Prisoner: Cell Block H is BACK!

[George White]

Christ.

[xxxx xxx x xxx]

I'm not crying...I've just got something in my eye, that's all...

[DrGreggles]

Bet you wish you had something in your ears...

[DrGreggles]

Still one of the most astonishing things ever televised

[George White]

Just realised why Meg is called Meg. Cos Reg Watson had previously cocreated Crossroads, so having a hair helmeted saintly woman called Meg was a trademark.

[Cuntbeaks]

Big fan back in the early 90's when it was on STV 5 nights a week, sometimes even 2 episodes a night.

Sessions would frequently revolve around watching it and i may have even watched it on acid.

One of my biggest regrets was not going to see the live tour they did in 1993. Seeing them all in the flesh, doing the laundry etc would have been quite magical.

[DrGreggles]

One of my biggest regrets was not going to see the live tour they did in 1993. Seeing them all in the flesh, doing the laundry etc would have been quite magical.

The play? I don't think many of the classic cast were involved, it seemed to written/re-written around which actors were available. The first version was based heavily on Meg and Erica, then completely changed to Vera and Margo for the next run.
There was also the mid-90s musical (which emerged from the ashes of a failed attempt at rewriting the play again for Joan Ferguson), with The Freak alongside Lily Savage and, er... Bella Emberg.

[xxxx xxx x xxx]

Still one of the most astonishing things ever televised

Well, that was certainly......err.........I'll get back to you!

[George White]

It feels like something @spam would have a ball dissecting.

[George White]

Tough and sexy, wow

there was an Irish country singer, Gloria Sherry who was the absolute spit.

[Natnar]

Kath Maxwell is one of my favourite inmates. She's one of the few characters that actually seems to have a good arc. She starts off as a bit of a baddie but of course ends up Top Dog by the final episode.

[George White]

Required reading https://www.pantoarchive.com/prisoner-cell-block-h-panto-connection

[DrGreggles]

Still one of the most astonishing things ever televised

Don't want to spoil anything, but this might appear in the Christmas 'Special' of the (9th) most popular PCBH podcast...

[tdurbo]

The UK PCBH fan club was set up and run by someone in my village. Val Lehman used to drink at my local, The Spotted Cow, in Holbrook. As a massive fan at the time, it never failed to amaze me to see her in my local, halfway round the world. But PCBH was MASSIVE at the time, so they were picking up loads of media coverage and I'd guess quite a fair bit of cash.
I'm lucky, we were in the Central ITV region so it was on a lot.

"You killed my Leanne"
"Oh rack off, ya dag"

I also thought the final episode was perfect

[Famous Mortimer]

Agreed on the last episode, one of the all-time great show endings.

[DrGreggles]

There's a watchalong podcast about PCBH called No Lagging, I liked the first episode and need to catch up with them.

There's a Christmas special just dropped.

[shiftwork2]

There's a Christmas special just dropped.

Oh yes just spotted that, will give it a listen.

[xxxx xxx x xxx]

It's being repeated on 5Select (Freeview channel 46) starting tonight. There's a couple of episodes on most nights at around 2330.

[DrGreggles]

Have they upscaled the picture quality?
I'm all for horror movies, but I'm not sure I could handle Lizzie in HD.

[xxxx xxx x xxx]

Have they upscaled the picture quality?
I'm all for horror movies, but I'm not sure I could handle Lizzie in HD.

No, it's completely untouched, just like re-visiting an old friend.  Lizzie's gleeful cackle when Bea brought the laundry press down on Lynne Warner's hand was pretty startling though.

[JesusAndYourBush]

A Freeview channel (that started on Jan 3rd) called That's 2 is showing Prisoner at 11pm every night. They've only shown 2 episodes so far.

[xxxx xxx x xxx]

Thanks for that - it's disappeared from Select 5 (during the Frankie and Doreen on the run storyline), it looks like it's started again from scratch on That's 2.

[Indomitable Spirit]

Become quite obsessed with PCBH over the Christmas and particularly the short-lived Bev "The Beast" Baker character. The idea that the writers had to dump from the show after a few weeks because she was too scary just adds to her mythos.

Loads of genuinely chilling moments in there - specifically Myra waking up to see Bev watching her sleep and Bobbie receiving her "prize". The KPM library music sting they use when Bev does anything evil just adds to the woozy, unsettling VHS horror-ness of it all.

Worth checking out this account for loads of Prisoner content - especially the supercuts of all the best (and worst) PCBH characters. Great stuff.

[DrGreggles]

Makes you wonder what they had planned for Bev.

[JesusAndYourBush]

So I've been watching it on 'That's 2', and in episode 8 there was a shot of someone and I have no clue who it is or why that shot is there, I don't recognise the person and it doesn't fit with anything else in the episode.

From 45:17 - 45:50.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgH1DXRI6dU&t=45m17s

Anyone have any ideas who the heck that is?

[DrGreggles]

Haven't checked, but that's usually how they'll introduce a future inmate or storyline. They do tend to come out of the blue.

[Indomitable Spirit]

It's a barely recognisable Vera. Helen Masters makes a comment about her being dowdy a couple of scenes previous which obviously struck a nerve.

[Mr_Simnock]

Still one of the most astonishing things ever televised

my word that is both odd and awfull in equal measure, apart from around 20 mins in when Val Lehman tuns up dressed in Purple, picks up a lot that bit

[xxxx xxx x xxx]

It's a barely recognisable Vera. Helen Masters makes a comment about her being dowdy a couple of scenes previous which obviously struck a nerve.

Yep, it's poor old Vinegar Tits, getting ready to hit the bars and drunkenly pick up a bloke.

[DrGreggles]

my word that is both odd and awfull in equal measure, apart from around 20 mins in when Val Lehman tuns up dressed in Purple, picks up a lot that bit

Yeah, it's covered in the Christmas pod.
I'd love to find someone whose first knowledge of the show was that.