Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Drama
    Drama TV Shows - 1980s 3 Mins Read

    Punishment

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    1 9 8 1 (Australia)
    1 x 90 minute episode
    26 x 60 minute episodes

    Innocent TV viewers did not deserve Punishment. Low ratings prompted justice to be done and they were soon released from this hellish existence.

    Punishment was the Australian soap opera meant to be the male equivalent of the women-behind-bars saga, Prisoner: Cell Block H.

    Like Prisoner, it was created by Grundy TV and screened in Australia on the 0-Ten Network, but everything – starting with the appallingly downbeat title – was wrong.

    There was an abundance of unsavoury, unsympathetic characters. There were few, if any, likeable or admirable figures of strength and authority. The ‘clean’ prison doctor was around at the start but then seemed to disappear.

    There was no humour and no sex or romance – the vital ingredients to soap opera. In the first episode, a warder’s wife was briefly seen. After that, she escaped.

    Ascending star Mel Gibson appeared as a prisoner in the movie-length opening episode. Brian Wenzel (later to play the lovable copper in A Country Practice) played a warder.

    But totally miscast as Alan Smith, the governor of (fictitious) Longridge men’s prison with “an academic bent on reform rather than punishment”, was Barry Crocker, the former variety artist, famous as Bazza Mackenzie, later to become the singer of the Neighbours theme.

    Prison Officers Davis (Ralph Cotterill) and Webber (Brian Wenzel).

    Ken Wayne played despicable old guard chief warden Jack Hudson, who made Prisoner‘s Vera Bennett look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.

    Prisoners included Mike Preston, Brian Harrison, David Spencer, Arthur Sherman, Jon Ewing, James C Steele – and Michael Smith, the juvenile cream of the crop, already sampling Hudson’s violent nature and the sexual innuendo of the inmates.

    Much time was taken with unattractive plots about drugs and assaults and the squabbles of unpleasant warders. But worst of all was the absence of women. Its effect on the men’s lives was not explored, perhaps on the grounds of taste.

    Punishment was not Prisoner. Punishment was a mistake. There was no mystique about men without women, and viewers did not want to see a load of violence.

    Where Prisoner had created a sympathy for society’s misfits – including some unhappy homosexuals – Punishment created a horror of them.

    The series was pulled by Ten in March 1981 after airing only four episodes (they commissioned 26 episodes at a cost of $80,000 per episode).

    The prison was mocked up in Ten’s Sydney studios with outside location filming at East Sydney Technical College and Gladesville Psychiatric Hospital.

    Governor Alan Smith
    Barry Crocker
    Chief Officer Jack Hudson
    Ken Wayne
    Wally Webber
    Brian Wenzel
    Rick Monroe
    Mel Gibson
    Tim
    David Spencer
    Larry Morrison
    Mike Preston
    Andy ‘Pop’ Epstein
    Arthur Sherman
    Arthur Willets
    Jon Ewing
    Gary ‘Gazza’ Cooper
    James C. Steele
    Paul Wells
    Michael Smith
    Cathy Wells
    Cornelia Frances
    Heather Rogers
    Penne Hackforth-Jones
    Alice Wells
    Anne Haddy
    Sam Wells
    Brian Harrison
    Julie Smith
    Julie McGregor
    Christopher Lang
    Robert Coleby
    Harold Davis
    Ralph Cotterill
    Susan Morrison
    Michele Fawdon
    Kate Randall
    Kris McQuade
    Rosalyn Rowney
    Lisa Peers
    David “Robbo” Roberts
    George Spartels
    Tim Jarrett
    David Spencer
    Hopgood
    Robin Stewart
    Mike Rogers
    Ross Thompson

    Related Posts

    • Towards 2000/Beyond 2000
      Towards 2000/Beyond 2000
      1 9 8 1 - 1 9 8 4 (Australia) 120 x 30 minute episodes 1 9 8 5 - 1…
    • Bellamy
      Bellamy
      1 9 8 1 (Australia) 26 x 60 minute episodes A hard-hitting Australian police action series from the Grundy Organization,…
    • Brides of Christ
      Brides of Christ
      1 9 9 1 (Australia) 6 x 50 minute episodes The 1960s was a time of revolution, not least for women…
    • Magic Circle Club, The
      Magic Circle Club, The
      1 9 6 5 - 1 9 6 7 (Australia) The Magic Circle Club was a massively popular Australian TV show for…
    • Embassy
      Embassy
      1 9 9 0 - 1 9 9 2 (Australia) After years of peddling game shows and soft soap like The…
    • Within These Walls
      Within These Walls
      1 9 7 4 - 1 9 7 8 (UK) 44 x 60 minute episodes Set in HM Prison Stone Park, Within…
    • Bluey
      Bluey
      1 9 7 6 - 1 9 7 7 (Australia) 1 x 90 minute episodes 38 x 60 minute episodes An…
    • Family and Friends
      Family and Friends
      1 9 9 0 (Australia) 88 x 60/30 minute episodes Debuting on 7 February 1990, this short-lived soap opera from the…

    Australia
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticlePaper Chase, The
    Next Article Adventures of Robin Hood, The

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Tom Grattan’s War
      1 9 6 8 – 1 9 7 0 (UK) 26 x 30 minute episodes From the […]
    • Confessions Of A Window Cleaner (1974)
      The first of four saucy comedies adapted from the best-selling […]
    • Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum
      Ian Meldrum was born on a ship outside the port of Aden, South […]
    • Tony Randall Show, The
      1 9 7 6 – 1 9 7 8 (USA) 44 x 30 minute episodes Tony […]
    • Tiger Beat
      Tiger Beat was founded in September 1965 by Charles […]
    • Throbbing Gristle
      Throbbing Gristle formed in September 1975 from the ashes of […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Sport Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About Nostalgia Central
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.