History Trivia / PrisonerCellBlockH

** It became evident that Joan and Sonia Stevens were plotting to remove Bea Smith from the equation when Joan suggested that Barnhurst might not retain her. This hint suggested that Bea could return, as Joan had mentioned in her letter to Lizzie. However, Val Lenham was reluctant to allow Bea's return unless she eliminated the Freak, which was an impossible task. Unfortunately, Bea passed away instead.

* Butt-Monkey: A few, but most extremely, Doreen Anderson/Burns, who, within barely six months, is reunited with her long-lost mother, only for her to die of cancer days later; loses both her job and parole due to the drunken antics of her best friend Lizzie; gets married, only to be raped during a work release programme and get pregnant by her rapist (she loses the baby and is told she is unlikely to conceive again); and loses her husband when she reveals she also consensually slept with her rapist to win him a work contract (she fails). * {{Cancellation}}: The series was axed in 1986 due to low ratings. The producers and writers were given forewarning and so a fair conclusion was written.

* {{Cancellation}}: The series was axed in 1986 due to low ratings. The producers and writers were given forewarning and so a fair conclusion was written.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Although the show has been released on DVD, some episodes have undergone minor edits due to timing issues or tape damage. As a result, fans have shared videos on YouTube that feature the missing scenes.

* ActingForTwo: In a way [[spoiler:Pepe Trevor]] plays [[spoiler:the younger version of Jessie Windom]] in a photograph.
* BannedEpisode: The character Edna Pearson was edited out of the show. Her storyline was she was in for attempted murder of her second husband, she seem like a harmless old woman however she accidentally says something to Marlene and attempts to poison her, however it turns out Marlene wasn't listening and the attempts only make her ill. She was freed after a appeal and afterwards the others realise the truth.

* YouLookFamiliar: Regularly the same actors would reappear as different characters like for example the same actress played Ann Yates and Willie Beecham.

** First off there was a short lived Male Version called Punishment, which starred Creator/MelGibson.
** During the early run a Special called Prisoner in Concert was made in 1981 it starred Betty Bobbitt, Jane Clifton, Sheila Florance, Val Lehman, Colette Mann, Gerard Maguire and Patsy King reprising their characters for the prisoners of Pentridge Prison, singing songs and doing sketches. It was terrible in the League of Film/TheStarWarsHolidaySpecial and unsurprisingly only incomplete copies can be found online.

** In Britain Creator/Channel5?from=Creator.ChannelFive began screening the whole in 1997 despite the fact ITV was still broadcasting in some places, the Five rerun is famous for it's witty quips during the credits and the sponsorship by Pot Noodle with sketches of collapsing sets and misbehaving props.

** The character was cut after a woman, Emily Perry threatened to sue due to the plot sounding like [[https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/prisoner-cell-block-h-the-edna-pearson-story-dvd-review/?amp her own case]]. While the character was edited out of the show, there was international screening done of the uncut storyline and even a special DVD released of the story in the UK.

* CastTheRunnerUp: Maggie Kirkpatrick and Val Lehman both originally tested for Vera Bennett, but instead Maggie was given Joan Ferguson and Val got Bea Smith.
** Also Colette Mann was up for Lynn or Marylin.

* CreatorKiller: There is meant to be a "Prisoner" Curse which would suggest that many of the cast were unable to get parts after their time was up. Actors like Philip Hyde, who played Rodney l, took one last part before retiring; others like Wayne Jarratt and Taya Straton died young. Also many of the actors came from theatre, so the lack of TV Roles was understandable.
* DawsonCasting: Many of the cast were older than the characters they played. Janet Andrewartha, for example, was playing the teenage Reb Kean and she was 32.

* FakeNationality: There were several foreign characters played by Australian actors. For example, Arna Johansen.
* HostilityOnTheSet: Val Lehman and Elspeth Ballantyne had a dislike for each other, the reason given was that Val received a traveling expenses due to living 20 miles away from the studio (this was given to all the cast as well) however she moved closer to the studio and failed to notify the studio but Elspeth ratted her out which ended their relationship.
* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: While the show is openly available on DVD, they have suffered from small edits due to timing or tape damage and fans have uploaded videos on You Tube of the missing scenes.
* KilledByRequest: Carol Burns took on Frankie as long as the original miniseries but upon hearing the show was extended she asked to be killed off so she wouldn't ever come back.

** Wentworth Prison was the Grundy Studios with bars on the fake windows. In one rooftop scene all the satellites are present.

** Also a reason why many characters seem to come and go is due to salary disputes with actors; a character would be written out only to return once the money was sorted.

* RecycledScript: Several examples, riots and fires were copied, Bea branding Nola was repeated in later on by Myra to Frank Burke.

** On ''Series/FastForward'' they did a sketch with Wentworth Prison now privatised to become a Jenny Craig Weight Loss Prison, with Jane Turner [[note]]who had played Belinda Johns in ''Prisoner''[[/note]] as Lizzie Birdsworth and the cast speaking off set with posh accents.

** During the early run a Special called Prisoner in Concert was made in 1981 it starred Betty Bobbitt, Jane Clifton, Sheila Florance, Val Lehman, Colette Mann, Gerard Maguire and Patsy King reprising their characters for the prisoners of Pentridge Prison, singing songs and doing sketches. It was terrible in the league of Film/TheStarWarsHolidaySpecial and unsurprisingly only incomplete copies can be found online.

** When Val Lehman read about Bea creating the Zip Gun she told the director that she wasn't going to create the gun on screen, due to the risk that children would recreate the dangerous weapon and so it was cut.
** It's clear when Joan and Sonia Stevens are planning to get rid of Bea Smith, Joan remarks that Barnhurst might not keep her which was a hint that she could return and she hints this herself in the letter to Lizzie but in the end she never did due to Val Lenham refusing to unless she killed the Freak which was never going to happen and Bea died instead.

* {{Rerun}}: There has been several reruns:
** In Britain Channel Five began screening the whole in 1997 despite the fact ITV was still broadcasting in some places, the Five rerun is famous for it's witty quips during the credits and the sponsorship by Pot Noodle with sketches of collapsing sets and misbehaving props.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: When the series was first shown on Creator/ITV depending on which part of the country you lived PCBH was shown differently, some regions showed the whole series but others wouldn't start at the beginning and others ended with episodes to spare.

** The character was cut after a woman, Emily Perry threatened to sue due to the plot sounding like [[https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/prisoner-cell-block-h-the-edna-pearson-story-dvd-review/?amp her own case]]. While the character was edited out of the show, there was international screening done of the uncut storyline and even a special DVD released of the story.

** Wentworth Prison was the Grundy Studios with bars on the windows. In one rooftop scene all the satellites are present.

** Most of the dining room scenes were shot together.

** When Joan left Wentworth only for her to find former inmate Willie Beecham is her boss, but originally it was meant to be Chrissie Latham but Amanda Muggleton was unable to reprise but the lines were only slightly changed.

*** There is also a Musical of it with Maggie Kirkpatrick reprising Joan (the Freak) Ferguson and staring Lily Savage (Paul O'Grady), this retelling was based on the camp aspects but was a big hit.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The character of Monica Ferguson played by Lesley Sharp was to return and it was discovered that she was related to The Freak, however knowing that the character had no reason to return they wrote Joan’s niece to appear briefly and Lesley played Belle Peters

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: When Val Lehman read about Bea creating the Zip Gun she told the director that she wasn't going to create the gun on screen, due to the risk that children would recreate the dangerous weapon and so it was cut.

** The character was cut after a woman Emily Perry threaten to sue due to the plot sounding like her own case. While the character was edited out of the show, there was international screening done of the uncut storyline and even a speical DVD released of the story.

* {{Cancellation}}: The series was axed in 1986 due to low ratings, the Producers and Writers were given forewarning and so a fair conclusion was written.

* CreatorKiller: There is meant to be a "Prisoner" Curse which suggest that many of the cast were unable to get parts after their time was up. Actors like Philip Hyde who played Rodney took one last part before retiring, others like Wayne Jarratt and Taya Straton died young. Also many of the actors came from Theatre, so no doubt the lack of TV Roles was understandable.
* DawsonCasting: Many of the cast were older than they were Janet Andrewartha for example was playing the teenage Reb Kean and she was 32.
* DVDCommentary: The release of the series on DVD has several commentaries for certain episodes, a great recommendation is the one done for the final episode with Glenda Linscott who played Rita Conners and Lois Collinder who played Lurch.
* DyeingForYourArt: Janet Andrewartha's hair was waist length but she cut it for Reb Kean's James Dean.
* FakeNationality: There was several foreign characters played by Australian, the worst is Arna Johannsen who was added only for the Swedish fanbase it's clear the character has trouble with the accent.

** Anne Phelan asked for this after they refused her request for more money (since Betty Bobbitt left the show Anne felt she was entitled a increase for taking over the character's responsibilities), however they instead created the Ruth Ballinger sleigh where Myra Desmond dies protecting her friends, Phelan was entertained in the fact that the Siege was the most expensive to shoot.

** The Sets sometimes wobbly and the cast were really doing their own stunts unless it was really dangerous.

** Most of the dining room scenes were shot together, unsurprisingly the cast don't seem willing to eat as the food was probable stale by the final scene.
** With Marie Winter's escape by Helicopter it's clear that a dummy has been used.
** Also a reason why many characters seem to come and go is because of problems over wages they would write characters out only to return once the money was sorted.
* OnlySoManyCanadianActors: Famously many of the cast would later appear in other Aussie Soaps like Series/{{Neighbours}} and Series/HomeAndAway, in fact some of the longest or iconic running characters in those soaps came from PCBH.
** However when it came to casting Series/{{Wentworth}} the creators made the choice not to cast big names like Val Lehman or Amanda Muggleton into the show, instead they cast Anne Charleston who had appeared in minor parts, since then 13 actors from PCBH have played in Wentworth.

* RealLifeRelative: Bea Smith's daughter Debbie is played by Val Lehman real life daughter Cassandra.
** Also Val's younger daughter Joanne played the school girl Yvonne.

** On Series/FastForward they did a sketch with Wentworth Prison now privatised to become a Jenny Craig Weight Loss Prison, with Jane Turner [[note]]who had played Belinda Johns in Prisoner [[/note]] as Lizzie Birdsworth and the cast speaking off set with posh accents.

** On Series/LetTheBloodRunFree Nurse Pam Sandwich and Matron Dorothy Conniving-Bitch is sent to Wentworth Prison, to the eagle eyed fans of Prisoner Cell Block H will notice the original costumes and possibly some of the original set were used as well as the Driscoll House.

* {{Narm}}: A lot of the series can come off as Narm, but it makes all the more enjoyable:
** Some of the best examples is the Drug trips when they are seen but The Freak's trip is way too funny with the inmates with white make up forcing accusing her in a strange trial for her crimes the best is Lizzie who is scary yet funny at the same time:
---->Lizzie: You forced me to make grog.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Fiona Spence might have played the serious and mean Vera Bennett, but she is the total opposite of her character, as is Joan Ferguson's actress Maggie Kirkpatrick.

** On Series/FastForward they did a sketch with Wentworth Prison now privatised to become a Jenny Craig Weight Loss Prison, with Jane Turner [[note]]who had played Jane Turner in Prisoner [[/note]] as Lizzie Birdsworth and the cast speaking off set with posh accents.

** During the early run a Special called Prisoner in Concert was made in 1981 it starred Betty Bobbitt, Jane Clifton, Sheila Florance, Val Lehman, Colette Mann, Gerard MaGuire and Patsy King reprising their characters for the prisoners of Pentridge Prison, singing songs and doing sketches. It was terrible in the league of Film/TheStarWarsHolidaySpecial and unsurprisingly only incomplete copies can be found online.

* TokenMinority: Sarah West and Pamela Madigan were the only Aboriginal characters in the show.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The show is filled with so many period pieces.

* YouLookFamiliar: Regularly the same actors would reappear as different characters like for example the same actress played Ann Yates and Willie Beecham.

** The Sets sometimes wobbly and the cast were really doing their own stunts unless it was realty dangerous.

* TheCameo: Sporting Celebrity Cliff Young made a cameo to support the women during the Dance Marathon and Peter Russell-Clarke (Aussie Celebrity Cook) hosted the Iron Chef that Mervin Pringle entered.

* CreatorCameo: Ian Smith was the script editor and producer and he played Ted Douglass.

** Anne Phelan asked for this after they refused her request for more money (since Betty Bobbitt left the show Anne felt she was entitled a increase for taking over the character's responsibilities), however they instead created the Ruth Ballinger where Myra Desmond dies protecting her friends, Phelan was entertained in the fact that the Siege was the most expensive to shoot.

*** Also a reason why many characters seem to come and go is because of problems over wages they would write characters out only to return once the money was sorted.