Prisoner Cell Block H

[Lisa S]

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?

I am actually a huge fan of Bad Girls. I got hooked on it when I lived in London and when I returned to Australia I watched the remaining episodes on DVD. Bad Girls is not a pale imitation of Prisoner by any means. The show has great characters, the storylines are excellent and it has a real gritty feel to it. The show has a huge lesbian following in the UK because of the Helen and Nikki romance. I have only watched until the end of Series 6 where Jim Fenner gets arrested for hit and run on his wedding day. What are the more recent episodes like?

[I love music]

Oops, I quoted the wrong post (I wish I'd pay attention to what I'm doing ). I meant to quote this one, not Frankie's...

I am actually a huge fan of Bad Girls. I got hooked on it when I lived in London and when I returned to Australia I watched the remaining episodes on DVD. Bad Girls is not a pale imitation of Prisoner by any means. The show has great characters, the storylines are excellent and it has a real gritty feel to it. The show has a huge lesbian following in the UK because of the Helen and Nikki romance. I have only watched until the end of Series 6 where Jim Fenner gets arrested for hit and run on his wedding day. What are the more recent episodes like? Lisa S

I only ever watched about two or three episodes altogether so that's all I can judge it on. Maybe if I'd watched some more episodes I might have changed my mind. Sorry, I guess I'm making sweeping judgements here without knowing the full facts and I hate it myself when people do that - for instance, my bro hated PCBH with a vengeance but he never, ever watched more than five minutes of it...

[Pierced Musie]

I never got to see Prisoner but I am curious about it. Now, is it on the level of Bad Girls OR is it on the level of OZ, only with women?

If it is OZ level then I would be interested

[Frankie]

I never got to see Prisoner but I am curious about it. Now, is it on the level of Bad Girls OR is it on the level of OZ, only with women?

If it is OZ level then I would be interested

In it's day it was ground breaking.....I haven't seen much of it myself..I was just a kid when it aired in Oz... but it was THE drama of the day...and I know it also had...and still has... a huge cult following here in the UK.....it is uniquely Oz I think

[Pierced Musie]

... Probably should have put this in my post for people know but I'll put it now. OZ = American adult drama based in an all male prison.

[Frankie]

... Probably should have put this in my post for people know but I'll put it now. OZ = American adult drama based in an all male prison.

LOL...I can be very thick sometimes

[Pierced Musie]

You aren't the first person to make the mistake. I'm the thick one, for not making that obvious.

To find out what Oz is, just check on imdb.

[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.

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?

WEll the interesting thing is that it was very nearly canceeled after 2 years or so...I was asked to come up with something which would keep it going another 13 weeks...and the rest is history.

I thought it had a very long shelf life. It's the only show on which I have nhad complete freedom to tell the stories I wanted to....no interference at all ...and so it's the most satisfying to me. But 25 years? I don't think anyone could have foreseen that!

C

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?

Is that question for ME Frankie?

I have only seen a couple of eps and it does nothing for me I'm afraid.... on the other hand I thought OZ was brilliant. Bad Girls just.....dunno....maybe triies too hard without any real emotional core....and what I loved on Prisoner was the no makeup ugly women who could still make you fall in love with them....because of what they were like inside.

But I'm not sure you can say Bad girls is a copy of Prisoner....just the same genre....any more than Casualty or All Saints is a copy of ER>

[buffygirl]

I am going to jump in where angels fear to tread here... tongue.gif ...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?

Why should that be feared Frankie..it a naturall comparrison between the uk..soap and Aussies best aus drama

Is that question for ME Frankie?

I have only seen a couple of eps and it does nothing for me I'm afraid.... on the other hand I thought OZ was brilliant. Bad Girls just.....dunno....maybe triies too hard without any real emotional core....and what I loved on Prisoner was the no makeup ugly women who could still make you fall in love with them....because of what they were like inside.

But I'm not sure you can say Bad girls is a copy of Prisoner....just the same genre....any more than Casualty or All Saints is a copy of ER>

INMOP; Bad girls cannot compare in the way it is played in the realistic view from women on the inside as in the way prisoner did.. every woman was a real woman ..the way they looked did'nt controll the show..it was the actreses and they looked like every day women. in focused on the realism of the fact of its tendency towards the real world.

Coral im not good at explaining myself , so if you get me ?

[paulli75]

There will never be another show like PCB-H! It had everything in it- drama,murder,supense,tragedy,comedy & of course the one & only "bugger it" Lizzie Birdsworth!

I totally loved every moment of it!