WHAT would Fletch say? Another old lag is to have his spell of porridge turned into a comedy series.
Jonathan Aitken, the former Tory cabinet minister who spent seven months in jail for perjury and perverting the course of justice, is the inspiration for a Channel 4 series. He may not be the “habitual criminal” that Fletcher was in the BBC comedy Porridge, but Aitken can see the funny side.
“It was me, the Old Etonian, with the old lags,” he said. Aitken is working with Sean Gray, who co-wrote the political satire The Thick of It , and producer David Aukin, the former head of film at Channel 4.
The central character will not be called Jonathan, let alone Johnno. “That’s what they called me inside,” said Aitken. “All prisoners have their first names changed to end with an ‘O’ or a ‘Y’. I hope I’m not recognisable though I’m very happy with the idea for the comedy.”
Aitken served his time in Belmarsh, Standford Hill and Elmley. But was it comic? “It has its pretty awful side,” Aitken said. “But a lot of amusing things happen.”