Prisoner Cell Block H

LOL, Nora Flynn was very poor, and all that council rubbish. Nora had an unspectacular ending didn't she, her character just disappeared later to be found murdered.

Anyway, Bea was the best Top Dog, but she had an unspectacular ending - just transferred to Barnhurst or another wing. She wasn't mentioned for a while, but then in later episodes came the news that Bea Smith had been killed in a fire at the other prison. It would have been great if Bea could have come back at the end of the series to finish off the Freak but it just wasn't to bea.

(that's my joke at the end there)

It's well known that Val Lehman, who played Bea, is very much up her own arse and her relationship with Grundy degenerated very quickly. Thus, it was more an act of spite than anything else which saw her character end in such an unspectacular way (the first scenes of episode 400, her final episode, really don't set the scene as that being Bea's swansong). However, the character was popular and ratings took a slide after she left and Grundy desperately tried to get her back, when they couldn't, they then decided to kill off the character leaving Val Lehman no further way back into the series. It is noteworthy that she has never worked at Grundy since.

I wasn't a great fan of Bea Smith or Val 'I killed Prisoner' Lehman I much preferred the antics of Rita 'The Beater' Connors and her Wentworth Warriors. My favourite character from the early years had to be Lizzie Birdsworth - Sheila Florance was a fantastic actress she could have you laughing out loud one minute and in tears the next! Best guv imho was Ann Reynolds.

We should be discussing this in The Recroom not here!

I must admit i loved Bea and the early years of Prisoner .Who can forget charachters such as Noleen,Monnie,Karen and Lyn and of course Lizzie and Dor.Also i liked some of the early stoylines such as the Pat O'Connell story .and when Leanne Burke fell off the prison roof .It kind of lost all that in later years i felt .

Ive not seen many eps with Bea in, thats why I want PCBH to be shown again so I can see it all. I only started watching it around episode 500 on ITV, (I suppose late 400s would be more accurate but I remember watching it regular when Lexie was introduced)

I remember in episode 536 when it was announced Bea had been killed and then they transferred the Barnhurst five to Wentworth, all of which supposedly knew Bea from Barnhurst. I know a lot of people critisise the Barnhurst Five but I didnt mind them that much, I liked Julie and Daphne, the only one I didnt like was Nora Flynn, she just was not top dog material, Jennifer Hartly was far worse than any of the Barnhurst five though IMO. Yeah I remember Nora left suddenly, didnt they axe her along with the other Barnhurst Five?, just after Rita arrived, and then Julie persuaded Lexie to escape in the same way as Nora to avoid her being killed by Lou Kelly.

But the final season (1986) was better than the penultimate one with the Wentworth Warriers led by Rita (Rita, Lurch, Lexie, Julie, Lorelei) I loved it when Rita burned down Blackmoor and was then sent back to Wentworth with Spike and Brumby! Its a shame Lorelei was raped and they had to write her out before the end of the series.

One thing that I never really worked out was what the character Barbie Cox was all about. I don't know if you remember her, but she hardly said anything other than "Naughty Naughty" and "Hi-de-Hi", and wasn't in it for very long. Just what was she in for, what was her crime ?

Wasnt Barbie the one who arrived the same time as Rita? I dont think they ever said what her crime was. I remember Lou said to her "you'd better keep your mouth shut bird brain or it'll be a permanant bye-di-bye" LOL

Does anyone remember Willie Beecham, she turned up again not long before the end of the series when The Freak tried for a job and it turned out Willie was the boss at the firm, it was great to see her get the better of Joan! I liked her but sometimes her scenes with Auntie May and Nora were annoying as she was part of that Prison Council storyline also. Her and May got a better exit than Nora though didnt they, even though they left the show around the same time.

The Eve Wilder episodes were great too, especially the big 600th episode! Wasnt Eve's hanging cut on some ITV regions but I remember Channel 5 left it in.

I Just hope the series comes back to UK TELEVISION

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Can anyone tell me what happened at the end of Prisoner? My friend was up in uni at Manchester at the time and he said Granada showed the last episodes in a row over a week. He said the ending was brilliant. I never got to see it thanks to Carlton.

Joan's underhand dealings when working as governer were exposed and she was demoted back to the ranks. She resigned and tried to get another job until she realised that Willie Beacham was now a big name in town and would foil her every attempt at getting employment. Joan pulled a favour to get her prison officer's job back, but now found herself as a bog standard officer and the women were no longer scared of her.

Rita was diagnosed with cancer, and refused to continue receiving treatment when it was later diagnosed as being terminal, prefering to live a shorter, better life, than a longer, unpleasant one.

Rita devised a job which she tried to drag Joan into with the offer of a hefty pay off (Joan just wanted out by now). <FINAL EPISODE> She accepted, but during the job Rita left the money behind, was recaptured and put back inside. She then convinced Joan to go out and collect the loot, telling Ann and Meg of her plan. Joan being greedy, waited for the now quite ill Rita to die (the final episode is set over quite a few days, possibly a week or more). When she (apparantly) did, she went off to pocket the loot for herself.

Joan was intercepted upon leaving and charged with fraud. She was remanded at Wentworth (so realistic...) overnight until she could be moved to Western Australia where she wasn't heard of.

In a dramatic scene, Joan realised that it was a trick when the bed in her cell had allready been made for her, cemented when Rita (who hadn't died afterall) delivered her food to her.

The final scene saw Joan being driven off through the gates.

Note: Westcountry edited some scenes from the final episode, which changed the tone of the episode somewhat. Only Meg and Ann knew that Rita's 'death' was a fake. There were scenes of the women mourning her death. Westcountry cut these out which then made it seem like only Joan was unaware that Rita was still alive. Grampian showed a shocking edit of the final episode where it ended with the women's discovery that Joan had been brought in as a Prisoner, all of the brilliance of the final 5 minutes was gone. C5 did show it in full, extending the timeslot to allow for the slightly longer running time of the final episode.

My friend told me Prisoner ended with a bang, literately. There was an explosion and in the end Joan was killed. I now know he is a lair mouth, and I will never belive what he says again!

There was a big explosion in episode 500 when the Warehouse where Meg and Ann were being held hostage exploded, but no explosions at the end of the series.

Interesting point: the producers DID try to kill of Bea Smith by an exploding bomb, when Val Lehman found out about the plot she publicly broadcast to all who would listen, leaving the producers no option but to cancel the storyline, let Bea run out for a few more months, before then retiring her in a completely whimsical and understated way.

Further interesting point: despite the sterotypical 'G'Day Mate' Aussie accents that most characters had, the actresses who played them often have extremely posh accents in real life. Probably the biggest example of this is the difference between Lizzie Birdsworth's accent, and the real life accent of Sheila Florence (who played her). The difference is amazing.