Hm Prison Shepton Mallet

[maggiebee]

Did anyone watch the programme presented by Michael Portillo about this prison? Think it was on 4th or 5th Sept. What a fascinating programme this was.

With the outbreak of war the prison also took into protective storage many important historical documents from the Public Record Office in London, including Domesday Book, the logbooks of HMS Victory, the Olive Branch Petition (1775), and dispatches from the Battle of Waterloo. In all about 300 tons of records were transported to Shepton Mallet for safekeeping.

On a sadder note, Michael took back an ex inmate who had been jailed for 32 years for murder. He was only 14 when he killed his friend accidentally during play. Would never have got this sentence these days. He was very emotional revisiting.

The Krays were also inmates in the 1950s.

Worth a watch if it is on catch up TV.

[Guilbert53]

I saw it when it was first on a few months ago, BBC 1 or BBC2 I think.

What channel was it on this time, there are so many channels.

[gingejbee]

^^^no, not BBC at all. These "Hidden History of Britain" progs were on Channel 5...I can remember that an hour show could have been done in half the time by removing the ads and constant repetition of the same material. They are repeated on 5 Select, Freeview 54.