Guess I'll just have to sleep now... (Prisoner: Cell Block H)

Member Name: MichaelR

Product:	Prisoner: Cell Block H
Date:	15/02/01 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant, Addictive Television.

Disadvantages: The early time slot when it was on C5.

Well, (for the second time) it's finally over...

I don't know what I'm going to do now on a Saturday and Sunday morning at 4:40AM... I've got myself so tuned into getting up to watch this wonderful piece of Australian Television Genius that I'm probably just going to sit in front of the TV wishing it would come back again and crying when it doesn't!

Grundy TV and the Nine Network in Australia really should be given some sort of award for Prisoner... yes, OK, so the sets may be constructed out of cardboard, yes, you could see a whole cameraman and camera in the mirror when Joan washed her hands in the finance company during that most excellent last episode, and yes, you can often see a sound boom dropping into the top of the picture. I won’t even start on the continuity issues…

The thing is though, that for all its faults, Prisoner Cell Block H is THE most addictive and most compelling television program that I have ever known. What else would have got me out of bed in the morning so early for so long?

I watched it first time around, from fairly late on, and I have to say that it was even better the second time around.

Most of the acting is as shaky as the sets. (The fight scene between Rita and Blackmoor's top dog during the riot surely wins the award for most unbelievable fight scene on TV ever!) However, there are also some genuinely brilliant pieces of acting in there. Maggie Kirkpatrick was always particularly impressive as Joan Ferguson (aka "The Freak") and although the plots can seem a little silly and very far-fetched some of the time, you could never say that they were dull.

It's the constantly changing plots and actually coming to care about the characters that had me so hooked the first time around, and just reliving it, and waiting for that glorious final episode where Joan gets her just deserts that hooked me again for a second time.

If y
ou've never watched PCBH, you'll think that I, and everyone else here is very, very sad... but really, it's infectious. You can never understand 'til you watch. You only have to watch one episode, that's all it took to get me. Watch one episode and you'll be hooked.

Sadly, it's over again now, but my god this is a 15 year old piece of TV now! Grundy will surely sell it to any other channel that shows an interest for a very low price. I hope that perhaps with all the pressure being put on it, Channel 5 might even pay to run it through again.

You can be sure that it would get just as many people watching it, if not more, if it were screened for a third time.

Simply superb.

Summary: