I remember late nights as a young boy (probably just 10 or 11), lying at the foot of my bed as close to my 14inch black and white portable TV as possible so I could have the the volume loud enough to hear hear without Mum being able to hear in the room next door. I can't say at that age I actually understood everything that was happening but still I loved the drama of it all, the often over dramatical incidental music and for many years wanted my own steam press iron . . . . . imagine my disappointment however when my Nan announced she was getting one in 1996 for it to arrive looking nothing like the one from Prisoner Cell Block H and with a distinct lack of high pressure steam shooting out each time it was closed. Clearly my Nan wasn't top dog material!
Being in the Meridian region I was able to follow the episodes for a good 10 years but I couldn't beleive my luck when in 1997 I was able to get double the 'hit' by watching late night on ITV and waking up at the crack of dawn to catch the early episodes on Channel 5 (before falling back to sleep again until my alarm clock went of the second time). Sadly Meridian stopped broadcasting in 1999 and then Channel 5 stopped in 2001
Prisoner Cell Block H became a happy but distant memory of my childhood and teenage years until I was in Glasgow earlier this year and saw the poster saying Elspeth Ballantyne would be coming to the HMV store to sign copies of the DVDs. Sadly, despite my best efforts I couldn't get time off work to attend but the news of DVDs now available had me whipping out my credit card and hitting the HMV website. So today, some 20 or so years after I first became hooked I can still enjoy those early episodes (and understand them this time) and I am proud to say I have passed on the "bug" to my 14 year old step son. He borrows the DVDs to watch on his laptop but like me at that age he doesn't understand all the underlying "themes" and always has lots of questions but I think I'll let him go through that journey of discovery like I did!