Categories
TV

But that was on the outside

The TV soap Prisoner is 30 years old this year.

For a year or two in the 80s, our family was hooked on it. I don’t remember how or why we started watching it, but some of the characters certainly stick in the mind: “The Freak”, Bea Smith, Mrs Morris, Lizzie Birdsworth, and that guard played by Maurie Fields. Of course the story lines were mostly pretty unlikely, but that’s how it is with some TV.

Lizzie Birdsworth was played by Sheila Florance, who used to live in Elwood, somewhere off Ormond Road, I think. Probably after she’d left the show, when we also lived in Elwood, I used to see her around there, often on the 600 bus.

ABC 774’s Conversation Hour had a special with some of the cast on Wednesday. It should show up online soon. It’s available as an MP3 download here.

Speaking of 80s TV shows, does anybody remember Whiz Kids? Kind of a WarGames for TV, but with BMX bikes thrown in. … OMG, it’s on YouTube. I bet it’s not as good as it was back then. Few things are.

“Don’t you know anything? I’m not a nerd, I’m a hacker.”

By Daniel Bowen

Transport blogger / campaigner and spokesperson for the Public Transport Users Association / professional geek.
Bunurong land, Melbourne, Australia.
Opinions on this blog are all mine.

7 replies on “But that was on the outside”

LOL! My guilty secret! I live streamed at work on Wednesday just so I could hear the Convo hour with the Prisoner cast. I kept getting annoyed when I had to go to the printer or people interrupted me!

I am kind of surprised now that my parents thought that show was okay for me to watch with them. But it was funny to hear them all stirring each other and laughing about the storylines.

huh … here’s me thinking you were talking about The Prisoner … instead, you’re talking about Cell Block H … ;)

I remember Whiz Kids… It was a bit famous fiveish, but I seem to remember it was my favourite thing at the time.

It was my insipiration to get a modem on my vintage apple (of course it wasn’t vintage then).

Can’t wait for it to be re-released on Blu-Ray.

Ah yes, Whiz Kids. I remember it was trying to cash in on the home computer boom of the early 80s. I really can’t remember any details about the show although I do recall one scene when they used something which looked like a ZX81 to hack into another computer.

I also remember Whiz Kids. great for a geeky kid at the time :)

Does anyone remember “Misfits of Science”, or the weird detective show “Riptide”?

Misfits of Science was brilliant (well, I can remember thinking that at the time). Riptide was like a Magnum PI set in a harbour. Didn’t they have a robot?
What about BJ Mackay and the Bear?

Comments are closed.