Maggie Kirkpatrick

Prisoner is an Australian soap opera that is set in the Wentworth Detention Centre, a fictional women’s prison. In the United States and United Kingdom it was billed as Prisoner: Cell Block H, and in Canada as Caged Women. The series was produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation in Australia, and aired on Network Ten, running 692 episodes from 27 February 1979 to 11 December 1986, after originally only devised as a 16 part mini-series.

The series was inspired by British television drama Within These Walls, which had achieved moderate success in Australia. Prisoner producers even approached Googie Withers of Within These Walls to play the role of Prisoner’s governor, an offer that she declined. Because of an injunction brought by UK-based ATV, which considered the title too similar to their own series, The Prisoner, it was originally not possible for overseas broadcasters to screen the show under the Prisoner title, which necessitated a name change.

In March 2012, it was announced that the series would be “reimagined” on Foxtel in a new version entitled Wentworth.