Prisoner Cell Block H - ITV continuity

Here are a small selection of continuity clips preceding and following the ITV broadcast of Prisoner (Cell Block H). Unfortunately as this was from the days of analogue TV, some clips are of poor broadcast quality, as I used to live in a poor reception area! However, it's an interesting snapshot of 1980's and 1990's telly. Make sure you watch to the end for Paul Lavers on Anglia delivering the Cell Block H headlines!

[@samholden9123]

I miss watching cell block h with my mum at night on itv in 1990s😭

[@jamiewatson9027]

The brilliant Paul Lavers - an Anglia treasure!

[@gmlpc7132]

Great to see this continuity. I watched PCBH avidly on Granada from around when it started (early 1988 I think) until September 1989 when I moved away. I moved to the Central area and was completely thrown by them showing much later episodes (the Nola McKenzie era) and I just couldn't get back into it. I'm sure other viewers who moved areas were also confused by either jumping ahead or finding episodes they'd seen long before). Maybe some preferred the different era they saw in another region or liked seeing ones they'd seen before. It wasn't until watching again on DVD that I got back into it and while the DVDs are best for seeing the episodes they miss out of course on all this great continuity.

[@jezt42]

I’ve a handful of whole episodes which have the adverts and continuity, but KZbin (via Fremantle) just block them as soon as they’re uploaded. No fun! 😡 Granada and Central at least treated the programme with a bit of respect - 3 days a week! Anglia wasn’t too bad with twice a week with the in-vision continuity banter at the end. Yorkshire was terrible, only once a week as long as there wasn’t any snooker! Glad you got back into the show via the DVDs. 😊👍

[@pak8606]

@@jezt42 Central often though showed it far too late at times. Yorkshire increased to 2 a week from 1993. Carlton treated it with utter contempt, 2 month breaks at the end of 1995, 1996 and 1997 before stopping at episode 598 in August 1998. TVS and Meridian were almost as bad, leaving the show at episode 596 in July 1999, 13 years and 9 months after TVS started. Of the new companies who started in 1993 only Westcountry completed the series.

[@jackmeadows7777]

Meridian screened 293-586 (not 596), TVS 1-292. Channel only screened 10-586. Had Channel not switched their output from TSW to TVS they’d have screened 1-692 providing they were happy to continue with Westcountry and not switch to Meridian.

[@pak8606]

@@jackmeadows7777 I meant 586, that was a typo when I put 596 for Meridian. If Thames, TVS and TSW had retained their franchises would they have had the same outcome as Carlton, Meridian and Westcountry with Prisoner, or a different outcome? Thames had episode 1-357 and Carlton 358-598. TSW I think had 1-239 and Westcountry 240-692.

[@pak8606]

@@jackmeadows7777 Channel switching their output to TVS meant they would have to skip quite a lot of episodes of TYD (TVS being ahead of TSW) and re-screen some episodes of SAD (TSW being ahead of TVS).

[@David315842]

I noticed Doreen going over the fence. Wow I'm surprised that Anglia found time for Paul Lavers to read ALL that and before a commercial break too. WOW. :D Ah yes the old NTV video releases, this was all we got for the show until the Fremantle/Shock DVD's came along. :)

[@muk8804]

That hair though...even for the 80s...can't take my eyes of it ...was it a home kit error? 🤷

[@David315842]

@@muk8804 Who knows?

[@DistantCousin]

Wonderful memories. Cell Block H was truly a show "of the night"

[@thecultofjohnnydelr.soulsw7010]

It was on after midnight.

[@DistantCousin]

@@thecultofjohnnydelr.soulsw7010 sometimes, yes

[@31cify]

"A show of the night" Oh yes, I'll have some of that. It may always remain in the realms of the archives now, but it's still attracting new audiences today. Or should that be the night? Oh yes.

[@chrisbolton6406]

Since coming back on TV with prisoner becoming a different so altogether turning Prisoner into a mixed prison show we thought that we would never get away with us but it turned out to be a good episode when prisoner returns back on TV is a remake of a mixed prison with men and women to make a letter storyline as the women move to woodwards prison them they new home Mrs Davidson becomes back as governor Ann Reynolds comes as deputy governor and a freebie comes back as inmates this States has no Lizzy❤

[@pak8606]

1:14 the start of episode 463 on Central. Friday 11th May 1990.

[@jezt42]

Thanks for the info. 🙂

[@jackmeadows7777]

Never any humour on Yorkshire continuity - ever!! And the rationed one episode a week highlighted here when Maggie Mash announces that it “continues next week at the same time”. This must be from late 1990/early 1991

[@pak8606]

Because of the 1981 copyright date and that it was the instrumental theme. Vera's last episode was on Yorkshire on 25 March 1991. They were also the only region where in-vision continuity was never used, not even at closedown.

[@arthurvasey]

The plot doesn’t move on too much if they only show one episode per week - even less so if the ITV regions started splitting it into half hour episodes, like most of them did with A Country Practice - more so, if they only showed one episode per week in that slot! I believe Yorkshire only allowed its viewers one half hour episode per week of The Sullivans - although they had Sons & Daughters five days a week to begin with!

[@jackmeadows7777]

@arthurvasey As Yorkshire were the first to start, I think they found it successful at one a week and by keeping it at one a week viewers know where it is and don’t have to commit to two or even three late nights a week. There was the chance that viewers may have been lost with too much output of it. They were one of the few regions which didn’t switch nights every year abd were pretty constant with it . Sons and Daughters was initially Mondays and Fridays on YTV before they became the first region to run it daily from Sept 83. Similarly they were the first region to halve ACP episodes which I believe was mainly done to avoid having the need to buy (at the time) Young Doctors which was definitely the cheapest looking of the lot. Many regions had periods of one Sullivans episode a week and Yorkshire did this to accommodate more locally made shows (which were all spin offs of Calendar). The IBA would definitely have been more impressed with Yorkshire TV’s axing if The Sullivans at the end of 1982 to make way for Calendar Lunchtime Live. Twelve of the other lazy regions relied on the imported Sullivans to fill the gap.

[@SHINBET666]

Your very handsome Jez 😉😊😍👍

[@pak8606]

4:48 must be somewhere around 340ish that Paul Lavers reads the headlines

[@pak8606]

On Anglia this would have been late July/early August 1991.

[@madmurdock100]

At 2:18 we unusually get to hear the very end of the Prisoner theme. Did Carlton show the sponsors on this occasion?

[@jezt42]

This was episode 428 on Carlton. No sponsors, but just the Grundy/Network Ten/ Copyright credits. There were a couple of episodes around this era where Carlton played the full theme: 427-429, I believe: AND a plug for the videos as well! 👍

[@pak8606]

Carlton would have had this episode around May/June 1994

[@thecultofjohnnydelr.soulsw7010]

Cell Block H?

[@pak8606]

Is the episode at 1:03 on Central the original screening in 1987?

[@jezt42]

No, that was the beginning of the 2nd run.