Live in the Studio: TV Behind Bars

On Thursday 27 February, as part of its Live in the Studio program, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) presents TV Behind Bars, a special event exploring the tube's fascination with life in prison.

Examining the first series of Orange in the New Black, as well as Australia's own jail-house television including the iconic Prisoner and the new drama series Wentworth, speakers Clementine Ford, Byron Bache, Jess McGuire and Ben Pobjie will use their pop cultural smarts to discuss why prison dramas are one of television's most enduring genres.

Last year, the American comedy-drama series Orange is the New Black became a breakout success. Taking viewers into the world of a federal women's prison, the series follows the journey of soon-to-be-married Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), who has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for a crime she committed ten years ago. Created by Jenji Kohan (Weeds), the series is based on the memoir Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, by Piper Kerman.

With the theme of life in prison again dominating our small screens, TV Behind Bars will ask the question: why exactly do we have such a fascination with life in the lock-up?

Live in the Studio is held regularly at ACMI and sees a host of industry experts and luminaries, academics, aficionados and pop-culture sovereigns get together for a series of live talks, screenings and performances that revel in TV past and present. Providing a hub for TV enthusiasts to celebrate the finer points of the tube, Live in the Studio is the perfect way to indulge a love of the small screen.