Prisoner 1979

Overview

Prisoner is an Australian soap opera set within the fictional Wentworth Detention Centre. The series explores the lives of inmates and staff at this high-security women's prison, focusing on their backstories, daily struggles, and interpersonal relationships within the environment of incarceration. Known in the United Kingdom and the United States as Prisoner: Cell Block H and in Canada as Caged Women, the program was broadcast on the 0-10 Network, later known as Network Ten. The series began its run in February 1979, with initial broadcasts occurring on February 26 in Sydney and February 27 in Melbourne. The show concluded its original broadcast run in 1986 in Melbourne and 1987 in Sydney. The cast of the 1979 production included Elspeth Ballantyne, Betty Bobbitt, Sheila Florance, and Maggie Kirkpatrick. The narrative centers on the harsh realities of life for those deprived of liberty and kept under involuntary restraint or confinement within the facility.