History Characters / Porridge

* ViolentGlaswegian: Downplayed. Mackay is never violent with the inmates, but he still has a very aggressive personality and is a Scotsman

* BigBrotherMentor: To Godber

* DeadpanSnarker
* GenreSavvy

* VitriolicBestBuds: With most prisoners, but especially Godber

* ButtMonkey
* DeadpanSnarker
* TheDitz
** GeniusDitz: Although Godber is naive, he has proved that he can be quite as cunning as Fletcher
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Fletcher
* LethalChef: His cooking in the prison is not well received by the others

* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: The Sensitive Guy to Fletcher's Manly Man
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Fletcher

* CatchPhrase: "'ere listen"

* VitriolicBestBuds: With Fletcher

* IronicNickname: There is nothing genial about Harry Grout

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Disappears after the end of the first series

* ManChild

* {{Jerkass}}: Even moreso than his predecessor Ives
** JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Don't bother trying to appeal to his better nature. He ain't got one.

* FriendlyEnemy
* GenreSavvy: Although not quite as good as Fletcher.

* HeroAntagonist

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: When compared to the more harsh Wainwright

* SitcomArchNemesis: To Fletcher

* KickTheSonOfABitch: During the riot, every prisoner takes pleasure in pelting Wainwright with food

!Harris (Ronald Lacey)

!Mr Henry Barrowclough (Brian Wilde)

!Norman Stanley Fletcher ([[Series/TheTwoRonnies Ronnie Barker]])

!Lennie Godber (Richard Beckinsale)

!'Bunny' Warren ([[Series/AlloAllo Sam Kelly]])

!Lukewarm (Creator/ChristopherBiggins)

!Mr Henry Barrowclough ([[Series/LastOfTheSummerWine Brian Wilde]])

* DirtyCoward: Harris bullies the weaker inmates, but in turn is bullied by Grouty and Fletcher. Furthermore, Harris will try to talk his way out of trouble but always fails.

* ViolentGlaswegian: A Scotsman, [=McLaran=] is a physical angry young man, who jumps to violence far too quickly.

* FreudianExcuse: [=McLaren=] is aggressive and resorts to violence far too quickly. However, his life hasn’t been a happy one, growing up in Scotland as a half-black illegitimate orphan. Fletcher even acknowledges he’s had it “harder than most”.

* ManipulativeBastard: Fletcher is something of a master at manipulation, adapting his tactics depending on his target. He plays on Mr Barrowclough’s gentle nature and sympathy towards the inmates to get him to agree to things he shouldn't, such as letting him run off to town while out on a workday on a supposed mercy mission, when instead he sneaks off to the pub, or getting him extra blankets for his cell. With the Governor, he uses charm, and carefully pays attention to every piece of information he finds out about him. He finds him the perfect sized book to fix his wobbly cabinet distracting him long enough to steal several items off his desk. When it comes to the other inmates, Fletcher just convincingly lies, knowing most of them are too stupid to realize till it’s too late. For example, he gets Ives to believe that "Little Women" was about a tribe of sex starved female Pygmy's in South America, so that Ives would pay Fletcher to reserve the book for him.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Admits to outright hating the inmates, being bigoted against numerous groups (liberals, alcoholics, and basically every race under the sun), and considers them scum that he would keep locked up away from society forever if he had the power to.

** Following Fletcher revealing the existence of an escape tunnel to him and defusing a very tense situation between the inmates and the guards, Mackay gave Fletcher a bottle of Scottish Whiskey as a Christmas present.

** Despite claiming to hate all inmates, Mackay is shown to be softer on more well behaved inmates. He for instance was encouraging toward Kegan, even making him a trustee and giving him the job of serving the Governors coffee, despite him murdering his wife.

* DrillSergeantNasty: [[UpToEleven Even worse than Mackay]], Wainwright can’t even talk to the inmates without either insulting them or barking an order.