Options
Was anyone a fan of Prisoner Cell Block H?
xbling
Posts: 2,041 Forum Member
✭✭✭
I was and used to tape it if I went out! Don't know what appealed to me but I'm guessing if it was shown nowdays (not as repeats) I wouldn't watch.
0
Comments
Would love to watch it again but not sure I'd splash out on the DVDs. I don't think I'd have time to watch them all.
Was trying to think of some of the names. Bea, vinegar tits, Karen (only at the beginning I think), Lizzie, Ferguson ... oooh, what was the name of the young one? Help me out here with some more names
Prisoners
· Angel ?
· Barbie Cox ("naughty-naughty", "bye-sy-bye" - apparently thicker than Pixie; we never do discover what she was guilty of but it gave all the other prisoners much amusement)
· Bea Smith (Queen Bea)
· Bobbie Mitchell
· Brumby (Michelle) Tucker (prisoner at Blackmoor when Rita Conners was there) (a brumby is an Australian name for a wild or feral horse)
· Cass Parker
· Chrissie Latham
· Daphne Graham (same actress as Heather the trainee officer and Pippa in Home And Away)
· Doreen Anderson (later Doreen Burns)
· Ettie Parslow
· Eve Wilder
· Faye Quinn
· Frank Burke
· Frankie Doyle
· Geoff McCrae
· Georgie ? (glue ear)
· Harry Grosvenor (friendly with Alice)
· Hazel Kent
· Helen Smart
· Mouse (Helen) Trapp (from "mouse trap")
· Ida Brown (Rita Conners' Auntie Ida)
· Janet Williams ("Maggot"; murders Lou Kelly)
· Jennifer Hartley
· Jessie Wyndham (Lexie's mother)
· Judy Bryant
· Julie Egbert (also called Chookie because her laugh sounded like a chicken, which is sometimes called a chook in Australia; later Julie Ryan)
· Kath Maxwell
· Karen Travers (later married)
· Lexie Patterson
· Lisa Mullins (involved with blackmailing the son of the Minister for Corrective Services)
· Lizzie Birdsworth (old Lizzie)
· Lori/Loreli Wilkinson
· Lou Kelly
· Lurch (Alice) Jenkins (from the character in The Addams Family)
· Lyn Warner (Wonky Warner)
· Margo Gaffney
· Marie Winter (first encountered by Bea Smith at Barnhurst)
· Matt Delaney
· Maxine Daniels
· May Collins (Auntie May)
· Merle Jones (likes superhero comics; befriended by Kath Maxwell)
· Minnie Donovan (led the pickpocket gang; first top dog after Bea Smith departs)
· "Mum" Brooks
· Myra Desmond
· Nancy McCormack
· Nola McKenzie
· Noleen Burke
· Nora Flynn
· Paddy Lawson (claustrophobic)
· Petra (prisoner, ex-teacher, involved with the prison doctor)
· Pixie Mason (married six men)
· Rabbit (Marlene) Warren (later Marlene Delaney) (from "rabbit warren")
· Randy Goodlove (involved with Marty Jackson)
· Reb Keene
· Reb Keene's mother
· Rita Conners (Rita The Beater)
· Roach (Rachel) Walters (escapes on the boat)
· "Roo" Morgan (top dog at Blackmoor when Rita Conners was there) (possibly a pun on "The Murders In The Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allan Poe)
· Ruth Ballinger
· Sam Greenway (artist)
· Sandy Edwards (joint top dog with Bea Smith for a while)
· Sarah West (Aborigine)
· Sharon Gillmore (Judy Bryant's girlfriend)
· Sonia Stevens
· Spider (Ruth) Simpson
· Spike (Margaret) Marsh (prisoner at Blackmoor when Rita Conners was there)
· Suzie Driscoll (after whom Driscoll House was named)
· Vicky McPherson (Spider Simpson's accomplice)
· Wendy Glover (undercover policewoman planted to obtain information from Lisa Mullins)
· Willie Beacham
· Zara Moonbeam
Officers
· Bob Moran (temporary governor)
· Colleen Powell (Po-face)
· Ann Reynolds (second governor)
· Delia Stout (initially a trainee)
· Dennis Cruikshank (the Yorkshire pud)
· Ernest Craven (governor at Blackmoor when Rita Conners was there; played by the same actor as Alf Stewart in Home And Away)
· Erica Davidson (first governor)
· Heather ? (trainee, only lasted a few days; played by the same actress as Daphne Graham and Pippa in Home And Away)
· Jim Fletcher
· Joan Ferguson (The Freak)
· Jock Stewart
· Joyce Barry (later Joyce Pringle)
· Marty Jackson (Meg Jackson/Meg Morris' son; initally appears as a teenager, later as a trainee)
· Meg Jackson (later Meg Morris)
· Pat Slattery
· Rodney Adams (initially a trainee)
· Spud Murphy
· Steve Faulkner
· Teri Malone (friendly with Joan Ferguson for a time)
· Vera Bennett
Other Characters
· Albert or Alfred (?) Reynolds (owner of the work experience factory)
· Barbara Field (???) (accountant at the work experience factory; later a prisoner?)
· Bongo Conners (Rita Conners' brother)
· Dan (?) Fulbright (Daphne Graham's lawyer and Pippa Reynolds' fiance)
· Dan Moulton (the bikey preacher)
· Dr Steve Ryan (marries Julie Egbert)
· Dr Weisman (departmental psychologist)
· Eddie Stevens (Sonia Stevens' husband)
· Inspector Grace
· James Dwyer (Minister for Corrective Services)
· Jennifer Powell (Colleen Powell's daughter)
· Lori (?) (Judy Bryant's daughter)
· Major Ferguson (Joan Ferguson's father)
· Mervyn Pringle (third cook)
· Miki Wallace (Wally's daughter)
· Mrs O'Reagan (first cook)
· Norm Barry (Joyce Barry's first husband)
· Pamela Madigan (Aborigine social worker)
· Patrick Powell (Colleen Powell's husband)
· Pippa Reynolds (Ann Reynolds' daughter)
· Ray Proctor (second cook)
· Shane Monroe (fostered by Joan Ferguson)
· Sid Humphries (workman; friendly with Lizzie Birdsworth)
· Sister Hall
· Slasher (Rita Conners' boyfriend)
· Spud (Maxine Daniels' boyfriend)
· Stan Dobson (workman; fostered Bobbie Mitchell)
· Ted Douglas (Erica Davidson's boss)
· Tom Lucus (teacher, appears very near the end)
· Wally Wallace (friend of Judy Bryant and Ann Reynolds)
· ? Gillespie (departmental inspector at the time of the children's pantomime/underground tunnel escape)
John
I'll be buying volume 2 (33-64) at the weekend and I believe volume 3 (65-96) will be out next month
Loved it. Used to watch it at my friend's house late at night while raiding her dad's drink cabinet
I've never been there myself so have no idea if it's any good.
I was Carlton London when I watched it - I know back then the different regions were all at different places with it.
Maya was the Top Dog and Joan "The Freak" Ferguson were at loggerheads the last time I watched it in 1995 when Carlton decicied to drop it.
I was well pissed off as my mate who was in uni at the time in Manchester told me that Granada showed the final five episodes stripped over a week at 11pm, something to do with a fire.
We were ages behind in Carlton and they never finished it :mad:
John
No, you are right - wasn't it a riot?
I never saw it thanks to Carlton.
Bea Smith asked Chrissie Latham to start a small fire in the Library as a distraction whilst Bea Smith "took care" of The Freak once and for all (she wanted to kill her). But Margo took it upon herself to start a much larger file in a storeroom and it got out of control, causing the whole prison to burn down. As the file took hold, it shorted the Prison's security system and caused all gates to close and lock, trapping both Prisoners and Officers inside.
The last episodes saw the downfall of The Freak with Rita Connors framing her for theft. The Freak ended up iside Wentworth (only for one night) and was then transfered to a higher security Prison, much to Cell Block H's amusement as they watched her walk across the car park in handcuffs and into a waiting police car.
John
EDIT: Ah, while I was typing someone else did give it away. Oh well.
Good of you to take the trouble, thanks x I'm getting a real urge to watch them again now
It had some amazing Story lines.
I was gutted the way they just killed Bea off in such a pathetic way..(oh fire at barnhurst bea died)
very much like they killed Yvonne atkins off in bad girls.
I hated that, too. I remember the episode, it was right at the end, Anne Reynolds said to Meg, "There's been a fire at Barnhurst and three prisoners have been killed. One of them was Bea Smith." Then the episode ended and nothing more was said about it :eek: It was a very disrespectful way to kill off such an iconic character.
the best era of Prisoner for me was when Nola Mackensie/Marie Winter/Sandie Edwards were in the show just before they killed off Bea!!
Zara Moonbeam, she was a fellow Prisoner that Nola and The Freak got to play with Bea's head.
Kate Peterson was a Doctor inmate gone bad, but she wasn't involved in Beas "insanity". She did try to kill Judy Bryant and was later sent to a mental Hospital.
GRRR.
I LOVED Cell Block H
She had a soft side to her did Joan
She also loved Terri, one of her fellow Prison Officers. I can't quite remember the circumstances of Terri's departure, I think she got promoted and left for a Governorship in another Prison (I'm probably wrong, though).
Blimey yes Zara Moonbeam..hahaha, how could I forget a name like that..:D
thanks for jogging my memory!
Judy Bryant didn't she help Hazel die, when she found out she had a brain tumour?..I have so many disjointed memories of Prisoner as there were so many episodes!!
I didn't realise what an undertaking it was:eek: It took me months and nearly took over my life - sometimes I did 15 episodes per day! I had to watch every ep to cut the adverts out. It was worth it in the end though. I got through 110 VHS tapes (now in the bin) and used 125 discs. Still it was cheaper than buying that huge boxset.
It was brilliant apart from the 30 or so eps when the Barnhurst lot were transfered (Nora, Willie, May etc) It picked up again when Rita Connors arrived.
I have all 900+ eps of Sons & Daughters to transfer too - but I think I need a break now. I have to source a few more VCR machines as well. Bloody things keep packing up.
Well done for all of that.
I never watched Sons and Daugters but did often watch the theme tune. Still like it now