 Open All Hours and Porridge were the two successful pilots from the Seven of One series Seven of One was a 1973 television comedy series featuring Ronnie Barker. It was a series of seven separate comedies that would serve as possible pilots for sitcoms. Originally it was to be called Six of One, which Barker planned to follow up with another series called Half Dozen of the Other. The seven programmes were individually called:
- Open All Hours: A miserly shopkeeper and his put upon nephew in the North of England.
- Prisoner and Escort: A career criminal and his escort going up to prison.
- My Old Man: A pensioner trying to save his home from a demolition crew.
- Spanner's Eleven: The tale of ailing football team, Ashfield.
- One Man's Meat: A man forced to go on a starvation diet by his wife.
- Another Fine Mess: which teamed Barker with Roy Castle as two Laurel and Hardy impersonators.
- I'll Fly You For A Quid: A Welsh family who bet on absolutely everything and anything.
While the majority did not go beyond the Seven of One series, both Open All Hours and Prisoner and Escort did become much loved sitcoms. The first was the sitcom of the same name, while the second became Porridge, giving Ronnie Barker two of his best known roles. Both were voted amongst the top 10 Greatest British Sitcoms in 2004. My Old Man also became a short-lived series for ITV starring Clive Dunn.
External link
Seven of One (http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/tv/comedy/sevenofone.htm)
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