Within These Walls (original) (raw)

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1974 British TV series or programme

Within These Walls
Genre Drama
Created by David Butler
Directed by John ReardonPeter MoffattPaul AnnettTony WharmbyJim GoddardChristopher HodsonBill BainPhilip Casson
Starring Googie WithersJerome WillisDenys HawthorneBeth HarrisMona BruceSonia GrahamJoan BenhamJanet Lees Price
Theme music composer Denis King
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language English
No. of series 5
No. of episodes 72 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer Rex Firkin
Producer Jack Williams
Production locations London, England
Running time 52 minutes
Production company London Weekend
Original release
Network ITV
Release 4 January 1974 (1974-01-04) –15 April 1978 (1978-04-15)

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 later women-in-prison TV series, Bad Girls (ITV, 1999–2006), and Australian series, Prisoner (aka Prisoner: Cell Block H, Grundy Organisation, original run: 1979–1986), and Wentworth (2013–2021), Within These Walls tended to centre its story-lines around the prison staff rather than the inmates.

The lead character was played by British film actor Googie Withers who played the well-groomed, genteel governor Faye Boswell 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).

Creator and screenwriter of the programme, David Butler, appeared in some episodes as prison chaplain, Rev. Henry Prentice.[1]

As of November 2011, Network have released all five series on DVD in the UK,[2] with the exception of "Nowhere for the Kids", an episode from Series Two which appears to be missing from the archives.

The programme was broadcast around 9:00 p.m. (although exact times varied around the ITV regions), but prisoners were locked in their cells 30 minutes before 9:00pm.

Successful alumnae from the series included Helen Worth, later 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. Shirley Cheriton and Anna Wing both appeared in the season 2 episode "Skivers", long before becoming original cast members of EastEnders together.

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 labelled ‘Nowhere For The Kids' on YouTube.

  1. ^ Hayward, Anthony. "David Butler—Writer of TV historical dramas" (The Independent, 8 June 2006)
  2. ^ Network DVD Series 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 sets