6.6 /10 1 Votes
5.6/10 TV Country of origin United Kingdom Final episode date 15 April 1978 | 7.6/10 IMDb Genre Soap Opera First episode date 4 January 1974 Number of episodes 72 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Directed by John ReardonPeter MoffattPaul AnnettTony WharmbyJim GoddardChristopher HodsonBill BainPhilip Casson Starring Googie WithersJerome WillisDenys HawthorneBeth HarrisMona BruceSonia GrahamJoan BenhamJanet Lees Price Cast Googie Withers, Mona Bruce, Jerome Willis, Denys Hawthorne Similar Dangerous Women, Prisoner, The Gentle Touch, Z‑Cars, I Didn't Know You Cared | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Within These Walls is a British television drama programme made by London Weekend Television for ITV and shown between 1974 and 1978. It portrayed life in HMP Stone Park, a fictional women's prison. Unlike the later women-in-prison TV series Prisoner (aka Prisoner: Cell Block H, original run 1979-1986) and Bad Girls (1999–2006), Within These Walls tended to centre its storylines around the prison staff rather than the inmates.
Contents
The lead character was the well-groomed, genteel governor Faye Boswell (Googie Withers), and episodes revolved around her attempts to liberalise the prison regime while managing her personal life at home. Another prominent character was her Chief Officer, Mrs. Armitage (Mona Bruce). Googie Withers left after three series; in Series Four her character was replaced as governor by Helen Forrester (Katharine Blake), who in turn left to be replaced in the final Series Five by Susan Marshall (Sarah Lawson).
The creator and writer of the programme, David Butler, played the prison chaplain, the Rev Henry Prentice, in some episodes.
As of November 2011 Network DVD have released all five series in the UK, with the exception of "Nowhere for the Kids", an episode from Series Two which appears to have been wiped from the archives.
Ironically, one audience unable to watch the series were real-life prison inmates: The programme was broadcast at 9:00 p.m., but prisoners were locked in their cells 30 minutes earlier.
Cast
One successful alumnus from this series was actress Helen Worth, now widely known for her role of Gail Platt on Coronation Street. Worth appeared in an episode of season 1 alongside Cheryl Murray. The two would be reunited as flatmates in Coronation Street in 1977, when Murray joined the cast as Suzie Birchall.
The Lost episode
Episode three from series 2, "Nowhere for the Kids", no longer exists in any format, but its script is included in PDF format on Series Two, Disc One. The script is located in the root directory of the DVD and is called "Within These Walls-N#149129.pdf" The script lists St. John's Waterloo church as the rehearsal hall for read-through for the shows.
Despite indications that this episode is unofficially available on the video-sharing website YouTube, this is not the case. 'The Slap' (series 2 episode 4) is incorrectly titled as 'Nowhere For The Kids' on YouTube.