# Prisoner (1979)

> An Australian soap opera following the lives of inmates and staff inside the fictional Wentworth Detention Centre, a women's prison.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/4062

## Facts

- Seasons: 8
- Episodes: 692
- Episode runtime: 50 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama
- Created by: Reg Watson
- Network: 10
- Cast: Maggie Kirkpatrick, Sheila Florance, Val Lehman, Janet Andrewartha, Colette Mann, Judith McGrath, Anne Phelan, Elspeth Ballantyne
- TMDB rating: 8.1/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077064/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: gritty, melodramatic, tense, sardonic

## Synopsis

Prisoner (1979-1986) is an Australian soap opera created by Reg Watson for Network Ten, set inside the fictional Wentworth Detention Centre, a women's prison. The series follows a rotating ensemble of inmates and wardens in an ongoing serial, with Maggie Kirkpatrick as the sadistic officer Joan Ferguson, Val Lehman as inmate Bea Smith, and Sheila Florance as inmate Lizzie Birdsworth among the principal figures. Its engine is the daily friction of confinement: alliances and rivalries among prisoners, the constant pressure of the guards, and the small private struggles that surface behind bars. Each episode is built from interlocking storylines rather than a case of the week, and the eight-season run, with more than six hundred episodes, makes it one continuing serial. The tone is gritty and melodramatic, with working class grit, sudden outbursts, and moments of tenderness. Set in the Australian prison system of the early 1980s, it sits within the tradition of Australian soap opera alongside long-running serials like Neighbours and Home and Away, and will appeal to viewers who enjoy ensemble prison drama and women-centred stories.

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