Prisoner: Cell Block H – 25th Anniversary Collector’s Edition
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Episodes: B
One of Australian TV’s most successful TV exports
continues to be Prisoner: Cell Block H, which ran from 1979 to 1986 and
racked up 692 hour-long shows. The
gritty soap opera about a woman’s prison was some of the best TV writing of its
type, inspired by early 1970s TV breakthroughs that made it possible. The shows were wacky, trashy, violent, dark,
clever and well done than the drama of any “reality TV” you can come up with.
The show still has a strong following and A&E has
issued this 25th Anniversary Collector’s Edition DVD set, splitting
the three DVDs into three eras of the shows run. Obviously, releasing all those shows would be costly, so this
makes for a great crash course on the series.
Despite showing its age in sets and analog professional PAL videotape
production, the acting, casting and writing is done very well and when I
finished the set, I wondered what I missed in the remaining 680 shows. The fights, breakout attempts, corruption
and the like still seem a little ahead of their time, especially as Tv is still
ignoring female cast shows outside of comedies.
It is the kind of show that would sadly not be made
anymore and is not politically correct, which is all the more reason it holds
up. It is about something, is not
afraid to be dark and takes itself and its situations seriously enough. The cast of mostly unknown actresses (still
unknown in the U.S. for the most part) is totally convincing, though some of
them did not stay with the series the entire time. The 1.33 X 1 videotaped image varies, but is not bad, while the
sound is stereo-boosted Dolby Digital 2.0 and extras include interviews with
stars Val Lehman, Anne Phelan, casting director Jan Russ and a still section of
continuity Polaroids. That makes this a
fine set that will allow those who enjoy good TV to rediscover the series.
- Nicholas Sheffo
