Post by topcat on Mar 7, 2010 6:37:29 GMT -5
I make no apology for seeing a thread on this elsewhere and bringing it here (as I don't post there and don't intend to ).
This was a British prison drama from 1974. I remember my Mum watching it on it's original airing and saw many of the episodes when it was repeated a few years later. Then, around 1993, it was repeated every afternoon on a satellite channel called Granada Plus. Even after 20 years, it was still a brilliant piece of drama. I, eventually, got the first series on DVD after BG had aired and was struck by how many storylines and characters were similar.
The major difference was that the stories were predominently from the officers perspective and the officers were always good eggs, doing the best for the inmates. Even so, there are amazing similarities - new liberal female Governor with little experience - and a quiff from hell - (Mrs Boswell). Bolshy, jobsworth chief officer, always wanting to do things by the book (Mrs Armitage). Many of the inmates have a BG equivalent. The other difference was that each story was rather more self contained. You rarely saw regular inmates in a run of more than a few episodes. Every ep had a new cast bar the officers!
Here is the start of the first episode where they introduce Helen, Fenner and Bodybag........
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSauuwZBCFQ&feature=related
Here is a clip from series two and the synopsis goes like this
"One of the inmates died in a fire in a segregation cell at Stonepark and some of the women organize a protest as they believe it was due to staff negligence"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cpzTKUz0pg&feature=related
It's all a little more quaint than BG and 'The Queen's English' is spoken, even by the cons, but it is very watchable. Many of the actresses became very well known on British TV. Apparenty, Googie Withers is 93 and still going strong!
This was a British prison drama from 1974. I remember my Mum watching it on it's original airing and saw many of the episodes when it was repeated a few years later. Then, around 1993, it was repeated every afternoon on a satellite channel called Granada Plus. Even after 20 years, it was still a brilliant piece of drama. I, eventually, got the first series on DVD after BG had aired and was struck by how many storylines and characters were similar.
The major difference was that the stories were predominently from the officers perspective and the officers were always good eggs, doing the best for the inmates. Even so, there are amazing similarities - new liberal female Governor with little experience - and a quiff from hell - (Mrs Boswell). Bolshy, jobsworth chief officer, always wanting to do things by the book (Mrs Armitage). Many of the inmates have a BG equivalent. The other difference was that each story was rather more self contained. You rarely saw regular inmates in a run of more than a few episodes. Every ep had a new cast bar the officers!
Here is the start of the first episode where they introduce Helen, Fenner and Bodybag........
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSauuwZBCFQ&feature=related
Here is a clip from series two and the synopsis goes like this
"One of the inmates died in a fire in a segregation cell at Stonepark and some of the women organize a protest as they believe it was due to staff negligence"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cpzTKUz0pg&feature=related
It's all a little more quaint than BG and 'The Queen's English' is spoken, even by the cons, but it is very watchable. Many of the actresses became very well known on British TV. Apparenty, Googie Withers is 93 and still going strong!