Scum was a British film created in 1979 on a budget of only £5000 and was distributed by Blue Underground, a company specialising in releasing authoritative editions of cult/exploitation movies on DVD.
The story was originally made for the BBC's Play for Today strand in 1977 but was not shown at the time, although the BBC version has been broadcast since then. Two years later director Alan Clarke and scriptwriter Roy Minton remade it as a film, which was then shown on Channel 4 in 1983, by which time the borstal system had been abolished. The original BBC production differed slightly from the remade one. Aside from one or two differences in the cast, the main difference was that a homosexual relationship between Carlin and another inmate existed, which was in the BBC version but dropped from the later film. A special DVD re-release of the film was made in 2005 with the BBC original version added onto the disc as a bonus feature. Then unknown actor Ray Winstone was cast in the lead role for "the way he walked."
The Shawshank Redemption was an American film released in 1995, based on the book Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, written by world-famous author Stephen King. It was directed by Frank Darabont, now noted for also having written, directed & produced films such as The Green Mile. Unlike Scum, famous actors starred in this film, such as Morgan Freeman. Therefore, budget for this film was $25 million and grossed $28,341,469. The Shawshank Redemption was distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film was marketed for being a "feel-good" film with a strong message of hope.
Bad Girls was an award-winning British television drama series that was broadcast on ITV from 1999 to 2006; there were eight series. It was produced by Shed Productions, the company which later produced Footballers' Wives and Waterloo Road. It was set in the fictional women's prison of Larkhall, and featured a mixture of serious and lighthearted storylines focusing on the prisoners and staff - "screws" - of G Wing. HBO is developing an American remake with the same characters and exact same storylines.
The first series explicitly showed the sexual relationship between an inmate and a prison officer, an inmate suffering a miscarriage in her cell and another inmate committing suicide after severe bullying. The other series showed similar hard-hitting storylines.
Prison Break is an American serial drama television series that began in 2005. The series revolves around two brothers: one, Lincoln, has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other, Michael,who is a genius, devises an elaborate plan to help him escape from prison, hence the title of the show. The series was originally turned down by Fox in 2003, which was concerned about the long-term possibilities of such a series. Following the popularity of serialized prime time television series Lost and 24, Fox decided to back production in 2004. The first season received generally positive reviews and performed well in the ratings. After it was closed down in 2002, Joliet Prison became the set of Prison Break in 2005, standing in as Fox River State Penitentiary on screen. Scenes set in Lincoln's cell, the infirmary and the prison yard were all shot on location at the prison. Lincoln's cell was the same one in which serial killer John Wayne Gacy was incarcerated, which at least one member of the production crew refused to enter, believing that it was haunted. Prison Break spent $2 million per episode in the state of Illinois, which cost them a total of $24 million in 2005.
