The following is a list of home video releases from the Australian television series Prisoner (internationally re-titled Prisoner: Cell Block H in the United States and the United Kingdom, and Caged Women in Canada). The entire series, consisting of 8 seasons and 692 episodes is available in both Australia and the UK. Initially released in "Best Of" compilation format on DVD in Australia with three sets, in the United States with the first two sets, and in the United Kingdom with only the first set.
In Australia, Shock Records commenced releasing what was to be the beginning of the entire series in 2006 in volume format on DVD; the complete series over 40 volumes. Prior to the release of Volume 13, "The Complete Collection" was made available with the remaining individual volumes released subsequently. A second version of "The Complete Collection" was released in 2011. All of the original sets are now out-of-print. As of late 2016, ViaVision are releasing Prisoner on DVD in their original complete season formats.
In the United Kingdom, the series began releasing on VHS with the first 12 episodes over six videos and a video containing episodes 326 & 327. Prisoner Cell Block H DVDs have been released in stages by FremantleMedia Home Entertainment between 2008 - 2013. The content on the discs is identical to the Australian release, but with different cover/sleeve artwork. The UK releases started out as boxed sets of eight discs (32 episodes) with two discs in four cases within each set, but from Volume 4 onwards all the discs are packed into a plastic case with flip disc holders. The entire series has been released over a total of 20 volumes, the first 16 volumes featuring eight discs each but Volume 17 onwards contains ten discs.
The UK DVD releases are a combination of two volumes as released in Australia. For example, the UK Volume 1 consists of the Australian Volumes 1 and 2.
As with the Australian versions of the DVDs, the episodes are on the whole uncut, but due to the aged source of the master tapes, sometimes minor edits are made to the episodes to cover breaks in the picture or sound. "The Edna Pearson Story", released on UK DVD in February 2010, contains most of the previously cut scenes although, episode 470 is still missing a scene.
VHS
United States
The first 12 episodes of Prisoner: Cell Block H were over six VHS tapes in the United States in 1993 via MPI Home Video Title Release date Season Rating Additional information Episodes 1 & 2 23 June 1993 Season 1 Not rated Episodes 3 & 4 23 June 1993 Season 1 Not rated Episodes 5 & 6 23 June 1993 Season 1 Not rated Episodes 7 & 8 23 June 1993 Season 1 Not rated Episodes 9 & 10 23 June 1993 Season 1 Not rated Episodes 11 & 12 23 June 1993 Season 1 Not rated
United Kingdom
NTV Entertainment released eight VHS tapes between 1993 and 1995 in the United Kingdom. Title Release date Season Rating Additional information Episodes 1 & 2 1993 Season 1 15 Episodes 3 & 4 1993 Season 1 PG Episodes 5 & 6 1993 Season 1 PG Episodes 7 & 8 1 February 1994 Season 1 15 Episodes 9 & 10 15 August 1994 Season 1 PG Episodes 11 & 12 7 November 1994 Season 1 PG Exclusive interview footage with members of the cast Episodes 326 & 327 11 October 1993 Season 4, episode 80 &Season 5, episodes 1 15 Features the ″Great Fire of Wentworth″ which includes the Season Four finale and the opening episode of Season Five.
All episodes from the VHS releases have been re-rated 12 for the DVD releases in United Kingdom for violence, language, drug references, nudity, and sexual threat.
An additional video, ″The Great Escape″, a behind-the-scenes documentary featured the ″On the Outside″ tour from 1990 and was released on 10 April 1995.
DVD
In North America, Some of the episodes of this soap drama cult classic series were released on Region 1 DVD by A&E Home Entertainment, under licence from FremantleMedia International through the Reg Grundy Organisation from 2004-2007.
Compilation releases
TitleInitial releaseEpisodesNo. of discsAdditional informationRegion 1Region 2Region 4 The Best Of (1) 30 November 2004 22 September 2003 18 February 2002 12 3 The Best Of (2) 19 December 2006 24 February 2003 12 3 The Best Of (3) 26 July 2004 12 3 The Edna Pearson Story 8 February 2010 8 2
Region 4 Prisoner is rated M (recommended for mature audiences) for moderate themes, violence, moderate violence, infrequent moderate violence, drug references, moderate drug references, moderate drug use, moderate drug themes and coarse language.
Volume sets TitleRegion 4 DVDs: Release date Season Episodes No. of discs ACB rating Additional information Volume 1 19 October 2006 Season 1, episodes 1–16 16 4 M Volume 2 19 October 2006 Season 1, episodes 17–32 16 4 M Volume 3 20 November 2006 Season 1, episodes 33–48 16 4 M Volume 4 20 November 2006 Season 1, episodes 49–64 16 4 M Volume 5 17 March 2007 Season 1, episodes 65–79 Season 2, episode 1 (Episodes 65–80) 16 4 M Volume 6 17 March 2007 Season 2, episodes 2–17 (Episodes 81–96) 16 4 M Volume 7 21 April 2007 Season 2, episodes 18–33 (Episodes 97–112) 16 4 M Volume 8 21 April 2007 Season 2, episodes 34–49 (Episodes 113–128) 16 4 M Volume 9 19 May 2007 Season 2, episodes 50–65 (Episodes 129–144) 16 4 M Volume 10 19 May 2007 Season 2, episodes 66–81 (Episodes 145–160) 16 4 M Volume 11 18 August 2007 Season 2, episodes 82–86 Season 3, episodes 1–11 (Episodes 161–176) 16 4 M Volume 12 20 August 2007 Season 3, episodes 12–27 (Episodes 177–192) 16 4 M Volume 13 20 October 2007 Season 3, episodes 28–43 (Episodes 193–208) 16 4 M Volume 14"The Vera Bennett Edition" 20 October 2007 Season 3, episodes 44–59 (Episodes 209–224) 16 4 M Volume 15 3 November 2007 Season 3, episodes 60–75 (Episodes 225–240) 16 4 M Volume 16 3 November 2007 Season 3, episodes 76–81 Season 4, episodes 1–10 (Episodes 241–256) 16 4 M Volume 17 16 February 2008 Season 4, episodes 11–26 (Episodes 257–272) 16 4 M Volume 18 16 February 2008 Season 4, episodes 27–42 (Episodes 273–288) 16 4 M Volume 19 15 March 2008 Season 4, episodes 43–58 (Episodes 289–304) 16 4 M Volume 20 15 March 2008 Season 4, episodes 59–74 (Episodes 305–320) 16 4 M Volume 21 12 April 2008 Season 4, episodes 75–80 Season 5, episodes 1–10 (Episodes 321–336) 16 4 M Volume 22 12 April 2008 Season 5, episodes 11–26 (Episodes 337–352) 16 4 M Volume 23 14 July 2008 Season 5, episodes 27–42 (Episodes 353–368) 16 4 M Volume 24 14 July 2008 Season 5, episodes 43–58 (Episodes 369–384) 16 4 M Volume 25 18 August 2008 Season 5, episodes 59–74 (Episodes 385–400) 16 4 M Volume 26 18 August 2008 Season 5, episodes 75–90 (Episodes 401–416) 16 4 M Volume 27 13 September 2008 Season 6, episodes 1–16 (Episodes 417–432) 16 4 M Volume 28 13 September 2008 Season 6, episodes 17–32 (Episodes 433–448) 16 4 M Volume 29 13 September 2008 Season 6, episodes 33–48 (Episodes 449–464) 16 4 M Volume 30 13 September 2008 Season 6, episodes 49–64 (Episodes 465–480) 16 4 M Volume 31 18 October 2008 Season 6, episodes 65–80 (Episodes 481–496) 16 4 M Volume 32 18 October 2008 Season 6, episodes 81–89 Season 7, episodes 1–7 (Episodes 497–512) 16 4 M Volume 33 18 October 2008 Season 7, episodes 8–23 (Episodes 513–528) 16 4 M Volume 34 18 October 2008 Season 7, episodes 24–47 (Episodes 529–552) 24 6 M Volume 35 15 November 2008 Season 7, episodes 48–71 (Episodes 553–576) 24 6 M Volume 36 15 November 2008 Season 7, episodes 72–83 Season 8, episodes 1–12 (Episodes 577–600) 24 6 M Volume 37 15 November 2008 Season 8, episodes 13–36 (Episodes 601–624) 24 6 M Volume 38 15 November 2008 Season 8, episodes 37–60 (Episodes 625–648) 24 6 M Volume 39 1 January 2009 Season 8, episodes 61–84 (Episodes 649–672) 24 6 M Volume 40 1 January 2009 Season 8, episodes 85–104 (Episodes 673–692) 20 5 M The Complete Collection Original release:29 September 2007Re-release:5 October 2011 Seasons 1–8; 692 episodes 692 174 M
Complete season sets
In late 2016, Australian distribution company ViaVision commenced releasing the series in their complete season formats on DVD and is under its original title of Prisoner as opposed to the Region 4 volume sets which contained the international title Prisoner: Cell Block H.
TitlePrisoner DVDs: Release date Episodes No. of discs ACB rating Additional information The Complete Season One 2 November 2016 79 20 M The Complete Season Two 11 January 2017 86 21 M The Complete Season Three 8 February 2017 81 21 M The Complete Season Four 8 March 2017 80 21 M The Complete Season Five 5 April 2017 90 23 M The Complete Season Six 7 June 2017 89 22 M The Complete Season Seven 8 August 2017 83 21 M The Complete Season Eight 6 September 2017 104 26 M
Collection sets Title Release date Episodes No. of discs ACB rating Features Collection One: Seasons One & Two 2 February 2022 165 41 M Collection Two: Seasons Three & Four 6 April 2022 161 42 M Collection Three: Seasons Five & Six 20 July 2022 179 45 M Collection Four: Seasons Seven & Eight 21 September 2022 187 47 M The Complete Series (Limited Edition) 6 November 2024 692 175 M
Region 2 In the United Kingdom, Prisoner: Cell Block H was released via Fremantle Home Entertainment, beginning late 2008. The complete series was released through 20 volumes containing 32 episodes per set for the first sixteen volumes; Volume 17 contains 40 episodes, Volume 18 and Volume 19 both contain 48 episodes and the final volume contains 44 episodes. The reason for the increased number of episodes on later sets was due to the fact that Fremantle wanted to keep exactly double the number of episodes as the original Australian sets. The first 33 Australian releases contain 16 episodes per set; sets 34 to 39 containing 24 episodes per set and Volume 40 containing 20 episodes. Therefore, Fremantle in the UK doubled-up on episodes so that they could finish releasing by Volume 20.
In Australia, distribution company Shock Records began releasing the UK volumes in 2011, as their original volumes are now out of print. The final volume was released in early 2014.
DVD title Release date Features Region 2 Region 4 Volume 1: Episodes 1–32 10 November 2008 9 March 2011 Volume 2: Episodes 33–64 1 June 2009 9 March 2011 Volume 3: Episodes 65–96 12 October 2009 11 May 2011 Volume 1–3: Episodes 1–96 30 November 2009 Volume 4: Episodes 97–128 24 May 2010 29 July 2011 Volume 5: Episodes 129–160 11 October 2010 30 November 2011 Volume 6: Episodes 161–192 21 February 2011 1 February 2012 Volume 7: Episodes 193–224 18 April 2011 7 May 2012 Volume 8: Episodes 225–256 27 June 2011 4 July 2012 Volume 9: Episodes 257–288 29 August 2011 5 September 2012 Volume 10: Episodes 289–320 31 October 2011 5 September 2012 Volume 11: Episodes 321–352 20 February 2012 6 February 2013 Volume 12: Episodes 353–384 12 March 2012 6 February 2013 Volume 13: Episodes 385–416 20 April 2012 1 May 2013 Volume 14: Episodes 417–448 20 July 2012 1 May 2013 Volume 15: Episodes 449–480 6 August 2012 3 July 2013 Volume 16: Episodes 481–512 24 September 2012 3 July 2014 Volume 17: Episodes 513–552 5 November 2012 16 October 2013 Volume 18: Episodes 553–600 25 February 2013 16 October 2013 Volume 19: Episodes 600–648 25 March 2013 8 January 2014 Volume 20: Episodes 649–692 13 May 2013 8 January 2014
References
External links
. On the Inside – Official Fan Club. Encyclopedia of Television Prisoner at the National Film and Sound Archive