Prisoner Cell Block H

[Dramaqueen]

Would anyone know if Prisoner is being screened on Foxtel? Like the Hallmark channel or something?

IT isn't! I just got Foxtel.... 3 months ago and have all channels and thought it would be on but It isn't. Guess i will have to check out my old Blue Heelers...:sniff, sniff"

[Drew]

That's why I wanted Foxtel, for Prisoner, Always Greener etc but they're not being shown lol... It must be so good to watch a show of your own Coral

[Jess]

That's why I wanted Foxtel, for Prisoner, Always Greener etc but they're not being shown lol... It must be so good to watch a show of your own Coral

But weird though, thinking "I wrote that, I remember doing that."

[Dramaqueen]

That's why I wanted Foxtel, for Prisoner, Always Greener etc but they're not being shown lol... It must be so good to watch a show of your own Coral

But weird though, thinking "I wrote that, I remember doing that."

You know....the interesting thing is that you really DON"T remember until you watch it again and then you go "OMG...NOW I remember."

I am always totally immersed in whatever show I am working on so that it seems more real than the real world....really weird!!! It's hard to leave but once you do it's like leaving home...lots of new stuff to get on with....till you all get together again ...like a reunion when you watch the show...then the memories come back.

I have a lot of eps on tape but i never watch them...I don't usually watch my own work.

The exception is Streetsmartz...Wednesdays 4pm Channel 9 because it was soooo low budget and meant to look like it was shot by kids on a cheap camera.... I loved it because it was different and enjoy it because although it was only last year I had forgotten how funny it is.

I WILL try to watch the new show Kel and I have created for NZ1 - but not sure how yet. Lots of time as it won't hit air till mid 2007. The show I am just starting on for Australia will probably be on air sooner.

Mostly it lives on the page and in my head though....I don't think any writer has ever seen an ep of their work which was as good on the screen as it is in their head.

[Drew]

Mostly it lives on the page and in my head though....I don't think any writer has ever seen an ep of their work which was as good on the screen as it is in their head.

I agree with that. And I actually know that as a fact with a movie I made a few months ago. You have these excellent plans for how it's going to turn out in your head and on paper. But once you film it and put it together, it's not exactly how you thought it would turn out.

[Lisa S]

I have some great news for Prisoner fans. All 692 episodes are going to be released on DVD. The first two volumes which will contain episodes 1-16 and 17-32 will be released on October 21. This will be followed by the next two volumes on November 18. In 2007, all further volumes in the 692-episode series will be released, along with a limited edition box set of all episodes mid-year.

Now I will be able to catch up on all the episodes that I have never seen and fill in a lot of those gaps. Would anyone be buying the entire box set? I would imagine that 692 episodes would not come cheap. I have a Bigpond Movies membership which enables me to hire 10 dvds a month which are delivered to my letterbox for $29.95 per month. So I may hire the remaining episodes through Bigpond rather than forking out for the entire boxset.

http://www.shock.com.au/news/news_item.asp?News_ID=1474

[Dramaqueen]

I have some great news for Prisoner fans. All 692 episodes are going to be released on DVD. The first two volumes which will contain episodes 1-16 and 17-32 will be released on October 21. This will be followed by the next two volumes on November 18. In 2007, all further volumes in the 692-episode series will be released, along with a limited edition box set of all episodes mid-year.

Now I will be able to catch up on all the episodes that I have never seen and fill in a lot of those gaps. Would anyone be buying the entire box set? I would imagine that 692 episodes would not come cheap. I have a Bigpond Movies membership which enables me to hire 10 dvds a month which are delivered to my letterbox for $29.95 per month. So I may hire the remaining episodes through Bigpond rather than forking out for the entire boxset.

http://www.shock.com.au/news/news_item.asp?News_ID=1474

These days writers would get residuals - money from the sale of DVDs and make a profit like everyone else. But back in the days when Prisoner was made we got NOTHING but the basic fee.....

If there had been residuals on Prisoner like there are on H&A and other shows now - I could have lived for the last twenty years on my earnings....although script producers are very well paid, writers sure as hell don't do it for the money.

[I love music]

Wasn't there a rumour they were going to do a re-make/follow-up of Prisoner: Cell Block H a couple of years back? Or did I imagine it?

I don't think anyone who watched Prisoner could ever forget it. Great characters, great theme song, great stories...

I'm surprised no one's mentioned the humour yet tho. Lou Kelly's brilliant one liners made me laugh so much and I LOVED the inside humour (hmm, uninentional pun) like when Lizzie, who'd just been released or something, turned up at the prison with another old lady telling the governer they wanted beds for the night...

The moment I got hooked on Prisoner was when "Mum" was released and she was in some kind of boarding house all alone. Sooo sad. My sister and me were watching crying our eyes out.

I think that the follow-up of cell block h was Dangerous Women that made 52 episodes.

I never saw that. I watched a couple of episodes of Bad Girls, but it never held my interest so I didn't follow it. The only characters who were remotely interesting were The Two Julies (think that was their name anyway). They spoke in unison or finished each other's sentences or something...And there was a nasty prison guard called, I think, Jim Fenner...it was like they were stealing ideas from Prisoner...

Bad Girls was like a pale imitation of Prisoner really. Bring back PCBH!!!

[Lisa S]

I have some great news for Prisoner fans. All 692 episodes are going to be released on DVD. The first two volumes which will contain episodes 1-16 and 17-32 will be released on October 21. This will be followed by the next two volumes on November 18. In 2007, all further volumes in the 692-episode series will be released, along with a limited edition box set of all episodes mid-year.

Now I will be able to catch up on all the episodes that I have never seen and fill in a lot of those gaps. Would anyone be buying the entire box set? I would imagine that 692 episodes would not come cheap. I have a Bigpond Movies membership which enables me to hire 10 dvds a month which are delivered to my letterbox for $29.95 per month. So I may hire the remaining episodes through Bigpond rather than forking out for the entire boxset.

http://www.shock.com.au/news/news_item.asp?News_ID=1474

These days writers would get residuals - money from the sale of DVDs and make a profit like everyone else. But back in the days when Prisoner was made we got NOTHING but the basic fee.....

If there had been residuals on Prisoner like there are on H&A and other shows now - I could have lived for the last twenty years on my earnings....although script producers are very well paid, writers sure as hell don't do it for the money.

That is a shame you don't get residuals from all the Prisoner episodes you wrote. This DVD package could of been a very nice earner for you especially as you wrote a lot of the 692 episodes!!!! 692 episodes will make up a hell of a lot of DVDs and I would imagine that this package would sell very well in the UK. Did you ever dream at the time you were on Prisoner that it would still be popular all over the world 25 years later?

[Frankie]

I am going to jump in where angels fear to tread here... ...what do you make of the UK imitation...Bad Girls?.....Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery or is it a thorn in the side?