On The Inside (The TV Theme From Prisoner Cell Block H)

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Prisoner was part of Channel 5's schedule when it launched in 1997. [33] The series returned to the UK in September 2023 after 22 years when it was added to the channel's streaming service My5. [34] United States [ edit ] Re-live one of Australia's best dramas – Foxtel Insider – What's On". FOXTEL. 3 March 2011. Archived from the original on 19 May 2013 . Retrieved 1 February 2013. February 1979 was when the series debuted on ATV-10 as a two-hour special; the show had its national debut in Sydney on TEN-10 the night before on 26 February, where it was televised as a two-part premiere, with the second part seen on 27 February. Under the half-hour format, the original episodes were broadcast in two parts, though some scenes were censored or removed for the US telecast.

Prisoner: Eight Years Inside". Aussie Soap Archive. Archived from the original on 11 September 2009 . Retrieved 7 December 2006. Production commences on Wentworth Season 7". Showcasechannel.com.au. 12 April 2018. Archived from the original on 14 April 2018 . Retrieved 21 June 2018. The actor was more concerned about the soap’s violence. “One week you’d be raped and the next you’d be at someone with a bit of lead pipe,” she said. Although the song was not used as the theme for Wentworth, the 2013 reimagining of Prisoner, it was briefly heard in the pilot episode, being hummed by Jacs Holt (played by Kris McQuade), the show's main antagonist. The original Lynn Hamilton single version of "On the Inside" was, however, used on the closing credits of the final episode of Wentworth (titled "Legacy") in Australia, which aired 26 October 2021, whilst a modern cover version was used on the UK broadcast on Five Star later the same day. A stage version of Prisoner, based on the original scripts, was produced in 1989 and toured the United Kingdom. Elspeth Ballantyne (Meg Morris) and Patsy King (Erica Davidson) reprised their characters and Glenda Linscott (Rita Connors) played a new character, Angela Mason. A second tour, with Fiona Spence ( Vera Bennett) and Jane Clifton (Margo Gaffney), followed in 1990; Jacqui Gordon (Susie Driscoll) played new character Kath Evans.Although Bobbitt semi-retired in 1998 to run a novelty shop in the Blue Mountains north of Sydney, she appeared alongside other Prisoner stars to celebrate its 40th anniversary with cameos in a 2019 episode of Neighbours. Peta Toppano's first name was spelled in the closing credits as "Peita", her actual spelling. Both "Peta" and "Peita" are used in other television programs, movies, and magazine articles. None of the original cast was initially scheduled to return for the first series, but on 29 November 2012 it was confirmed that Anne Charleston (who appeared in the original series) would make a guest appearance, as well as Sigrid Thornton who was in the original series as Ros Coulson, Thornton would play Sonia Stevens. [15] Wentworth premiered in Australia on Foxtel's SoHo channel on 1 May 2013. [16] [17] [18] As of 2018, the series was still in production, with a sixth season premiering on 19 June 2018, while a seventh season had been announced and due to air in 2019. Season 7 aired in May 2019. While Wentworth was confirmed for a 2021 ending, it won't surpass Prisoner in episodes, but will surpass the show in years on air. [19] During Wentworth 13 actors who appeared in Prisoner also appeared in Wentworth in a guest capacity, including Tina Bursill who appeared in Prisoner as the character of Sonia Stevens she was cast in Wentworth as Eve Wilder [20] and several others. Prisoner premiered in Australia on 27 February 1979. [nb 4] Its success prompted the producers to extend the series, first from 16 to 20 episodes and then indefinitely. The production schedule increased from one- to two-hour-long episodes per week; Carol Burns left the show after 20 episodes, feeling that she could not continue playing Franky Doyle with the tighter schedule. Her storyline sees her as an escapee from Wentworth with fellow inmate Doreen Anderson, and after being on the run for three weeks, she is shot dead by a policeman. [12]

In South Africa, public television network SABC 1 began airing the series in 1998, screening Thursday nights at 9 p.m. and a repeat showing on Fridays at 10:45; [25] it was cancelled on 2 October 2000, after episode 156. Knox, David (29 November 2012). "Anne Charleston guests in Wentworth". TV Tonight . Retrieved 1 February 2013. Knox, David (3 March 2011). "Prisoner cast reunite on the inside". TV Tonight . Retrieved 1 February 2013.Inspired by the British television drama Within These Walls, the show was initially conceived as a 16-episode series, with a pilot episode bearing the working title "Women Behind Bars". [nb 2] Its storylines focused on the lives of the prisoners and, to a lesser extent, the officers and other prison staff. When the initial episodes met an enthusiastic reception, it was felt that Prisoner could be developed into an ongoing soap opera. The early storylines were developed and expanded, with assistance from the Victorian Corrective Services Department. [5] Alongside some outlandish storylines, it featured serious issues, dealing with feminism, homosexuality, social reform and how women responded to prison. On June 18, 2021, producer Matt Batten created the Talking Prisoner podcast and YouTube channel. Batten's co-host Ken Mulholland served as head cameraman on Prisoner from the series debut until episode 692. Mulholland and Batten interview cast and crew from Prisoner in depth. The podcast however also features interviews with cast and crew from other popular Australian internationally successful series like Sons and Daughters and Neighbours, and also featured interviews from staff at actual prisons including a 2023 interview with a warder from Ireland and a Prison Chaplin from San Quentin. In 2023 Mulholland departed [21] the podcast to focus on his art and it was announced that Tim Burns had joined as the new co-host of the podcast. Betty Bobbitt self-published From the Outside, in 2011, which are her memoirs of her career which included playing the role of Judy Bryant on Prisoner. [23]

The song was rerecorded and released by singer Ella Hooper to coincide with Foxtel's Australian re-run of the series, which started in March 2011. [13] Bobbitt’s 1963 marriage to Robin Hill, an Australian artist, ended in divorce after three years. She is survived by their son, Chris, and her son Oliver from another relationship, as well as Meg “Mig” Dann, her partner of 31 years. On the Inside" (written by Allan Caswell, conducted by William Motzing performed by Lynne Hamilton) Network Ten began rerunning Prisoner on 8 May 1995; the series was cancelled, despite promises that it would return after the 1996 Christmas break. BBC UKTV began airing it from the beginning on 30 November 1997, at 12:15am on Tuesday and Thursday and 11:30pm on Saturday and Sunday. A repeat was broadcast at 2pm on Monday. From March 2022, the show is available for streaming at 10play. [52] [ citation needed]During the repeat run from 2000 until October 2004, the network screening was four times a week (Monday to Thursday) at 2:15 am. The episodes were then repeated on weekends with both the Monday and Tuesday episode on Saturday and the Wednesday and Thursday episodes on Sunday. Ian Bradley served as original producer and then executive producer, from series 2, whilst associate producer and screenwriter was Ian Smith, who appeared as an actor in the series as Head of the Department Ted Douglas, prior to becoming famous as the character Harold Bishop in Neighbours; another screenwriter, Anne Lucas, also acted briefly in the series playing prison bookie Faye Quinn. [3]

Such was the programme’s international success that the British fan club brought over Bobbitt and other cast members for personal appearances, although she was not among those who appeared in a 1989 Prisoner stage show touring the UK or a later West End production. Other series to have featured Prisoner spoofs included The Paul Hogan Show, Let the Blood Run Free, Naked Video and The Krypton Factor.Due to Prisoner 's popularity in the UK during the late 1980s, its British fan club organised personal-appearance tours for several actresses including Val Lehman (Bea Smith), Carol Burns (Franky Doyle), Betty Bobbitt (Judy Bryant), Sheila Florance (Lizzie Birdsworth), Amanda Muggleton (Chrissie Latham) and Judy McBurney (Pixie Mason). A TV special, The Great Escape, was produced in 1990. The programme, which featured Val Lehman, Sheila Florance, Amanda Muggleton and Carol Burns on their 1990 UK visit, includes extensive footage of their on-stage interview with TV presenter Anna Soubry in which the cast members discuss their time on the series. Recorded at the Derby Assembly Rooms in Derby, [27] it was briefly available in the UK on VHS video. [28] a b c d e "Prisoner Worldwide". Archived from the original on 19 February 2017 . Retrieved 18 February 2017. Prisoner was the first Australian series to feature a primarily female-dominated cast [ citation needed] and carried the slogan "If you think prison is hell for a man, imagine what it would be like for a woman!" [2] Don Battye and Peter Pinne were employed by the Grundy Organisation, Battye wrote and produced scripts for Neighbours, The Restless Years and Sons and Daughters, Pinne worked on The Young Doctors, Sons and Daughters and Neighbours and oversaw the overseas productions of Grundy works in North and South America. Both were also Composers, they would write the Theme for Sons and Daughters and two songs for Neighbours. Both had worked on Stage Musicals, both Adult and Children based, so in the 90's they wrote the Book Music and Lyrics to what was then called The Wild, Wild Women of Wentworth, a stage musical using a faithful retelling of the 692 episodes with a mixture of different styles of music from Country to Pop.