Prisoner Cell Block H (UK DVD Box Sets General Chat)
 

Is anyone getting the UK sets of this? The Australian set is the full 692 episodes and ranges from £500 to £1,250 depending on where you buy it from and if you avoid customs charges.

The first volume of I'm guessing 22 is going for £25 on Amazon, HMV and Play etc and it contains 32 episodes. I've done a calculation and if you buy the individual UK sets then it comes to a total of £550. Each of the 22 volumes will be released depending on how well the previous one(s) sell so it's best to buy sooner rather than later. I'm sorely tempted myself but have gone a little over my budget already for this month so I'll have to hold off until December.

Anyone else getting these sets then? Cell Block H is one of my all time favourite TV series.

Tried Price drop TV's site Cloudy?-They sell boxsets at a friggin fraction...;)

I'll check soon. You get yourself this box set then? I know you're a closet fan ;).

:ack:My love for most Australian visual outings definetly draws the line at this......

You're miserable. Cell Block H is a classic!

Do we have any other fans round here or am I alone (as usual)? Where are the Wilson Bros, they're fans!

.....Used to bring me roses.....

Bring on the Freak !.Me & my wife watched this all the while when it was on ITV.Compulsive viewing despite the cardboard sets.

My dad absolutely loves Prisoner Cell Block H.

I followed this avidly when it was on TV. Absolutely classic TV. Vinegar Tits or The Freak - who was worse, you decide!

I have the 7" single, to my shame :D

I love the music that comes on at the end. It's a wonderful song.

So come on then. Who's bought or is gonna buy these UK sets?

P.S., "The Freak" was my favourite character :cool:.

Oh and who remembers the episode when the male "screw" turned out to be a serial killer? **** me backwards, that shit me up good and proper!

Am i the only one who thinks Vinegar Tits is quite sexy?

Vinegar Tits :rofl:

I used to like watching Prisoner Cell Block H. I remember seeing on screen after the show came back on after the last ad break, that coming up next was Central Weekend and later The Hit Man and Her.

I've met a couple of cast members at Memorabilia - Val Leehan (Bea Smith) and Amanda Muggleton (Chrissie). I couldn't remember the latter's face until I saw her at the event and it all came back. She had a baby in the prison in one storyline.

Loved hearing that song at the end. Such a contrast to what came before it in the episode! It was sad but also positive as well.

I have been tempted in buying the UK set of the first 32 episodes. However I've forgotten to look for it in my local HMV. I've also thought about that mega Austrailian DVD boxset which you have posted about Cloud on here, the ABUK forum or Cult Movie Forums. But I'm not that big enough a fan to want to buy the mega boxset.

Was that from one of the early episodes, the male prison guard who turned out to be a serial killer?

The Freak scared me as well. Don't know how I'd react if I saw the actress who played her at an autograph show, even though she was playing somebody fictional!

Maggie Kilpatrick who played Joan Ferguson was also on the other side of the prison bars in Home & Away not too long back.It was a highly entertaining series Prisoner,and Me & my missus watched it every week.Ten times better than that crap Eastenders which just gets worse.The older episodes are unwatchable now too.

Good question WaveCrest. I remember it being around the middle, closer to the end than the beginning though I'm going strictly by memory. Oh and I agree entirely about the end credits music. It created a soothing feeling after the heaviness of each episode. Cell Block H is cutting edge TV in my book, Deadenders and the like don't come close.

I was gonna order the UK set but am stalling because I'm scared that if I start buying them but they don't sell well enough I'll only end up with a fraction of the complete series. I think I'll sit tight for now and see how everything unfolds. I'd order the Oz set if I had the money but £600+ is a lot to spend in one go.

She used to give me roses (everyone slowly thigh slap):D

I'm sure some daft chump will wait for the DeAgostini double episode dvds with magazine for £7.99 a pop !.:D

I still have my Best of Prisoner Cell Block H DVD set. :p Ahhh good times!

Doubt I'd pay that much for the entire series though! :ack:

It's 174 DVDs and they throw in a couple of bonuses in the set such as booklets and special packaging. There's one on eBay now for £780 delivered, if only I was rich!

I'm glad i'm not!

How come I missed this thread! back in the days of four channels and next to no late-night viewing this was a must-have appointment on ITV. Annoyingly my region then (STV) was forever mucking the timings about.

Prisoner has been a loooooooooooong time coming to DVD here - I do a lot of work for Fremantle and have been hassling them to get this out - thankfully they didn't go for the idea of releasing it all in one go - it would have been insanely expensive.

For anyone who just believes the lazy odd write-up comments you get about this series having 'shaky sets' and nothing else then you're missing out. This is so relentlessly grim and at times seriously twisted it's a must have!

Those late nights sitting up with my nan watching it on Yorkshire TV, they were the days!

Nice to see another fan and I agree with everything you say there. I think this is a programme that a lot of people liked but wouldn't admit in fear of having the piss taken out of them. My dad for example was always taking the piss out of me but yet I caught him watching a few episodes himself. It's quality TV with very entertaining plots and memorable characters.

So you say you were involved in the UK DVD release? Do you know what the plans are for future volumes and when they'll be released? I'm dying to get the first volume but at the same time am wary of starting a collection that's nowhere near finished in case they do pull the plug half way through.

People used to take the piss out of me for watching it in student days when it was shown on Five but then they started drifting in to watch it... We all know we have true taste here!

As for the UK DVD release my involvement is next to nil. I do most of the PR work for Fremantle titles and stick my oar in when it's invited and I've just been nagging at them for a long time to put out Prisoner. The way it is being released though is actually through another company so I don't know what the plans are for future volumes but I will be asking and as soon as I know more - I'll let y'all know!

I was so sad I started buying the NTV VHS tapes in the 90s - two episodes for £12.99 and they stopped after episode 14!!!!

Please do let us know, if they do release it in its entirety then they'll get my custom, that's for sure!
I think they should release bigger box sets instead of just releasing 32 episodes. I figured out it would take 22 volumes to complete it all, and that would take ages. Why not release 64 episodes per volume and charge £45 or something?

I remember when channel 5 started showing it from the beginning and I was really excited because I hadn't seen those episodes before. Whoever decided to show it at a stupid time like 5 am in the morning needs shooting! It would have been alright but I didn't have my own VCR then. I was at high school at the time and so would wake up at around 7:30 every morning so I'd set my alarm for the time Prisoner was on, watch it, sleep for an hour and get up for school... it was a killer! I managed it a few times but most of the time I was so tired I'd watch 10 minutes and crawl back up to bed. A wasted opportunity by channel 5 there.

Wow that is some dedication! It's the kind of twisted thing that appeals to my heart. I used to tape them but on all sorts of little chunks of videotapes which I'd then never label so watching any episodes required a massive time clearance beforehand so I could work out which tape it was I needed. I did stack them up but of course that stack would then fall or I'd have to pull the tape out to watch an episode of *ahem* Dallas... Not only that but in trying to find the tape I'd have to look at an episode whilst trying not to watch it and spoil any cliffhangers... I seemed to have this gene that prohibited me from labelling tapes - really annoying!

Re Dallas, you're a nice guy so I'll not make any comment on that ;) :D.

That must have been a real nightmare trying to record every episode, I doubt I'd possess the dedication required to record all.

Were 5 the last channel to show Cell Block H or has it been transmitted again since? It seems have become a hidden gem since the end of the '90s.

Hey early Dallas was gritty compulsive viewing - only later on did it start to parody itself and become what people now only seem to remember it for.

As far as I'm aware Five were the last to show it and they hardly put much effort into it - I am surprised one of the endless number of cable channels doesn't show it.

Here you go (Almar and WaveCrest), see if these 2 clips bring back a few memories ;)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-yk4PPxE1uA

and,

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YCTGYa4iNQo

I will openly admit that the first one shocked me and gave me a sleepless night and video two was pretty grim too.

I'd forgotten about that officer - short lived but nasty stuff - quite early Cronenberg in style the shooting for that first clip.

It could be such a cruel show.

cloud, what's wrong with Dallas?! ;)

Nick & I have been fans of the show for many years... ;)

...our review of the first volume on DVD.

http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd...-volume-1.html

Kev W

So continuing our Cell Block H discussion. You say that it would be next to impossible to release a complete box set because of BBFC fees and the risk of not shifting units quickly enough?

Two questions:

1) do the BBFC actually charge per episode or do a deal whereby you send them episodes in bulk and they classify say 10 episodes for the price of 8?

and

2) In Australia, the 174 disc set was released and from what I've seen has sold well, so why would it be too risky for Fremantle to do it?

Not impossible but a pretty big turn off - you have to pay per episode - no bulk deals. This makes for instance releasing anime series far more expensive in the UK than elsewhere.

As for the question of success that's not for me to answer but I've been nagging them to release it for years now (rightly, they ignore me!) and I'm just glad they've put their toe in the water and it's coming out.

Compared to the NTV tapes of the 90s with two episodes per tape for £12.99 (and a dirty look from the staff of Glasgow Tower Records to boot) I'd say the box sets are better value! Talking of which I might go stick in a disc now!

' He use to give me roses, i wish hw would again, but that was on the outside and things were different then':D

Still can't believe that got into the UK charts - such a dreary song.

My dad would cry when heard that song as it meant he would have to wait for another episode.

He must have lived in the 'Scottish' ITV region then - they used to just show them whenever and all over the place. I'd find myself twisting about the aerial to try and pick up fuzzy Grampian as they were regular as clockwork but ended-up way ahead.

It was the granada region and then channel 5.