Prisoner: Cell Block H 

The lives of women behind bars in a female prison.

Stars:

Elspeth Ballantyne, Betty Bobbitt, Sheila Florance

10 wins.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Elspeth Ballantyne	...	Meg Morris / ... 669 episodes, 1979-1986
Betty Bobbitt	...	Judy Bryant 430 episodes, 1980-1985
Sheila Florance	...	Lizzie Birdsworth 405 episodes, 1979-1985
Maggie Kirkpatrick	...	Joan 'The Freak' Ferguson 389 episodes, 1982-1986
Val Lehman	...	Bea Smith 376 episodes, 1979-1983
Patsy King	...	Erica Davidson 354 episodes, 1979-1985
Gerda Nicolson	...	Ann Reynolds / ... 319 episodes, 1981-1986
Colette Mann	...	Doreen Burns / ... 295 episodes, 1979-1985

Storyline

This Australian series has, after 692 episodes, received cult status all over the world. The series takes place in Wentworth, a prison in Australia. Wentworth is a high-security female prison. The women are there for all sorts of crimes. We get to follow how they got there, their life in the prison and what becomes of them afterwards. We also get to follow the staff, their work in the prison and their personal relationships.

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Plot Keywords:

prison | female convict | prison life | prison cell | male female relationship | 

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Taglines:

The cult phenomenon from down under.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Did You Know?

Trivia

In some countries, the series was called "Prisoner: Cell Block H" to avoid confusion with the cult UK series The Prisoner (1967). Annette Andre, Terence Donovan and David Nettheim appeared in both shows.

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Goofs

Seen from the opening credits of episode 553 onwards, Lexie Patterson's mugshot in no way resembles how she looked on arriving at WDC in episode 509 (when the photograph would have been taken).

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Quotes

[first lines]
Franky Doyle: She bumped into me.

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Alternate Versions

In the version shown by Channel 5 in the UK, episode 601, there was a cut of around 20 seconds when Wendy is threatening the women. She says, "Same goes for the rest of you scabs. Lou wasn't too rapt when she heard you broke the strike so I hear [from here onward, it was cut] (to Nancy) Oh what are you looking so scared about? You're name on the list is it? Eh? I wouldn't bet my boots on big chief Moron doing anything to help yous lot. He's too full of himself to worry about you lot. You should have known what side your bread was buttered on girls! Oh don't tell me [this is where the cut ended] Bird Brain's got something to say!"

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Connections

Referenced in Birds of a Feather: Relative Strangers (1997)

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Soundtracks

On the Inside
(Prisoner theme)
Written by Allan Caswell
Conducted by William Motzing
Performed by Lynne Hamilton

User Reviews

Daring for its time

This ran over here in America at 11:30 at night on a local station. There was a lot of controversy about it at first. The plots dealing with lesbians, beatings, murder, rape etc. etc. were pretty strong for TV back then. But it never really caught on...here in Boston at least. It ran for a few months almost uncut (some words were bleeped out) and then was cancelled due to low ratings.

I was in college when it played here and it was great! After a long night of studying it was kind of fun to relax and watch this somewhat campy prison soap. The acting was pretty bad and the story lines were more than a little unbelievable but it was a lot of fun to watch. Also it moved much quicker than your typical afternoon soap. So it was a fun and daring soap for its time. I'm not sure if it would hold up today. Shows like "Oz" have gone a lot farther than this could.

Details

Official Sites:

Official fan site

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 August 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Caged Women

Filming Locations:

Willsmere, Kew, Victoria, Australia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Grundy Television Productions, Network Ten, The Grundy Organization

Technical Specs

Runtime:

50 min (692 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1