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Prisoner Cell Block H anomalies
Been watching some 1984 eps online, waltz marathon, Angel Adams, Bev Baker, Ann's threatening letters. Have really been enjoying them but a few things always bug me when I watch this.
For example,
Is the top dog the top dog of the whole prison or just the cell block they're in? Myra/Bea etc seem to make decisions that would affect the whole prison.
Do the officers work across the whole prison or just in H block?
Does each block have a laundry, dining room and rec room of their own or are they all shared?
Why is there only 1 corridor and 2 cells?
Why does the corridor outside Ann's office lead outside?
I realise the last 2 are just set designs, but the first 3 questions always bug me. Anyone got any others?
For example,
Is the top dog the top dog of the whole prison or just the cell block they're in? Myra/Bea etc seem to make decisions that would affect the whole prison.
Do the officers work across the whole prison or just in H block?
Does each block have a laundry, dining room and rec room of their own or are they all shared?
Why is there only 1 corridor and 2 cells?
Why does the corridor outside Ann's office lead outside?
I realise the last 2 are just set designs, but the first 3 questions always bug me. Anyone got any others?
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Comments
These things always bug me when I watch it. It's really frustrating as these things are never really explained.
Except, it's mentioned a few times that there is more than one sitting in the dining room. A few times characters say "I'll go in for second sitting".
I think it's an obvious excuse for the small set and lack of prisoners onscreen.
And there is one scene which shows another block to have it's own rec room. The scene that introduced Dot Farrow i think.
Not sure what you mean.
I didn't know that it did.
It was a low budget, small scale show with a small cast and small number of extras. I always felt that the concept of blocks, vaguely referred to many times throughout the series, was an at attempt at 'handwaving' away why there were so few prisoners on screen while implying there were many, many more actually in the prison. It was also a convenient way of writing out prisoners, they could be transferred to another block.
It doesn't really jibe with the idea of a top dog as shown in the series. In one 1979 episode where there were complaints about heating, etc, representatives from each block went to see the Governor. IIRC, this consisted of Bea with two never before seen prisoner 'extras' appearing in Erica's office in a single scene where Bea did all the talking.
In the same way the small number of officers who are always on hand for any emergency seems to suggest that officers tend to be assigned to one block. This is unlikely in real life. Also, those same officers are the only ones seen in reception, which would serve the entire prison.
Yes Dot Farrah's introduction showed an alternate rec room in another block, full of unfamiliar prisoners.
Several riots and disasters gripped the entire prison, but we didn't see evidence on screen of there being seven other blocks of the size and make-up of H-block.
There are only 2 cells, the 3 bedder, and the other around the corner, which is just decorated differently for different characters. Sink moved to the other side of the room etc.
I'm taking about the second half of the series by the way. I know there was a different layout for the earlier eps but I haven't seen those fully.
There were a small number of sets which would be dressed and re-dressed to represent different locations. This is because it was a low budget fast turnaround production. They couldn't afford many different sets and the studio space to have them all erected at once. Two cell sets would represent any number of different cells. The rec room and dining room, for example, were the same set, redressed. That set probably was redressed again to become the staff room.
My all-time favourite anomaly is Jock Stewart's stunt double - still the worst I have ever seen!
or Marie Winter's (hanging from a helicopter).
Dot and Minnie might not have been the greatest characters in the show, but I'm sure you get my drift?
Indeed! My God, Marie Winter was scary! :eek:
PCBH is being discussed in the thread titled "Shows which have never looked out of date" -
Posting numbers: 6, 10, from 14, 20, 25, 29, 42, 48, from 50, 56, 59, from 61, from 88, from 105 and from posting number 113.
Here is a link the above-named thread which is the TV shows UK section of the forum:
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1550070&highlight=pcbh
Prisoner was only ever called 'Prisoner: Cell Block H' I think to avoid confusion with the US show 'The Prisoner' so it seemed natural to focus the show purely on H block.
The Top Dog is the top dog of the whole prison - that much is certain. Be a bit silly if we had an absent top dog who rules from B block but is never seen.
Yes, there are rec rooms for every block, this is proved in a 1984 episode when Meg and Heather Rodgers go to sort out a problem with Dot Farrah in one of the other blocks.
What bugged me is that there seemed to be a door leading into the shower block in reception, was it the same shower block as the one we see all the time?
The whole schematics of the reception area in proximity to the Gov's office also seemed to change by the episode.
There are alot of anomalies in this post!
Firstly, 'The Prisoner' is a UK show, not a US one. It was only renamed in the UK to avoid confusion with that UK show. In the rest of the world, it was known as 'Prisoner'. The UK named it 'Prisoner: Cell Block H' purely because that's the prison block all the drama was set in.
It seems more likely that each block had its own top dog, rather than there being one top dog for the whole prison, which is nonsensical. Also, only prisoners in H block ever nominated top dogs.
It's probable that there is one shower block by reception for incoming prisoners; the other shower block appers to be at or towards the back of H block.
My mistake with the origins of 'the prisoner' but 'cell block h' was certainly added to the US syndication of the show, not the UK.
Definitely one Top Dog per prison. There is no evidence to suggest otherwise. Its nonsensical to assume a top dog per block, the top dog would often order things for the whole prison. Lou Kelly order the whole prison out on hunger strike, none of the 'other top dogs' come against this, do you know why? because there aren't any. Watch the series, you'll see its true.
So only the one anomaly .
Cell Block H is what would come up on British tv guides and EPGs, and is what the series was referred as verbally at all times in the UK.
The prisoners in cellh block H have nothing to do with other prisoners in other blocks; you'd quite often get prisoners transferred to other blocks and that would be the last you ever heard of them.
The Prisoners in H Block are the inmates of Wentworth Detention Centre that the show focuses on, they are representative of the other blocks, they can't be seen on the show because it would be unworkable. But suffice it to say, from a dramatic standpoint, everything happens in H block because it has to happen in H block in order to be seen on screen.
Prisoners being sent to 'other blocks' in order to write them out of the series had to be done because they couldnt just release people from long-term sentences or send them to lower security prisons, in fact, that very reason is probably why they made so much of the 'H block' thing. H block is not actually said in dialogue THAT much. Only when assigning prisoners to dorms, throwaway dialogue, not key to the series.
That was a rather patronising post. I've seen the series twice so please don't talk down to me as if I know nothing.
I've seen the series at least 6 times through. I'd consider myself an authority on the subject, but thats not to say I know everything.
So you accuse me of being patronising, then go and say something as pretentious as that. :rolleyes:
If you have been a fan of something for nearly 20 years, obsessively so, then you have a right to declare yourself an expert on the subject. Its not patronage. You can decide if you want to get insulted by it if you like.
I'd prefer it if we discussed the anomalies in prisoner myself.