Within These Walls

Within These Walls is a British television drama series made by London Weekend Television for ITV and shown between 1974 and 1978. The series can be considered something of a precursor to the Australian drama Prisoner and the British series Bad Girls given its focus on a fictional women's prison, HMP Stonepark. The difference is that Within These Walls tended to centre its storylines around the prison staff rather than the inmates. The lead character of the series was the well-groomed, genteel governor Faye Boswell (Googie Withers) and episodes revolved around her attempts to liberalise the prison regime as well as her personal life at home. Another prominent character was her deputy, Mrs. Armitage (Mona Bruce). When Googie Withers left after three series, her character was replaced as governor by Helen Forrester (Katharine Blake) and then by Susan Marshall (Sarah Lawson).