A modified Graetz methodology is applied to investigate the thermal development of forced convection in a parallel plate channel filled by a saturated porous medium, with walls held at uniform temperature, and with the effects of axial conduction and viscous dissipation included. The Brinkman model is employed. The analysis leads to expressions for the local Nusselt number, as a function of the dimensionless longitudinal coordinate and other parameters (Darcy number, Peclet number, Brinkman number).