The first reviews of the brand new Australian reboot of Prisoner have just come out - and the critics are suggesting it's going to be a massive hit. Sounds like it's a LOT grittier and nastier than the original...
Well that's ME officially excited. It'll never replace the original in my affections. But whilst I've got the DVDs of PCBH to go back and enjoy time and again, I'm definitely prepared to give the remake a go.
I'm really looking forward to this too. Initially, I was sceptical about it, wondering how on earth they would recreate a drama that was very much of it's time. Luckily it sounds like they have created a parallel universe with plenty of 'what if's' posed at the original, so it should be intriguing viewing.
The first reviews of the brand new Australian reboot of Prisoner have just come out - and the critics are suggesting it's going to be a massive hit. Sounds like it's a LOT grittier and nastier than the original...
Well that's ME officially excited. It'll never replace the original in my affections. But whilst I've got the DVDs of PCBH to go back and enjoy time and again, I'm definitely prepared to give the remake a go.
I'm really looking forward to the Prisoner reimagining, Wentworth.
I've wanted a darker, grittier, more brutal take on Prisoner for years.
I'm not sure about this new show - I'll give it a go but I nearly always end up disappointed with this sort of thing
I don't mid there being a new show I just don't get the whole mixing names about, like Bea Smith is there but a different sort of lady altogether. I suppose if you're a hardcore fan its difficult to imagine your favourite characters any other way.
I've always been totally against the show being a remake. Thats what this is. No sugar coating will change that.
However I am now excited for it having seen the pics and read the early reviews.
I just hope it doesnt piss on the memory of the old show. I really think a continuation would have been the best option. All they needed was one character link to the past just for old timers and everything else could have been new.
Have just had the last of Dennis Cruickshank. He got shot in the legs by Frank Burke and left Saint Meg.:D
I'm just ahead of you at the moment. Nothing redeemable about Burke. Fantastically played by Trevor Kent.
For me Willie Beacham has just lost her memory...The idea of her being up for release if it could be proved that she couldn't remember what she was convicted for has been floated. A storyline that gets another telling when Kean appears later in the year
Not sure the reboot will be for me, but I hope it does well.
I've just been thinking about Prisoner (Don't we all), and all the extras who were built up into main characters. I think Lou kelly and Lurch are probably the two who come to mind first, but also Mouse, Kathleen Leach and Phyllis Hunt became quite big characters. Tammy Fisher (one of my favourites) never became quite as big unfortunately but they let her speak every now and again.
Frances Harvey on the other hand is a weird one, although i quite liked her, but she came into the Halfway House with Judy seeming to be quite a comedy character. Later she's in prison with no explanation why she's there, but she is still given quite a lot of dialogue and is one of the ones behind hanging The Freak. After that she's one of Lou Kellys heavies and in her last few episodes she's just in the background and doesn't say anything
Suki c - I was a teenaged lad-about-town in the late 80s, and would collapse in front of the TV when I came in. After a while, I noticed that this funny Australian thing seemed to be always on.
There were only 4 channels back then, so I would usually end up watching Prisoner Cell Block H. Without much attention, I have to say, but I was being reeled in...
One night I was completely transfixed by one of the (comparatively rare) beautiful prisoners attempting suicide - I'll never forget the livid red of the blood on the old-fashioned studio film. That was Lynn Warner's attempted suicide, of course, and it was relatively early in the show's run. From then on, I watched all the time, right through to the end with Rita Connors swearing to become the oldest bikie in the world.
And here's the thing: half the lads in my social circle were avid watchers too. That show was big with young people at the time precisely because of its graveyard slot and because the ITV networks (all out of sync with each other) never gave up on the show and screened it two or three times per week for years.
That was just how things were back then, with 4 channels. People getting in from nights out had nothing else to watch or do!
I tried to watch PCBH all over again when it started a new run on Channel 5 in the 90s, but by then my lifestyle had changed, and it just wasn't the same anyway. Occasionally I watch parts of classic old episodes on YouTube and remain very impressed by the storytelling. I've spotted the actors in other roles down the years (no, not just Neighbours) and always have warm feelings about them, and the show.
I remember watching this avidly with my mum in the 80s. Think it would be unwieldy to own as a box set but if some channel decided to rerun it, they'd surely have decent viewing figures. I would be watching/setting the Sky box for sure.
I used to come downstairs as a kid, and would either catch it on cause my Mum watched it, or catch the theme tune playing, I always now associate that song with my late Mum
Have just had the last of Dennis Cruickshank. He got shot in the legs by Frank Burke and left Saint Meg.:D
I like Frank Burke. Kind of reminiscent of T Bag from Prison Break. (But without the charisma) There was a fight, escape attempt or shooting in every scene he was in. Liked how he had a back bone, always standing up to the officers. He just didn't quit.
And thankfully he put an end to that god-awful Dennis Cruickshank.
I've just been thinking about Prisoner (Don't we all), and all the extras who were built up into main characters. I think Lou kelly and Lurch are probably the two who come to mind first, but also Mouse, Kathleen Leach and Phyllis Hunt became quite big characters. :
i wouldn't have described mouse and Kathleen as big characters. Mouse never got a storyline of her own and Kathleen only really had the storyline with Tracy Morris. Phyllis did become quite a major character.
Probably the best one would be Joyce appearing from episode 29 onwards as an occasional character but by the 400s shes a major character and remains so until the end. .
i wouldn't have described mouse and Kathleen as big characters. Mouse never got a storyline of her own and Kathleen only really had the storyline with Tracy Morris. Phyllis did become quite a major character.
Probably the best one would be Joyce appearing from episode 29 onwards as an occasional character but by the 400s shes a major character and remains so until the end. .
I always think of Mouse as quite a main one but maybe she wasn't in as many as I think. Yes forgot about Joyce she was a brilliant contrast to Joan.
i wouldn't have described mouse and Kathleen as big characters. Mouse never got a storyline of her own and Kathleen only really had the storyline with Tracy Morris. Phyllis did become quite a major character.
Probably the best one would be Joyce appearing from episode 29 onwards as an occasional character but by the 400s shes a major character and remains so until the end. .
Awh Mouse was brilliant, and you're right she didn't have a storyline of her own but she was big in contrast to being in the background for so long in the early days. Oh gosh I was shocked at her spectacular death scene.
Yes Joyce wins first prize from transition from backgrounder to major league player!!!:)
Remember Kath Deakin and the frizzy hair lol or what about Tammy, Jacko, Ronnie or Lorna - they would get random lines every so often and part of me would think "are they gonna get more?" lol. I remember the first time Tina Murray spoke I nealy fell off the seat.
Awh Mouse was brilliant, and you're right she didn't have a storyline of her own but she was big in contrast to being in the background for so long in the early days. Oh gosh I was shocked at her spectacular death scene.
Yes Joyce wins first prize from transition from backgrounder to major league player!!!:)
Remember Kath Deakin and the frizzy hair lol or what about Tammy, Jacko, Ronnie or Lorna - they would get random lines every so often and part of me would think "are they gonna get more?" lol. I remember the first time Tina Murray spoke I nealy fell off the seat.
I really liked Mouse as well. I liked Kath Deakin, she was a very underrated character. I think in about 3 episodes on the trot her and Lou Kelly are trying to kill Myra. It seemed like she was going to be the new Frances and be with Lou and lurch all the time, but i think after the siege you barely saw her again.
I've said before but I loved Tammy Fisher, she was by far my favourite extra, always hoped she would become a regular but it never happened
i don't mean to seem rude but i'm not getting all this fuss about Tammy. She was ok but what was so exceptional about her
She was always one of my favourites, partly because I really liked her in Neighbours, and I think when she had her little bits of dialogue she was very good. When she was in the background she was always doing something.
Just like they gave Lou Kelly a big role I thought Tammy deserved a stab at it.
She was always one of my favourites, partly because I really liked her in Neighbours, and I think when she had her little bits of dialogue she was very good. When she was in the background she was always doing something.
Just like they gave Lou Kelly a big role I thought Tammy deserved a stab at it.
Comments
On the whole Jim was firm but fair - he had a lovely way of handling Lizzie, and on the whole a good understanding with Erica
Not quite for me. Jock Stewart is ranked higher in my Top 10 list, only just mind you.
I'm really looking forward to this too. Initially, I was sceptical about it, wondering how on earth they would recreate a drama that was very much of it's time. Luckily it sounds like they have created a parallel universe with plenty of 'what if's' posed at the original, so it should be intriguing viewing.
http://themusic.com.au/news/all/2013/02/28/foxtel-unveil-prisoner-revamp/
I'm really looking forward to the Prisoner reimagining, Wentworth.
I've wanted a darker, grittier, more brutal take on Prisoner for years.
I don't mid there being a new show I just don't get the whole mixing names about, like Bea Smith is there but a different sort of lady altogether. I suppose if you're a hardcore fan its difficult to imagine your favourite characters any other way.
Is this a re-imagining of Prisoner?
However I am now excited for it having seen the pics and read the early reviews.
I just hope it doesnt piss on the memory of the old show. I really think a continuation would have been the best option. All they needed was one character link to the past just for old timers and everything else could have been new.
I'm just ahead of you at the moment. Nothing redeemable about Burke. Fantastically played by Trevor Kent.
For me Willie Beacham has just lost her memory...The idea of her being up for release if it could be proved that she couldn't remember what she was convicted for has been floated. A storyline that gets another telling when Kean appears later in the year
Not sure the reboot will be for me, but I hope it does well.
Loved Dennis, its a shame he wasn't in it longer.
Frances Harvey on the other hand is a weird one, although i quite liked her, but she came into the Halfway House with Judy seeming to be quite a comedy character. Later she's in prison with no explanation why she's there, but she is still given quite a lot of dialogue and is one of the ones behind hanging The Freak. After that she's one of Lou Kellys heavies and in her last few episodes she's just in the background and doesn't say anything
I too, miss those days
I used to come downstairs as a kid, and would either catch it on cause my Mum watched it, or catch the theme tune playing, I always now associate that song with my late Mum
I like Frank Burke. Kind of reminiscent of T Bag from Prison Break. (But without the charisma)
And thankfully he put an end to that god-awful Dennis Cruickshank.
i wouldn't have described mouse and Kathleen as big characters. Mouse never got a storyline of her own and Kathleen only really had the storyline with Tracy Morris. Phyllis did become quite a major character.
Probably the best one would be Joyce appearing from episode 29 onwards as an occasional character but by the 400s shes a major character and remains so until the end. .
I always think of Mouse as quite a main one but maybe she wasn't in as many as I think. Yes forgot about Joyce she was a brilliant contrast to Joan.
Awh Mouse was brilliant, and you're right she didn't have a storyline of her own but she was big in contrast to being in the background for so long in the early days. Oh gosh I was shocked at her spectacular death scene.
Yes Joyce wins first prize from transition from backgrounder to major league player!!!:)
Remember Kath Deakin and the frizzy hair lol or what about Tammy, Jacko, Ronnie or Lorna - they would get random lines every so often and part of me would think "are they gonna get more?" lol. I remember the first time Tina Murray spoke I nealy fell off the seat.
I really liked Mouse as well. I liked Kath Deakin, she was a very underrated character. I think in about 3 episodes on the trot her and Lou Kelly are trying to kill Myra. It seemed like she was going to be the new Frances and be with Lou and lurch all the time, but i think after the siege you barely saw her again.
I've said before but I loved Tammy Fisher, she was by far my favourite extra, always hoped she would become a regular but it never happened
She was always one of my favourites, partly because I really liked her in Neighbours, and I think when she had her little bits of dialogue she was very good. When she was in the background she was always doing something.
Just like they gave Lou Kelly a big role I thought Tammy deserved a stab at it.
Fair enough. i always liked Lorna too
I love the look on Lorna's face when The Freak tells her to go on the press