Prisoner: Cell Block H

Loved watching it with my mum in the 90s reruns. I remember being afraid Bea would die in the great fire.

Loved Lizzie, Vera and Mrs Davidson. Hated Doreen, she was an annoying drip. Meg could get on my nerves too but was tolerable.

I would have rode Mr Fletcher right there in the laundry.

My grandma and I watched Cell Block H every night when I was on summer break from school circa 1980

I watched some of it as a kid in its short American run, guess it was 1980. I’m my market it was on at 4:30 or 5:00 in afternoon (cut into half hour episodes).

Adults freaked out. Not sure if that was the reason, but it was yanked pretty quickly.

So happy to be able to watch it now, all these years later. I’m currently on episode #153.

I like the show in the way that I think a lot of people like Dark Shadows.

Vinegar tits was my favorite.

R4 Miss Bennet to YOU!

Oh I bought the entire series maybe ten years ago and got as far as Lizzie Birdsworth leaving. It felt too sad to continue after Jude, Bea, the Freak, Meg, Colleen and Lizzie were gone.

My favourite storyline was the mad posh doctor who was a serial killer and started killing the inmates. She tried to kill Doreen.

Loved Kate, the mad doctor

R6 sadly she didn't succeed with Dor'

What was the name of the dark haired girl who Steve shagged in a cell?

I remember when I lived in Boston in Jr High in the early 80s the kids at school would make fun of the commercial tagline “Animal am I??!!”

Remember Frankie? Sadly, she wasn't around very long but what a great character.

Remember the ugly girl with the short hair who sang "Midnight Special" when the girls teamed up with the local mens prison to put on a night of musical theatre and variety acts? Hilarity ensued!

Loved Pixie, who just loved getting married!

Frankie was great!

I haven’t gotten to the Freak yet.

Oh my God

Seriously may have to rewatch

Was the implication with Joan's leather gloves was that she fingered the women or was just too intimate?

Loved evil Jock Wilson, the Scottish psycho prison guard.

Jock Wilson was sexy. I kept trying to decide if it was mostly his voice, but either way he sure got my attention.

Joan for sure finger banged her sorry victims

This show had quality

"is there only one BULL in the yard?"

[Meg looks confused]

"A top dog?"

it came on after the local news. I was about 23 years of age. Quickly became a guilty pleasure (while viewing with a glass of wine). Then off to bed and facing another day of attempting to be an adult in corporate America. All I remember is there was a constant contest of who was going to be "Top Dog", a bull dyke guard who was posing as straight, and some sort of puppet show for the children in town which was a cover for at attempted escape.

I loved the cheap production with walls that shook if an actor closed a door to hard. It was perfect for the show. In NYC it came on around 11:30pm then they moved it to 2am so I used to set my alarm then go back to sleep when the episode was over. This was pre beta/VHS or they were around but too expensive.

I used to run home from school every day to watch it with my babysitter. We loved it. I loved all of the main characters.

I never watched this, but I was a big fan of the UK show Bad Girls.

Should I give this show a try?

I think in Detroit we could get it on UHF Channel 9 which was Windsor, Canada. It came on at 11PM or 11:30, they may have aired two episodes a night, I think. My young brother and I watched it from the beginning. I don’t think we understood what was going on. They were clearly all lesbians but we were two young to talk about it. We eventually lost interest and would only watch it on occasion.

It was so cheaply produced, it almost seemed like theatre. We never really clocked it was from Australia, I think we thought it was Canadian.

Years later I moved to the UK. It was incredibly popular here. Nearly mainstream.

When Bea got amnesia after the bus crash, reverted to the lady she was pre-prison days and was almost released!

I used to watch a show back in the 70s with this title. It had a character called Frankie, too. It came on either right before or after Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman! I think it's the same show. They came on after 10:30 pm Chicago time. My friends and me loved both shows.

Watching the clips linked above what strikes me most is how posh and stagey their accents are. The BBC cast a very long shadow in the antipodes.

R1 Colette Mann who played Doreen had quite the makeover in the late '80s. She said her inspiration was working on the Australian TV movie "Outback Bound" alongside Donna Mills who amazed the whole cast with her beauty. Right after filming, Colette had a facelift and shrunk down by about 5 sizes.

'Don't worry Dor, you've got your old Lizzie'... lol. I have never forgotten that line since I watched the show as a kid in the early 80's, with my family. Our migrant parents were enthralled with Prisoner and didn't seem to think it was too much for a kid to absorb at such a young age. Good stuff!

Oh yes, the sad music at the end always got me as a kid. I kept trying to work out which officer it was locking up in the credits!

[Quote]They were clearly all lesbians

Only a few were explicitly lesbian (Joan, Dor, Jude) some were written as prison gay (Bea), with most of the married or divorced officers the writing made them basically closeted, Colleen and Meg were obviously not actually straight.

[quote]They were clearly all lesbians but we were two young to talk about it.

[quote]My friends and me loved both shows.

Thanks, R26 & R28. Now that I see the kind of people who watch this show, I guess I'll pass.

Lol R33 Dor wasn't a lesbian, she just had to eat Frankie's box or else. She got a man who was too hot for her as soon as she could.

Bea never crossed over, even though as top dog she could have had her pick of pussy.

Coleen and Meg never wanted anything but cock.

This show obviously made a huge impression on us DLers. I’m a man but wonder if DL lesbians loved it too??

The thought that the characters was all/mostly lesbians seems to be a common misnomer.

Fletcher dated an interior designer that he met at a singles bar. She turns out to be an escapee. She had a very protective male business partner who seems to be coded as a gay man, although I don’t think it’s ever really mentioned.

Mmm Steve Faulkner

Mmmmmm Jim Fletcher

Dor Anderson criminal history

[quote]Breaking and Entering, Escape from Lawful Custody x3, Forgery x3, Shoplifting, Prostitution, Theft, Kidnapping, Assaulting a Police Officer, Robbery, Assault With Intent To Cause Bodily Harm

Marilyn fucking the electrician in the roof space in early episodes

R30 There is another very slight connection between Donna Mills and PCBH.

The haunting and delicate soundtrack that plays in the show's final months during the episodes where Ferguson heists the bank, I recognized it from somewhere. It's the same song Donna Mills applies mascara to in her The Eyes Have It make-up tutorial. Both came out in 1986. Tell me that isn't the same song.

The bloody department always on the phone for Mrs Davidson.

It always bugged me that Vera never got her comeuppance. If anyone deserved a wedgie, it was her.

Vera had a horrible home life with her mother who then died, became an alcoholic, got used on the singles scene, almost lost her job and watched her fiance get shot dead. What more do you want, vinegar on your chips?

We were told to watch it by our university’s Gay Student Union for the purpose of noting the advertisers so as to write complaining letters about the supposed antigay themes of the show. Instead, we LOVED it and made it required viewing for all of our gay and lesbian friends.

R46 = Tim Conigrave.

Unlikely, R29, given that from the 1960s, over 80% of Australian television programmes were American imports. British TV and British pop culture as a whole never really left a mark.

Not to be overly pedantic, but what you're hearing among the more educated characters is Cultivated Australian English, an accent which held similar cultural prestige to RP in the UK.

r5The freak aka Joan Ferguson didn't leave until the last episode. For me Judy and Myra leaving so close together felt like a watershed that took us into the beginning of the end. Yes there were some episodes and storyline after that but the emotional architecture of the show never was as good. They also missed lots of opportunities like not making May Collins into a bigger character and top dog instead of Nora Flynn. It was a shame that Val Lehman couldn't be tempted back one more time to play Bea even if it was just to nicely wrap up the show. I always hoped Colleen Powell would return but alas it wasn't to be.

r13 I wish they'd given Pixie a happier ending

r48 a reply to you r5

Sorry r5 I meant r48 a reply to r6

The Brit’s again—mucking up.

Brits muck

Cultivated Australian English

Oh, my sides😂

Before someone bitches at me, yes I know what it means. It’s still funny

That weird "Bea died in a fire" almost throwaway mention was a end to the character, like the bosses were slamming the gates on the character and actress.

Also, Bea's exit was pathetically weak, unmemorable and tacked-on. Joan randomly gets her transferred to Barnhurst and an utterly defeated Bea just walks out meekly defeated because Joan lamely threatens to make Lizzie's life hell. I don't even think her leaving was the last scene of the episode, with Lizzie stealing the emotional impact. Almost like the bosses were taking Val Lehman down and showing she wasn't Queen Bea after all?

Also, logically why wouldn't Joan have protection and just taunt Bea? What's to stop her just strangling the life out of The Freak, like she'd attempted before? Like a lion leading a lamb.

R40, The charges surrounding Doreen kidnapping Latham’s little girl should’ve been dropped, :-)

The ridiculous plot point of Meg being sent to the same prison she was Officer.

Remember when some bitch sent a couple of men round to put Meg "off men for a while" by gang raping her?! I never understood what had happened as a kid, just poor Meg tied by her tights to an ugly bed.

I love the character of Judy Bryant.

I’ve come to really enjoy Aussie television and film. I haven’t seen WENTWORTH yet. I know the actress who portrayed Bron on ALL SAINTS did a stint. I have seen a dozen shows and right now I’m watching UNDER THE VINES, which isn’t bad, but I haven’t been watching as much. I think I’ll binge watch it during the Thanksgiving break.

I also love Sons and Daughters.

Prisoner Cell Block H was closely based on the UK prisoner drama 'Within These Walls' which was a somber show made with some depth and focusing on the staff's viewpoint of running a prison. There is even an elderly character called Lizzie in that version.

They did not have the budget in the Australian version for any lofty ambition, so filled it with lots of cheap sensationalism and hokeyness.

[quote] My friends and me loved both shows.

Oh, dear!

Every time Bea called somebody a bloody cow or bitch, I knew that there would be a fight and Vera would put her ass in solitary. Like clockwork… 🕰️

When off duty Vera and Erica really looked good.

Some restaurant scenes seemed to be filmed in a Pizza Hut.

Griffin seeing the baby in the clothes dryer was unintentionally hilarious.

Spinning baby begins at about the 30 mark.

^^ 30 second mark**

I remember a storyline where Jim was left tied up and gagged. I loved it, because it corresponded to kinks I was discovering as a young lad!

Just found the episode. The episode's from 1980. There's a guy...Geoff... who wants to kill Jim. Jim's daughter and wife have been killed by a patsy, Michael. Geoff going to frame Michael for Jim's murder, and he has him tied up and gagged in an abandoned house. All three are good-looking men in that rugged Tom Selleck, Marlboro Man of the era.

Shelia as Lizzie, wonderful actress

Jim *was* very Tom Selleck and had that air of tragedy that made him even hotter. He was hot as fuck!

Gaffney's highlights. Starts with Crissy Lathan introducing Gaffney's performance at the men's prison variety show

I’ve not seen it since childhood but just reading all of these hilarious and over the top descriptions of the show’s characters, scenes and the sets is so hilarious! I’ve been laughing like a hyena.

r56 Yeah I think they were angry with Val because they'd tried to entice her several times to return to the show buts she declined. Apart from anything else I think she felt it was too soon. But Val was a tricky one for the powers that be at Grundy Television. She was a huge asset to the show and certainly the viewers wanted her back but Val flexed her muscles behind the scenes and to this day is the only cast member who receives royalties from Broadcast tv repeats and the DVD sales because she insisted on repeat royalties in her contract. I think the way they wrote Bea out was to say to Val no one is bigger than the show but their attempts to entice her back show they felt they needed her.

Did anyone watch the 1980s Australian series (it’s on you tube or at least I know it used to be) “TENKO” - about the women taken Prisoners of War during WW2? It was sort of like Paradise Road or that Claudette Colbert movie 3 Came Home. Stephanie Beachum was one of the stars of Tenko - does that ring a bell?

R60, Under the Vines is a New Zealand show. Rebecca Gibney originally came from NZ and has been doing more work there recently. Look out for a new detective show called A Remarkable Place to Die, which she is also in. It's set in the beautiful Queenstown. The surrounding mountain range is called The Remarkables.

Wentworth doesn't have the slightly dire campy quality of the original Prisoner, but it's very good drama and the sets don't shake when they slam a door.

Yeah I watched Tenko as a kid. My mother enjoyed it.

How did they keep the spiders out of the prison?

Why was there never a storyline where the women trap a deadly spider and put it up Joan's skirt?

Even in Australia spiders live in undergrowth, or at the absolute worst in old junk stored in the garage, etc. The idea that a deadly spider would be wandering around a prison made almost entirely of stone, when that prison is in the second-coldest capital city in Australia, is an American pipedream.

Honestly, if you come here deadly spiders will NOT be tailing you down city streets wearing trench-coats and Ray Bans. Promise.

Stay in the tropics or wander round the bush randomly and you're on your own, though.

r78 They did have a venomous snake bite storyline involved tart with a heart Helen Smart.

I just finished the silly storyline with Evelyn, the herbalist poisoning everyone while the doc thought it was an outbreak of typhoid.

Could never stand that old bag they called mum and her hateful daughter who went in to play Madge in Neighbours

You disliked Mom, R82? Blasphemous!

Isn’t Sheila Florance (sp?) held in high esteem in Australia, a la Bette Davis in America?

Yes R84

r82 I thought Anne Chsrleston played Reb Keanes mum not Mums daughter?

R84, she is a total gem in my American eyes!

Sheila's movie "A Woman's Tale" which she completed at the end of her life is available to watch online.

Not really, R84. Respected, but not highly esteemed.

R86 she played both!

Who thought Margo as a stripper was a good idea?

Does the actress who played Georgie Baxter have a hearing deficiency in real life?

r90 I stand corrected! I knew she had played a policewoman who visited Judy Bryants halfway house to investigate something but I hadnt realized she was in the show three times!

Hulu need correction on so many posts….zzz

The actress who plays Meg reminds me of an Australian Joyce Bulifant.

R94, that’s blasphemous, lol! Comparing anyone to Joyce Bulifant is awful!

R94, watching as a 12-year old in the US, I thought that too!

Sheila's movie "A Woman's Tale"

I saw that at the cinema and cried when her cat was abandoned.

I’m so infatuated with this show that I can’t seem to watch anything else.

That movie is also hilarious because we hear Sheila's real speaking voice which is hopelessly pretentious. Although born in Melbourne, Victoria, she married an Englishman in 1934 and sailed to London. She spent World War II in England. Her early career was based on the London stage which is perhaps why she had a faux-British accent in real life.

My memory of this show is that it was pretty bad. Esteemed actresses would do it as a change of pace playing criminals and murderers, but it was really slumming. Anyone with any sense only signed for a limited run, like Carol Burns as Frankie Doyle. The dreary theme song said it all.

R100 it was held in high esteem actually, winning lots of awards

[quote]Watching the clips linked above what strikes me most is how posh and stagey their accents are.

The Kath & Kim girls had a field day when they got to send that up.

Kath & Kim is another great Australian export!

R100, it’s my understanding that Carol Burns originally didn’t sign up for a limited run. Apparently she asked to be let out of her contract when the show’s run was extended, citing not enough time to prep.

I’ve heard of this series, but never watched it.

Well, I’m now into the third collection of “The Best of Joan Ferguson” on YouTube and I’m hooked!

Were there any good storylines that weren’t about Joan that I should watch?

R105, I’ve been watching in order and haven’t even gotten to Joan yet. I’ve loved it all so far.

There’s also a channel on YouTube where they’ve brightened the looks of each episode.

Sadly, Carol Burns passed away a few years ago at 68.

The Fast Forward parody at R102 makes reference to Family and Friends which is as short-lived show I must have missed.

Queen Bea is never without a cigarette.

Lizzie preparing to marry Sid.

This is amazing. A dedicated YouTuber has compiled acting reels of some of PCBH's biggest stars.

Thanks for posting that, R111!

Carol Burns' scenes have been some of my faves from the Prisoner Collection website so far. Peta Toppano's scenes from Return to Eden, and Kerry Armstrong's from Dynasty are amongst these.

When the show was airing it was two hour long (45 minutes and then commercials) episodes a week, correct?

I know we all make fun of the production values and the shaky sets, etc, but they did a really good job with location scenes interspersed with studio shots and the stories moved quickly. I wonder if American soaps could be successful with Prisoner’s format.

The only sets that shook were the outside ones like Meg's apartment. I think the prison set was actual bricks. Anyone remember differently?

Fun fact: Peta Toppano played Morales in A Chorus Line in its first run in Australia.

Did she sing Tits And Ass?

Ah, Peta Toppano. I know someone who worked with her and said she was mad as a hatter.

No, R11, she sang Nothing and What I Did for Love.

Someone above posted about Steve Faulkner. I’m now watching eps with him and he is the hottest thing in Wentworth Detention Centre (so far at least).

I’m also enjoying my fave Judy Bryant, who is on parole and was just given a makeover— she’s sporting a very out-of-character Farrah hairstyle.

I so love this show.

Judy Bryant