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.
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CinemaSerf
7
By CinemaSerf
Building on the huge success of the BBC Television series, this time we join the career petty criminal "Fletcher" (Ronnie Barker) and cellmate "Lenny" (Richard Beckinsale) in their Cumbrian wilderness prison where they regularly spar with chief warder "Mackay" (Fulton Mackay) and bamboozle the kindly "Barrowclough" (Brian Wilde). The van turns up one afternoon carrying two new arrivals. One is "Oakes" (Barrie Rutter) the other, well he's the new prison officer "Beal" (Christopher Godwin). The former is a bit of an heavy and it's soon clear that with the help of de facto prison governor "Grouty" (Peter Vaughan) he won't be staying long. To that end, "Fletch" is encouraged to organise a celebrity football match during which their latest inmate will do some body-swapping and make his escape. Of course, it nearly goes to plan but the unwitting "Lenny" manages to clash with a goalpost and next thing, they are both in the baggage hold of a bus heading to freedom. Abandoned by "Oakes" they conclude their best plan now is to break back in... There are some cracking one-liners and witty rhymes from the on-form Barker and he tussles engagingly with an equally on form Mackay who plays the pompous warden with considerable skill - both have super comedy timing. Beckinsale doesn't feature quite so much here, but is always good value as is Peter Vaughan as the cultured, opera-loving, version of "Mr. Bridger" and a really well cast group of supporting actors. They tried a few film versions of popular comedies in the 1970s and I think this is probably the best - it can still make you laugh.
