Henry, Jack Ellis and many more throughout the eight-year run. The series was broadcast in 17 countries and was produced by Shed Productions, the company which later produced Footballers' Wives and Waterloo Road. It is set in the fictional women's prison of Larkhall, and features a mixture of serious and light storylines focusing on the prisoners and staff of G Wing. From 2010, the UK broadcast rights were bought by CBS Drama, and is repeated regularly – as of September 2012, the channel is re-running the series again in a late-night time slot.

Birds of a Feather is a British sitcom that was broadcast on BBC One from 1989 until 1998 and on ITV from 2013. Starring Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph, it was created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, who also wrote some of the episodes along with many other writers. The first episode sees sisters Tracey Stubbs and Sharon Theodopolopodos brought together when their husbands are sent to prison for armed robbery. Sharon, who lived in an Edmonton council flat, moves into Tracey's expensive house in Chigwell, Essex. Their next-door neighbour, and later friend, Dorien Green is a middle-aged married woman who is constantly having affairs with younger men. In the later series the location is changed to Hainault. The series ended on Christmas Eve 1998 after a 9-year-run.

Clarence is a 1988 BBC situation comedy starring Ronnie Barker and Josephine Tewson, written by Ronnie Barker under the pseudonym "Bob Ferris". It was Barker's final sitcom appearance before his retirement. Barker had previously faced some criticism over his employment of a stammer for comedic effect in Open All Hours. However, the slapstick potential of a short-sighted furniture shifter must have seemed irresistible. The series was inspired by The Removals Person by Hugh Leonard, an earlier programme in the 1971 LWT comedy series, Six Dates With Barker. The house of Jane Travers, which inspired the opening titles, is located on Malvern Road in Cheltenham.

The League of Gentlemen is a British comedy television series that premiered on BBC Two in 1999. The show is set in Royston Vasey, a fictional town in Northern England based on Bacup, Lancashire. It follows the lives of dozens of bizarre townspeople, most of whom are played by three of the show's four writers—Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, and Reece Shearsmith—who, along with Jeremy Dyson, formed the League of Gentlemen comedy troupe in 1995. The series originally aired for three series from 1999 until 2002 followed by a film in 2005. A three-part revival mini-series was broadcast in December 2017 to celebrate the group's 20th anniversary.

Sitcom exploring the trials and tribulations created by one man and two women flat-sharing in the 70s.

Sitcom following the misadventures of laddish flatmates Gary and Tony

Night Court is an American television situation comedy that aired on NBC from January 4, 1984 to May 31, 1992. The setting was the night shift of a Manhattan court, presided over by the young, unorthodox Judge Harold T. "Harry" Stone. It was created by comedy writer Reinhold Weege, who had previously worked on Barney Miller in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Open All Hours is a BBC sitcom written by Roy Clarke and starring Ronnie Barker as a miserly shop keeper and David Jason as his put-upon nephew who works as his errand boy.

British comedy series focusing on the lives of a working-class family in Manchester who love the TV.

Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about a father and son played by Wilfred Brambell and Harry H. Corbett who deal in selling used items. They live on Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974. Its theme tune, "Old Ned", was composed by Ron Grainer. The series was voted 15th in a 2004 BBC poll to find Britain's Best Sitcom. It was remade in the US as Sanford and Son, in Sweden as Albert & Herbert and in the Netherlands as Stiefbeen en zoon. In 1972 a movie adaptation of the series, Steptoe and Son, was released in cinemas, with a second Steptoe and Son Ride Again in 1973.

The Two Ronnies is a British sketch show which aired on BBC1 from 1971 to 1987. It featured the double act of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, the "Two Ronnies" of the title.

Reverend Granger is assigned as the Vicar of the rural parish of Dibley, but she is not quite what the villagers expected.

Satirical sitcom set in the office of a UK Cabinet minister, Jim Hacker MP, who struggles with Civil Service bureaucracy and political machinations as he tries to get on with government business.

Introducing the Walmington-On-Sea home guard. During WW2, in a fictional British seaside town, a ragtag group of Home Guard local defense volunteers prepare for an imminent German invasion.

Disillusioned after a long career at Sunshine Desserts, Perrin goes through a mid-life crisis and fakes his own death. Returning in disguise after various attempts at finding a 'new life', he gets his old job back and finds nothing has changed. He is eventually found out, and in the second series has success with a chain of shops selling useless junk. That becomes so successful that he feels he has created a monster and decides to destroy it. In the third and final series he has a dream of forming a commune which his long suffering colleagues help bring to reality. Unfortunately that also fails and he finds himself back in a job not unlike the one he originally had at Sunshine Desserts.

The Thin Blue Line is a British sitcom starring Rowan Atkinson set in a police station that ran for two series on the BBC from 1995 to 1996. It was written by Ben Elton.

Set in a seedy bedsit, the cowardly landlord Rigsby has his conceits debunked by his long suffering tenants.

You Rang, M'Lord? is a British comedy series written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, the creators of Dad's Army, It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Hi-de-Hi! It was broadcast between 1990 and 1993 on the BBC. The show was a comedy set in the house of an aristocratic family in the 1920s, contrasting the upper-class family and their servants in a house in London, along the same lines as the popular drama Upstairs, Downstairs. The series featured many actors who had also appeared in their earlier series, notably Paul Shane, Jeffrey Holland and Su Pollard, all of whom had previously been in Perry and Croft's holiday camp sitcom, Hi-de-Hi!. Also featured were Donald Hewlett and Michael Knowles from Perry and Croft's It Ain't Half Hot Mum, and Bill Pertwee and occasionally Frank Williams from Dad's Army. The memorable 1920s-style theme tune was sung by Bob Monkhouse.

Following the lives of three 20-somethings sharing a flat in Battersea. They're young, bright and sexy - so why aren't they having a good time ? Join Matthew (the agoraphobic, self-obsessed, macho man); Martin (the wimpish, sex-starved underdog) and Mandy (the gorgeous blonde, who always ends up with the wrong men), in this outrageously funny flat-share comedy that is anything but politically correct.

The Worst Week of My Life is a British comedy television series, first broadcast on BBC One between March and April 2004. A second series was aired between November and December 2005 and a three-part Christmas special, The Worst Christmas of My Life was shown during December 2006. It was written by Mark Bussell and Justin Sbresni.

Gary Sparrow is an ordinary bloke in 1990s Britain, married to the ambitious Yvonne and working as a TV repairman. Then his whole world changes when he stumbles upon a portal to WWII-era London and begins a dual life as an accidental time traveler.

Meet Frank Spencer, an eager young man trying to find his way in the world. He's enthusiastic, well-meaning... and disaster-prone.

The Magnificent Evans is a 1984 BBC situation comedy written by Roy Clarke and starring Ronnie Barker, Sharon Morgan and Myfanwy Talog.

Trevor's World of Sport began as a 2003 BBC television sitcom written and directed by Andy Hamilton and starring Neil Pearson as Trevor. Only one television series was made, and Hamilton felt mistreated by the BBC over the scheduling of the show. The first episode attracted an average of 3.4 million viewers, dropping to 2.9 million for the second and third episodes. The subsequent episodes were rescheduled from Friday evenings to Monday nights, despite the Radio Times issues having already been published listing the originally scheduled transmission dates. Hamilton went public with his displeasure over the show's scheduling and vowed never to work for BBC1 again, though he has since changed his mind. A radio version was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2004, with subsequent series in 2005 and 2007. The series is set in the world of TS Sports – a sports public relations firm, run by Trevor Heslop and his partner, the lascivious Sammy Dobbs. Trevor is portrayed as an essentially decent, honest man in the corrupt money-obsessed industry of sporting celebrity, who is still deeply in love with his estranged wife Meryl. Andy Hamilton also appears in a minor role within the show, and several actors who have worked in his other comedy shows for television and radio appear. Neil Pearson was in Hamilton's Drop the Dead Donkey, as was Michael Fenton Stevens who plays TS Sports' only regular client, fading celebrity Ralph Renton.

Desmond's was a British television situation comedy broadcast by Channel 4 from 1989 to 1994. With 71 episodes, Desmond's became Channel 4's longest-running sitcom. The first series was shot in 1988, with the first episode broadcast in January 1989. The show was made in and set in Peckham, London, England and featured a predominantly Black British Guyanese cast. Conceived and co-written by Trix Worrell, and produced by Charlie Hanson and Humphrey Barclay, this series starred Norman Beaton as barber Desmond Ambrose. Desmond's shop was a gathering place for an assortment of local characters.

Britain's Best Sitcom was a poll conducted in 2004 by the BBC, to identify the United Kingdom's best sitcom. Viewers were asked to vote for their favourite by phone, text message and on the web. The top ten went forward to a final round of voting. Ten, one hour long programmes were made before the final round, each about one of the Top 10, the programmes consisting of a celebrity speaking on behalf of their chosen sitcom as well as interviews with the stars and people that made it. Each of these programmes consisted of the celebrity advocating the sitcom giving a list of reasons as to why viewers should vote for the sitcom being advocated, as well as featuring plugs from other famous fans of each sitcom. Jonathan Ross hosted the countdown show.

A gala programme broadcast each Christmas night by the BBC from 1958 to 1972 and also revived in 1994. It was hosted by a leading star and featured specially made short, seasonal editions of the previous year's most popular sitcoms and light entertainment programmes.

Jam & Jerusalem is a British sit-com that aired on BBC One from 2006 to 2009. Written by Jennifer Saunders and Abigail Wilson, it starred Sue Johnston, Jennifer Saunders, Pauline McLynn, Dawn French, Maggie Steed, David Mitchell, and Sally Phillips. Earlier episodes also starred Joanna Lumley and Doreen Mantle. On BBC America the first series was aired as Clatterford. The show centres on a Women's Guild in a fictional small West Country town called Clatterford St. Mary. It first aired on 24 November 2006. The second series began airing on 1 January 2008 with a 40-minute special and finished on 1 February 2008. The third series was filmed from April 2009. It consists of three one-hour specials, and began its broadcast on BBC One on 9 August 2009. In November 2009, on her blog, Pauline McLynn announced that Jam & Jerusalem would not be returning for a fourth series. She later stated that it was the decision of the BBC and not Jennifer Saunders.

The lives of two eccentric metal detectorists, who spend their days plodding along ploughed tracks and open fields, hoping to disturb the tedium by unearthing the fortune of a lifetime.

Still Open All Hours is a sitcom set in a grocer's shop. It is a sequel to the series Open All Hours, written by original series writer Roy Clarke and featuring several of the permanent cast members of the original series

A magazine-style television series on BBC1 which was broadcast from May 1973 to June 1994, presented by Esther Rantzen, with various changes of co-presenters. The show presented hard-hitting investigations alongside satire and occasional light entertainment.

Guilt, violence and impossible choices – what does it take to survive? Tense, gritty and heartbreaking – Jimmy McGovern's award-winning prison drama, with an all-star cast.

A Netflix comedy series written and directed by Catherine Tate set in a women's prison. Tate plays multiple characters as a documentary crew follows the inmates and staff of HMP Woldsley capturing the penal system at its brutal humorous best.

Keeping Mum is a British sitcom, written by Geoffrey Atherden and broadcast on BBC1 for two series between 1997 and 1998. It starred Stephanie Cole as the main character, Peggy Beare, Martin Ball and David Haig as her sons and Meera Syal as her daughter-in-law.