Prisoner

Excellent, gripping, funny and over the top. Inside the gates of Wentworth Detention Centre are housed the most dangerous criminals in H Block. From the camp style of true English upper class snobbery of Erica Davidson, who is Govenor, to the evil, sadistic, cruel ways of the "Freak" Joan Ferguson.

From episode one the main story line has you gripped, and through out all 692 episodes you will be a fanatic. Riots, fires, murders, LSD trips, bashings - everything you could ask for in a prison drama and more.

Well worth renting or buying, you will NOT be sorry! 12 out of 10! A+++

I have a unique affection for "Prisoner: Cell Block H". It was first shown on English TV in 1984 (Yorkshire Region only), directly after the olympic games of that year had ended. In previous weeks to stop people watching said games, ITV put on sci-fi show 'V' for the first time, and it was my love of 'V' which made me tune in to see its mysterious replacement, cryptically called : 'Prisoner' in the one line programme listings ITV served up after midnight in lieu of 24 hour programming. Within weeks I was hooked and from '84 - '87 I saw it once a week. Then I moved to Stoke (Central TV region) and was overjoyed to find Prisoner beginning its first showing in that region, what's more it was on three times a week! Two years of bliss till I returned to Yorkshire region and had to put up with a miserly 2 episodes a week. The up-shot of my moving locations in Britain being that I was probably the only person in England to have watched the majority of episodes twice! When by the mid to late nineties Yorkshire finally showed the last episode I had been avidly watching it for 10 years. Ahh, bless!

The reason it works so well is because it solves 2 of the many soap-opera's trickiest problems. WHY DO THE CHARACTERS KEEP MEETING EACH OTHER? No silly pub, postbox or neighbours been good friends, simply because they have no choice. They've all got to be together all of the time! WHY DO THE CHARACTERS HAVE SUCH MELODRAMATIC LIVES/WHY DO SO MANY OF THEM DIE? Prison offers us a uniquely brutal demographic, 1000s of ways to leave the series. Anyone could be killed off, and the joy of it been a 5 year old series by the time it reached England was that there were no spoilers in the press, only me and a cat in Durham watched it - or so it seemed!

To top it all, the machinations of the dreaded 'department' were very like 'Hill Street Blues' in showing the politics of the workplace and the corruption of the state - gave a sinister sense of panic while you were watching, no one, from the minister down to the new inmate could ever be completely trusted.

OTT Storylines ruled: terrorism, mafia, serial killers (at least two), deranged hypnotherapists, bomb disposal experts blowing up... those were the days! 'Bad Girls' never really has that escapist excess!

I began watching Prisoner Cell Block H as a child while living in England. This was during the late 1980's and the show had already ended, but the reruns were extremely popular and people would forget the show had been over for two years. Right away, the show became my favorite. Prisoner was one of the first, if not the first, television show that was centered on and starring a cast of mostly women. It was also one of the first shows to portray an open lesbian in a positive light. Characters such as Bea Smith, Myra Desmond, Sandy Edwards, and Marie Winter made this show addictive. Besides rooting for the good guys to reclaim power in the constant power struggles, there was also the entertaining game of spotting actors who have been with the show before returning as another character and also spotting the wobbling sets. Low budget, starring plain, ordinary women... this show probably wasn't expected to be as huge as it became, but after watching a few episodes, anyone will see just why it became such a hit.

I first came across Prisoner on TV and i watched the first 2 episodes and i was hooked from there. I went online and started ordering the DVDs of the whole series and since acquiring the complete series on DVD i have watched the complete series. Well let me tell you "wow" what a great show, never a dull moment and action packed with great story lines.

I can't recommend this show enough, if you haven't seen it and you are interested, watch it you won't be disappointed I promise you. Its one of the best Australian television shows ever.

Watch it 5 stars

I must admit, Prisoner scared me as a kid when it was on Channel 10 at 8:30pm. I watch it now, and it's quite funny to watch.

I am very thankful that ALL 692 episodes have been put on DVD. So far I am up to episode 320 and I'm loving it. Sets that shake when a character gets roughed up against the brick walls of Wentworth. It is just classic. Locks on security doors that probably don't work, but characters spend time making noise with the keys.

Lovable characters, such as Bea Smith, Old Lizzie, Sandy Edwards, Meg Jackson/Morrison, Vera Bennett, Steve Falkner, Smart, Jim Fletcher, and many many others.

Based on what I have seen so far, Vera Bennett and The Freak Furgesson would not have played well together. They really are two very different types of characters who would have clashed at all levels. Vera may have been hard towards the prisoners, but she was brutally honest. As for the Freak, as the most bent officer so far, she causes a lot of the problems faced by Wentworth. Vera would not have stood for it.

It is good to see the camera work and lighting has improved over the years, in some scenes the lighting is actually quite bad. Sometimes it is actually hard to see what is going on in the dark scenes.

From time to time some of the same actors re-appear as different characters, but thats a soap opera for you.

If you have not had a chance to watch Prisoner yet, give it a shot. As badly made as it is, it is also addictive to watch. I plan on watching all episodes of Prisoner. I recommend you give it a shot too.