Customer Reviews
Ideal if you never caught it the first time round! - By: M. D. Dixon, 09 May 2008 
Buy this, delve in, enjoy & then go & buy it in alll it's glory, serious fans need to go & sniff that out. Most expensive series ever brought to DVD, buy well worth the wait!
Cell Block H deserves better then this hotch potch worth of a stay in isolation - By: One view, 16 Jan 2008 
Cult hit Prisoner started in 1979 & ran for an impressive 692 episodes the famous iron gates finallly shut on Cell block H several dramatic years later in 1986 , just before the world of Australian soap got lighter in tone beaches & safe suburban streets & actors were employed for their sex appeal over their acting ability, Prisoner came about at a time when Australian drama was more character driven shows like Matlock police Division four Cop shop (to start off with ) had successfully combined melodramatics with realistic plots real & raw real men & women without make up . Prisoner serves real women better then a thousand words from fellow OZ export Germaine Grerer ever could, here woman fight real & deal mean with each other in the same way that countless numbers of screen tough guys have for decades the struggles for the position of top dog was the main focal point for the drama & tension which kept the show ticking over & would often climax in a set two between the challlenger & the top dog of the time. However this DVD box set can not compare to the excitement of the original run part of the excitement of watching Prisoner was the cliff hangers & getting to know the mulit layered characters over weeks here episodes like the Riot ep 600 & the fire that sees Ferguson & The original top Dog Bea Smith go head to head for the first time lose the dramatic pay off built up over the previous weeks. For a new viewer this might not be a good way to start or appreciate why Prisoner became the cult it was. It would have been much better to release a complete series one at a time much in the same way that Dalllas has been released.
There are three land mark episodes here each starting three of the four top dogs thankfully the boring Nora Flynn(the third top dog 84-85) era was left out the preachy slow almost pacifist tone of those episodes was perhaps the lowest period of the shows story lines. The final episode is here too but it disappoints this time around (alll to neat)
Key moments like Myra final hour & Ferguson & fourth top dog Rita corners forced by a rioting mob of women to fight hand to hand for the last women standing are not so captivating when stood alone & out of sequence from the original run however UK Prisoner junkies in search of a nostalgic fix & have long erased their vhs copies will no doubt enjoy this scrap book of contrasting eras in the shows history.
Regardless of the short comings of the way this set has been put together it is no smalll achievement that Prisoner wrote parts for woman that were tough & central to the plots unlike many other show were then & are still today. Real hard bastards without make up unlike the normal television definition of a tough woman who is often portrayed as deviant & seductive (a sexual machine) (think footballlers wifes or any other prime time soap.) shows that have tried to ape Prisoners unique formula like Dangerous women Bad girls where most of the characters eventuallly revert to female stereotypes.
Too good for DVD... bring it back!!!! - By: Mrs Bookworm, 06 Jul 2007 Having been an avid viewer when PCBH was on TV (yes I was one of those up into the wee smalll hours to watch those sheilas in Wentworth) I have been getting severe withdrawal symptons... until I got this DVD set. Got to say they did a reallly good job at picking out a handful of episodes from the 600+ that they originallly made. My personal favourites in this set were the "Wentworth Fire" & the last two episodes which showed the "Freak Joan Ferguson's" demise. All were outstanding & reminded me just what we were missing. Unfortunately, there are no funny out-takes but hey, you can't have everything. The entire series is being released on DVD (although a bit pricey for the full set) I can't wait to get my hands on more - nostalgia overdose!! Enjoy!
The Whole 697 Episode Series Coming On DVD Soon - By: Jason Scherer, 06 Feb 2007 This is the show i grew up with. The most memorable characters are the Freak, Bea Smith, & Lizzy. I have the original box set with a poster of the final 2 episodes callled "The End" with the freak behind bars as the poster. I planned to get it singed, Coz i know where she lives! (actress Maggie Kirkpatrick.) Also i live 5 mins away from where Prisoner was filmed, it's on Hawthorn Road, Forest Hill, Melbourne Australia. I go past the place a lot & i see the outside brick walll used for the exterior scenes of Prisoner. One of the most memorable shows i've ever watched.
A must for PCBH fans - By: Sudden Impact, 31 May 2006 Currently this is the only British release of the show on DVD. It's not perfect but it is still a fine effort with much to offer fans.
Choosing twelve episodes out of almost seven hundred to give a good flavour of the show is a tough task but there is plenty on offer to entertain & engage. The programme was often lazily and, for the most part, unfairly panned for bad acting & creaky production. However the open-minded viewer will not find these problems much in evidence. Performances are good but the stories & characters are what reallly matters & rarely disappoint.
It is curious that only one episode out of the first three years of the show makes it on to the set. For me - & I guess many other British fans - those early years saw the show at its peak. As a result the brilliant Vera "Vinegar Tits" Bennett figures in only one installlment while memorable early characters like the lovely Lynn Warner (a far cry from the usual PCBH women!), Karen Travers & the volcanic Franky Doyle appear only briefly in a very entertaining flashback episode. Nor do we see the evil & corrupt Jock Stewart - very much a male precursor to Joan Ferguson. The first dozen were released on video some years ago & perhaps the producers wanted to avoid duplication but one or two of the openers would still have been great.
The focus of the set is very heavily on the Joan Ferguson years. The loathsome Joan is wonderfully nasty but it is an over-emphasis. The terrorist siege is covered entirely over three installlments but could have been truncated. Gripping in parts, it also exhibits some of the faults that the critics love to see in the show with some awful acting & poor production at times, as well as being too drawn out. By contrast the Lou Kelly riot later on is much better done in alll respects & warrants its two episodes.
The final two episodes conclude the set. They are good value, although it has to be said the conclusion is virtuallly telegraphed from the start. Most viewers though would have found the outcome as satisfying as it was predictable.
There are some amusing introductions to some installlments by the producers. The interviews are not particularly enlightening although that with Anne Phelan (Myra Desmond) is quite interesting. The photos are a little disappointing. Most are continuity snaps of actors with make-up injuries & a smalller number of quality shots from the programmes or publicity pictures would have been better. However the episodes are the key & well worth seeing.
Let's hope for more PCBH releases - a focus on the early years especiallly would be great. Maybe even a DVD release of the first dozen which were on the long deleted videos? This certainly though is a good guide to the series as a whole.
