Conceived as a male equivalent to the highly successful Prisoner, Punishment was deemed by Channel 10 to have failed after only three episodes had aired, according to Moran in his Guide to Australian TV Series.
Moran says of the series that
Based partly on true case histories, Punishment is a story of survival as prisoners and warders come to terms with being trapped within the prison system. ... But Punishment doesn't only focus on the troubles within the Longridge walls. Wives and girlfriends of both the officers and the prisoners are beseiged with problems that stem from the prison system. They learn there is no escape. Everyone from the superintendent down is serving a 'sentence'.
According to Moran, the failure of Punishment is that it was 'too hooked on realism', resulting in a program that 'was almost unremittingly heavy, with most of the prisoners and their guards being completely unsympathetic and unpleasant.'
Pulled from the air after the first three episodes had screened, Punishment was later re-introduced in the non-ratings period, where it quickly flopped.
Reports in the contemporary press, however, indicate that the series was cancelled much earlier, while it was still in production. According to a report in the Australian Women's Weekly in 1980, the series was dropped by the network before it went to air and after only fourteen episodes had been taped:
'It is believed the decision over the series was made because of internal rivalries between Sydney and Melbourne, particularly by pitting Punishment against the already successful Prisoner series.'
These claims were immediately counteracted by Network Ten executives, who reported that they had only ever commissioned twenty-six episodes of the series.
Further Reference:
Fiona Manning, 'Shock Move: TEN drops Punishment!', Australian Women's Weekly, Wednesday 8 October 1980, p.151S.
'New Prison Show Will Go to Air', Australian Women's Weekly, Wednesday 15 October 1980, p.201S.
