Ultimate? Not quite, but still brill...

Porridge
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Every one somewhere must know the name Norman Stanley Fletcher, arguably Ronnie Barker's most famous character. I won't dwell too much here just to say it was et in Slade prision following the batle between 'them and us' with plenty of laughs on the way. My personal favourite occurs in the first episode when they receive their medicals. Remember the flasks?
This set presents you with all the episodes and the Christmas specials. These specials are 40 minutes long but there are only two of them, although to make the disc worth buying, they have included Johnny Vaughn praising off Porridge as part of the BBC's Great British Sitcom thing of a few years back.
Also, on the first series disc they include the pilot episode, shame because............

Open All Hours
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My p.p.personal favourite! A classic standing the test of time, just like Roy Clarkes other creations such as Keeping Up Appearances and Last Of The Summer Wine.
The st.st.stuttering shopkeeper by the name of Albert Arkwright, always lusting after Nurse Gladys Emmanuel and barraking and harming his nephew Granville. Filmed on location in the Balby area of Doncaster, you really get a sense of old fashioned British shopping habits before the big boom of supermarkets. If you watch the series back to back, you will see obvious changes including new signs and new scales, although that vicious spring clip just seemed to get more vicious!
The first scene always tended to be outside the shop and encompassed the opening credits. My favourite sees Arkwright painting an advert in whitewash on his window, thoughts of Nurse Gladys and the word food, need I go into detail!?! Needless to say, Granville peers out of the window perfectly framed by the word and makes Arkwright jump. A close second was Arkwright asking Granville 'How many P's are there in p.p.p.p.pepper? Its it 6 p's or 7?'

Going Straight
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The follow on to Porridge seeing Fletch released and adjusting to life outside. As if to seal the join, the first episode concentrates on the journey home with Officer Mackay turning up on the train after being forced into early retirement. Temptation rears up aswell and you can see the sheer acting ability of Ronnie in portraying two sides of Fletch in just one or two scenes, not one episode. To help the series along, Richard Beckinsale made a reappearance as Lennie Godber, and he did infact get engaged with Fletch's daughter Ingrid (Patricia Brake). Look out for a young Nicholas Lyndhurst as the youngest son Raymond. Again, only one series but more to do with misfortune than ratings I would think. To say the series won a Bafta award says something. Just two days (or so) before receiving the award, Richard Beckinsale suffered a fatal heart attack. To see Ronnie's acceptance speech in the extras just says it all, really.