Prisoner Cell Block H

Oh that was a desperate stage the show was going through i couldn't bare the one that is the teacher in Neighbours now "chook" i think her name was or was it Julie ,however i always loved it when Lou Kelly used to give her and Marl a good beating .

Oh I liked Julie "Chookie" Egbert, she was a great character, she had some great scenes with Lexie, Julie was the best of the Barnhurst Five which is why she was in it longer than the others probabaly. Yes she was played by Jackie Woodburne who plays Susan in Neighbours. Also remember Reb, she was played by Janet Andrewartha who plays Lyn in Neigbours.

I agree Jenny was by far the worst character, all she ever did was moan and say "I didnt kill my Nanna"

Oh i forgot about Reb i loved her it was so cool when she was vile to her mum who was Ann Charlston (Madge) from Neighbours and remember when she ruined Stan the old warders garden .

Remember the Kate Peterson story she was barking and she got rid of Sandy by bashing her on the head with a bin lid then she threw her in the big skip .I loved it when they had the riot when Bea was in hosital with her kidney problem (she was realy touring oz in a play and took three months off from prisoner) and they stripped Steve Faukner he was gorg and what a pair of pecks he had .

Yep, the 1981 riot was a brilliant storyline to end the year on. Indeed the first 4 end of year cliffhangers were all very strong, but got quite weak after 1982.

Incidentally, Wayne Jarratt whole played Steve died of a brain tumour in 1987, only 5 years after he left the show.


Yeah, it would have been nice if they had at least done a one off 'Prisoner a year later' special.

Personally I think the final episode should have ended in a slightly different way. Keep everything the same up to the point Joan left, run the women celebrating in slow motion cuts to create the illusion of time moving on, then see the women being ordered back inside because of a new prisoner. Then go back to how the series started, and show some new inexperienced prisoners being inducted. Then fade in a suitable piece of background music (that used at the end of episode 127 would be perfect) whilst the camera pans out of reception and then, changes to an exterior shot of the prison which pulls back and back. This creates the image that events at Wentworth would still be going on, although we would no longer be seeing them. Then run the credits directly on top of the final scene, dusting off the instrumental theme tune (why did they get rid of that btw, it was nice and dated less than the vocal version). The way it did end, was basically standard fare. The women celebrate, then that is broken up by slamming gate and totally standard credits sequence, as though it's frozen in time just like any other episode. There is no real feeling of a future at Wentworth being protrayed.


Jenny was a mediocre re-hash of Lynn Warner with a weaker plot and it was all made worse by being played by a very weak actress (in contrast Kerry Armstrong who played Lynn was a brilliant actress - it's fitting that she's still regularly acting major roles today, nearly 25 years later).

Although the producers seemed to be good at casting weak actors for the Hartley family - the actors who played 'Nanna' and her aunt and uncle were even worse.

Again, Chris- I totally agree.

The only character that REALLY annoyed me was Sam Greenway. Whinge, whine, moan- I want to find my mother- whinge whinge.
I hate to admit it- but her electrocution actually made me cheer - lol.
...The whole storyline circling around her leaving in the 'robot' was totally unbelievable- made more so by the poor actress herself.

Also if anyone remembers references to 'The Docklands Lags' over the end credits- that was me and my boyfriend

DG

For those who don't know Maggie is going to make a second appearance in Home and Away this time would you believe as a prison top dog.

When dose this episode of Home and Away with Maggie Kirkpatrick Start in the uk on Channel FIVE please let me no..

Jenny was really annoying, wasnt she almost killed in the Ballinger seige? Why couldnt it have been her or Nora who was killed instead of Tammy and Myra. Actually IIRC it was Nora who was chosen to be killed but Myra said no as she was pregnant at the time and they would be taking 2 lives. I was glad to see the back of Jennifer when she left, although she was only in it about 40 episodes.

Yes IIRC it was just the usual closing credits, with the warder doing lock up, played at the end of the final episode (692) - I wonder why they didnt do something different as it was the finale.

It's very odd that they didn't do it for the final episode, especially as they had in the past done special credits sequences:

Episode 1-3: ok nothing special but the first 'officer locking up sequence' only lasted 3 episodes so is worth mentioning (and for what it's worth, there were 3 more of the sequences used during the series, so making 4 in total)

Episode 4: Meg wandering through the corridors distraught after her husband's murder, later cutting to an outside shot of the prison, accompanied by the slow emotional version of the theme tune

Episode 6: A drunk Lizzie being put to bed by Doreen

Episode 127: Scene of the women arriving at work in the factory (with yellow lettering no less)

Episode 139: Doreen in the hospital following her suicide attempt

Episode 191: A distraught Bea after breaking up with Ken

Episode 224: Vera walking away from the prison as she leaves the series

Episode 534: Although the standard visuals remain, 'Pixie's Song' is used in place of the standard theme tune since Judy is leaving the series.

I want to know what editorial decision saw the retirement of the alternate instrumental version of the theme tune. From the start of the series up until late 1981 it was used (more or less) in rotation with the vocal theme (but the credits still had 'Theme Sung by Lynne Hamilton' even if the instrumental was used - was this contractual or just can't be arsed to change it?). And it sounded nice. But it was never heard again after episode 219, for some bizarre reason.

In early 1980, they also experimented with more 'rocky' versions of the theme tune (both vocal and instrumental) these sounded good too. The basic vocal theme was nice, but when it was the only thing used from episode 220 until the end (save the one occasion when Pixie's Song was used) it got very, very, very, wearing.

Whilst we're on credits, Prisoner had a few bizarre anomolies with copyright dates. Firstly, the first 16 episodes were actually made in 1978, although the credits never acknowledges this, using 1979 from the word go. Secondly, when the date changed to 1984 for some bizarre reason it changed back to 1983 again a few episode later, and stayed that way for about 30 episodes before moving on to 1984 again. And finally, the 1984 date remained in use for 60/70 episodes after it should have done - only 16 episodes had a 1985 copyright date. All very odd.

I remember Pixie's song, I dont remember if the announcer spoke over the credits during that ep on C5 but I think they did on ITV and ruined the song

It was one of the extra officers who did the lock up on the closing credits wasnt it, it would have been better if it was someone regular in the show like Meg or Officer Barry or even the freak.

Does anyone remember the flashback episode (536) this wasgood as I missed a lot of the early episodes so I could see things like Bea burning Lynn's hand on the press in episode 1

Oh yes he spoke - to remind us that this was a special occasion and we'd never hear this again so he wouldn't speak over the entire credits, just ruin it by speaking over part of them.


Yes and no. The very first sequence featured Office Anne Yates, who was actually a main character (or as main as characters were at the start - at first the series revolved around Bea, Lynn and Karen, with all other characters being more supporting roles). The problem was she lasted only a few episodes before her corrupt activities were exposed and thus had to be replaced on the credits.

The second sequence introduced in episode 5 featured a bit part (I forget her name, but I think she *may* have been credited as 'Officer Roberts') but she did have lines. The problem was that she was never seen again after episode 11/12 but the sequence stayed in use until just before episode 300 (it was actually still in use when Joan first appeared) and so by then the character doing it was long forgotten.

The third sequence was done by bit part Office Joan Barfield - bit part maybe but she was a recognisable character. That character was killed off, necessitiating a fourth sequence (which remained in use until the end). That I think was the only one shot with an completely nameless officer.

I agree though that it would have been nice to have a main character doing it. What I always found interesting is that on all 4 of the sequences the officer doing the rounds was checking things off a clipboard - yet whenever you saw an officer actually doing the rounds in the programme he/she never carried a clipboard.


A godsend if you hadn't seen the early episodes, an ultimate cheap filler if you had (and all of the original actors featured should been credited at the end - only Elspeth Ballantyne and Maggie Kirkpatrick really deserved their credit for that episode, the other actors did nothing but link flashbacks together). It seemed ludicrous to me that Lou and Alice (Lurch) had apparantly been in Wentworth since the series began, especially since Lou's actress started off in the minor role of Tammy (the one shot dead in the Ballinger siege) before she was evolved into Lou. There were also conflictions in the storyline, such as Lou complaining that she helped build the tunnel used in the tunnel escape, wheras infact it was an old unused drain which allready existed.

Did the demise of the series come at short notice, or was there plently of warning prior to the decision ? The reason I ask is that as brilliant as the ending was, it did leave a number of storylines open and only Joan's character received closure.

I suppose it would have been unrealistic for all the other characters storylines to come to an end or have a happy ever after type ending. It's just that the build up to the Joan thing seemed hurried, and a couple of episodes prior to the end, you wouldn't have had a clue that things were drawing to a close, it seemed very much "business as usual".