Take
cover, the women of Wentworth Prison are on the loose in Britain!
Take
cover, the women of Wentworth Prison are on the loose in Britain!
Yes, that butch-looking bunch from Prisoner: Cell Block H, the soap opera from Down Under which has a cult following in Britain, is raring to bring a slice of prison life, Oz-style, to theatre audiences in Preston for a week from October 9 and Manchester for a similar period from October 30.
Three of the actresses from the long-running series have been tempted to appear here in a special stage version and can't wait to step back into their drab prison gear once again.
It's actually three years since the Wentworth gates were slammed shut for the last time. The series had served its sentence and joined Crossroads in the great soap scrap heap in the sky.
But, as the show was being laid to rest in its home country, so ITV companies began screening it here, mostly in obscure late-late slots long after prime-time viewers had gone to bed.
It steadily built up a good following, attracting the sort of viewing figures which amazed even TV chiefs.
Cell Block's scheduling is a mess. Each region screens it at different times and some parts of the country are up to two years ahead of others, with the Central region leading the way.
Because of its mish-mash of screening times, it's difficult to estimate viewing figures but a total of 10 million seems a conservative estimate, certainly enough to prompt its creator, Reg Watson, the man who also gave us Crossroads, to write this stage play.
It got its world premiere at Wimbledon Theatre on September 21 before heading out across the country to the kind of advance booking normally reserved for superstar or mega-million productions.
Back in her role as Erica Davidson, the stern and staid Wentworth Governess, is Patsy King. She is amazed and delighted by the show's popularity in Britain.
"It's just incredible that so long after it ended in Australia the show should be so popular here," she says. "It ran for seven good years in Australia, from 1979 to 86, and I thought that would be the end of it - now it's big business all over again."
Although still seen here, Patsy actually left the show in 1982, though she did return to make a few guest appearances.
She has particularly fond memories of those early episodes.
It was originally intended to run for just 16 weeks. But it got a good, mid-evening slot and suddenly just about every family in Australia was hooked.
So why does she think an essentially drab saga struck such a chord?
"I think basically it's because they are all interesting and believable characters," she says.
"People keep tuning in because they are desperate to find out what happens to them."
Cell Block, which has its own British fan club, is known to attract a large gay following in Britain.
"I wasn't aware of that until I arrived in England the other day," says Patsy. "But so what? I'm sure all sorts of people watch it. That's fine by me."
She left the show in order to re-charge her batteries and then return to theatre work.
"I really needed a break," she recalls. "People think that being in a soap must be a glamorous life but it was hard work.
"I used to leave home at 6 am and probably wouldn't get back from the studio until eight in the evening."
She'll be teaming up once again with Elspeth Ballantyne, better known as Meg Jackson, who was in the series from start to finish.
She thinks its success is due to the cast that was first assembled.
"They were hand-picked actresses who didn't mind making themselves look as plain as possible - they weren't afraid to look awful," she reveals. "Each had a wonderful character to develop and they gave it their all, setting high standards for future cast members to work to.
"I'm aware that in Britain even some of the show's biggest fans have a rather cynical attitude to it.
"Well, I think that's just great! We'll play it straight down the line but it's up to the audiences to enjoy it in any way they want."
The third actress from Australia is Glenda Linscott, who plays inmate Angela.
And another well-known face in the stage play is Joanna Monro, the former That's Life girl. She will be playing Frankie Doyle, while Brenda Longman, who provides the voice for Sooty's girlfriend Soo on TV, plays Bea Smith.
[Taken from the Blackpool & Fylde Evening Gazette
- October 1989]