Since the original showing in Australia, Prisoner has been run and rerun in many countries. Swedish TV4 showed all episodes during the years 1994-2000. Following a demonstration by Swedish Prisoner fans outside the TV4 building in Stockholm on 31 March 2000, the company decided to rerun the series. Something which to the joy of the fans began later that year and ended in October 2004. Prisoner was showed in Sweden under the name "Kvinnofängelset" which means "The prison for women" (kvinna = woman, kvinno = for women, fängelse = prison, fängelset = the prison).
In October 2006 Shock Records began releasing all Prisoner episodes on DVD.
Prisoner describes life in and around a Melbourne women's prison, Wentworth Detention Centre. We follow the prisoners at H Block, the warders and a lot of other persons who have some connection to them or the prison.
Among its fans, Prisoner has gained the position of cult series. There have been long discussions and many theories about what makes Prisoner so great. Among other factors, I think good manuscripts, good actors and a special touch by the series' producers have contributed to the success.
Prisoner is realistic and non-glamourous, contrary to a lot of mass-produced TV entertainment. Effects and properties are toned down, instead writers' originality and actors' brilliance dominate. Prisoner is a mixture of realism, drama and excitement, spiced with a pinch of humour.
One of the series' strengths is unpredictability. As in real life, everything is not just black and white. Among the prisoners there are innocents, while some of the warders act criminally. During the series, many characters come and go, but their destinies can seldom be guessed. Sometimes a sympathetic character gets a tragic end, while it can go well for an unsympathetic. But as often the characters get the happy or unhappy end they deserve.
Finally, after a long and successful production, the people behind Prisoner managed to achieve an ingenious and spectacular ending. This surely also contributed to making the series legendary and memorable.