Prisoner or Prisoner Cell Block H as it’s known in the UK was an Australian serial drama which began filming at the end of 1978 and wound up Autumn 1986, creating 692 episodes which are still enjoyed by many and better still gain new fans every year, recently finding a legion of new young fans who discovered the show via the re-imagined ‘Wentworth’.
One of it’s many pleasures is the music. Initially it was planned as a 16 weekly episodes arc for new fish Karen Travers and Lynn Warner but proved so popular they quickly shifted to a twice weekly serial. William Motzing wrote a small number of dramatic cues to cover the basic range of moods and these were padded out with library cues. After a few episodes the library cues took over with Montzing’s pieces popping up on occasion, mostly when someone was leaving (cue ‘sad‘ cue).
Australian dramas (or soaps) went off air over Christmas and always ended on a juicy cliffhanger. Here they are.
1979: The Janet Dominguez Escape
Banged up for terrorism, Janet Dominguez does not play ball or adhere to the rules laid down by Governor Erica Davidson and the Department. She needs to break out. Young rebel Ros Coulson went to a respectable private girls school, funded by her single Mum who worked as a prostitute. Ros shot and killed mob matriarch Toni McNally who had killed her mother for having an affair with her husband. She too disliked the rules enforced by the screws as much as the prisoner code laid down by Top Dog Bea Smith.
Dominguez uses Ros to plan her escape, with Ros drugging the screws tea urn with pills smuggle inside a pen, laying the way for her terrorist chums to break in.
Johnny Pearson’s KPM dramatics feature heavily in moving the action along and Themes’ ‘Breath of Danger’ (recently reissued) sets the tone as the terrorists bust into Wentworth through the roof.
| Unease | David Lindup |
| Aftermath | David Lindup |
| Swopshop* | Peter Morris |
| Cold Sweat | David Lindup |
| Industrial Sabotage | Johnny Pearson |
| Giant’s Causeway | Johnny Pearson |
| Underlying Menace | Keith Mansfield |
| Fugitive | Johnny Pearson |
| Riot | Johnny Pearson |
| Face of Danger | John Scott |
| Speed & Efficiency | Brian Bennett |
| Nuplex | Brian Bennett |
| Fugitive | Johnny Pearson |
Here’s a one track FLAC for a better quality listen.
1980: The Tunnel Escape
Finding a book in the library about the old Wentworth Holding the women discover there are a series of tunnels undeneath the prison grounds. Meanwhile Department visitor Stuart Gillespie is pushing the women and staff alike over the edge with his restrictions and increasingly stricter discipline. Judy Bryant has had enough and wants to bust out the joint. Others decide to join her and the Cinderella panto, performed for local school kids is the ideal time for ‘The Wentworth Six’ to make their escape
| Canaveral Scape | John Scott |
| Industrial Sabotage | Johnny Pearson |
| Despair | Johnny Pearson |
| Swirling Grey | Simon Benson |
| Uneasy Atmosphere 1 | Keith Mansfield |
| Deadly Enemy | John Scott |
| Darkside | Brian Bennett |
| Swirling Grey | Simon Benson |
| Tragedy | Alec Gould |
| Tragic Background | James Reichert |
| Strange Stillness | John Scott |
| Giant’s Causeway | Johnny Pearson |
| Fatal Error | Keith Mansfield |
| Underlying Menace | Keith Mansfield |
| Glass Tubes | Brian Bennett |
| Hideout | Brian Bennett |
| In Danger | Brian Bennett |
| Endurance of Man | Francis Monkman |
| The Plot | Brian Bennett |
Here’s a one track FLAC.
1981: The Sandy Edwards Riot
Goaded by Mari Winter, Sandy Edwards feels pressured to do something to satisfy the women who are frustrated and angry. Things spin out of control and we have a full scale riot on our hands.
| Chance | John Saunders |
| Time Schedule | F. MacDonald |
| Room 13 | F. MacDonald |
| Flashpoints | Andy Clark |
| A Touch Of Floyd | Pete Kelly |
| Action News | Nick Ingman |
| Pulsion | John Saunders |
| Action News | Nick Ingman |
| Mercury | John Saunders |
| Flashpoints | Andy Clark |
| Element of Risk | Andy Clark |
| Forewarning | George Fenton |
| Datalink | George Fenton |
| Computer Crime | George Fenton |
| Cold Steel | John Saunders |
| The Force | Trevor Bastow |
| Weird and Wonderful | Paul Hart |
| Darkside | Brian Bennett |
| Flashpoints | Andy Clark |
| Computer Crime | George Fenton |
| Proton | Paul Hart |
| Ominous Surroundings | John Scott |
| Gogs | John Saunders |
| Nerves of Steel | John Saunders |
| Mystery Cycle | John Saunders |
| Chance | John Saunders |
| Time Schedule | Frank MacDonald |
| Room 13 | Frank MacDonald |
| Cold Steel | John Saunders |
| Momentum (a) | Dave Vorhaus |
| Forewarning | George Fenton |
| Time Base | Dave Vorhaus |
| Concord | George Fenton |
| Voyager One | Dave Vorhaus |
| Datalink | George Fenton |
| Glass Tubes | Brian Bennett |
| World Beater | Andy Clark |
And here in FLAC!
This is it. It’s over. We are through!
So we are half way with this, the fifth volume concluding Series Two. As usual relying heavily on KPM and De Wolfe, with a shot of Chappell to spice things up, we have the usual funky incidentals (‘Funky Pusher’ anyone?) and loungy muzak tunes. Also includes one unknown, not yet identified track, Unknown 5, heard at the beginning of ‘Golden Fleece’.
September 1975 and we’re into Series Two. More funky vibes, more action tracks, more loungey tunes than you can shake a cocktail stick at.
You get more episodes per volume as many of the tracks from Series Two were already in the first Series; so we get six episodes worth of music here; from ‘Chalk and Cheese’ to ‘Trap’.
Here is Part Two of the full series of The Sweeney in music form, all the library cuts I could get my hands on, from ‘Jigsaw’ to ‘Cover Story’, this one is 34 tracks (and might just be slightly too big to get on a CD). This one is heavy on pop-rock muzak from KPM 1135 – Discoteque, in particular the episode ‘Night Out’.
This has been a labour of love that goes way back to the early days of Internet forums; in this case the old Vinyl Vulture forum. When Network released ‘The Sweeney’ on DVD initially they included ‘Music Only’ tracks which made it easier for fans of ‘The Sweeney’ and library music to start properly ID’ing the tracks used in the show.
There’s been a list of unknown tracks and some are still unknown but over the years as I bought more and more records most have been ID’d now. The release of Series One on blu ray included a list of the cue sheets which helped uncover a couple more mysteries. So this is where we are, in March 2020. I should and could have done this years ago but never had the time until this week to take on a pretty big undertaking and I wanted to get it right. Fingers crossed track numbers stay in place and there aren’t any big gaps of silence or anything.
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