0/5

Stars to celebrate Prisoner

Next month marks the 30th anniversary of Prisoner with a party to be hosted by Val Lehman plus a screening of works featuring actress Jude Kuring.

Next month marks the 30th anniversary of Prisoner airing on the O-TEN Network.

The iconic television soap hit the airwaves on February 27th 1979, a milestone that will be marked with a reunion and party on the hallowed grounds of Wentworth Detention Centre, hosted by Val Lehman (Bea Smith) on Sunday February 22nd.

And Prisoner will also feature in a unique event at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne next month when it celebrates the career of actress Jude Kuring.

Kuring, played the infamous role of thug Noeline Bourke in the late 1970s.

Having first performed with the Pram Factory theatre, she first appeared in Homicide in 1971.

But it was her role as Bourke, largely portrayed as a lower class thief and the head of a small family of petty thieves, that was so memorable. Her character was introduced to the series as an inmate emerging to fight Monica Ferguson (Lesley Baker) for position of “top dog” while Bea Smith (Val Lehman) was recovering in hospital.

Kuring also starred in movies such as The Singer and the Dancer, Journey Among Women and The Journalist. In 1980 she was nominated for an AFI Award for her role in the movie Maybe This Time.

After guest appearing on Waterloo Station in 1983, Kuring subsequently moved away from acting but returned to her former career in 2003 to play a prominent role in the short film Prisoner Queen, which centred around an obsessed fan of Prisoner.

ACMI will screen an episode of Prisoner plus the pilot episode of community TV’s Buck House (1995, 22 mins), billed as the world’s first gay and lesbian sitcom as a free event at 2pm Saturday February 14th.

18 Responses

  1. hi my nane is pail and i was on prisoner for a while as a kid i played a few diff chachertors i would like to here from collette man as we got fairly close anyway cheers

  2. Oh it was a fabulous day. We got photos with all the cast members and their autographs. Val L (Bee), Peta T, Carol Burns (Frankie), Amanda Muggleton (Chrissie Latham), Vinegar Tits, Doreen, Fletch the Letch, Mouse, Mrs Davidson, and many more. There was a lovely dinner, drinks, a wander around the prison grounds, raffles and auctions. To those who missed out – suffer!

  3. hi all i was a huge fan of prisoner and spoted in the paper that prisoner was holding the 30th anniversary at global studieos in nunawading where the show was flimed. but its not mentioned here is it? or is that another name for the same place maybe.
    and is it to late to get tickets to this event says the same date and says val lehman is hosting it

  4. would love to know how to get a ticket to go on feb 22nd as i worked at channel
    10 in the canteen department i was very close with the actors on the show . Would love if you could let me know how .with thanks joyce

  5. Yeah me to tvaddict I also wasn’t allowed to watch it first run I was 3 when it first started and 11 when it finished and having seen the series in full twice and currently watching it for the third time I totally understand why I wasn’t allowed defiantly not a show for anyone under about 13

  6. One of the best ever Aussie TV shows, nice to see its still being remembered & celebrated. I wasn’t allowed to watch it first run seeing as i was like 12, then i watched it on the overnight reruns back in the 90’s, i could then appreciate why my parents didn’t want me watching it as a kid! it was pretty full on with the violence and anyway i think Vinegar Tits & the Freak would have given me nightmares!

  7. Prisoner was one of the best Australian tv shows,I loved it so many great actors appeared in it during the shows ran,Great to hear Jude Kuring career is being celebrated she was a very under rated actress back when she appeared on the show,looking back her performance as Noeline Burke was amazing .

  8. You can’t count on channel 10. From what I heard 10 only had rights to screen the series three times before the rights went up for grabs to other free-to-air networks, which is why I think Channel 10 never fully finished broadcasting the series for the third time.

  9. I’d love the complete series boxset (the biggest ever of any TV show) – but I don’t have a spare $1200 just lying around! ;-(

    I’ve seen the series 3 times through (crazy I know but it’s quite addictive) through its original broadcast and various repeats on 10 and UKTV.

    I could go a 4th viewing as it’s been a few years now since I’ve watched it…

    You cannot beat the finale of Prisoner … it was the finale of all finales … amazing to watch and be so, so fooled the first time around.

  10. I know how you feel Andrew the only way I got the complete series of pris was by taping it from UKTV 257-692 and trading 257-692 for episodes 1-256

    It would be so good if it was on TV again I could be wrong but I think the rights to the show are pretty expensive because some of the actors have to be paied royalties

  11. Wish it was still on TV somewhere though as I can’t yet afford the DVDs. I watched most of the original series from 1979-1987, then the repeats at 3am or so on 10 mid 90’s then again on UKTV around 2000 or so. Time to replay it!! 30th anniversary would be great time to start.

  12. Prisoner is one of my favorite shows I have every single episode on DVD and I am going to the reunion party in Melbourne next month and I am really looking forward to I I went to the 25th reunion of the show in 2004 and it was awesome

Leave a Reply