Celebrities 'Banged Up' in Shrewsbury with real life former inmates adjust to life on the inside
The latest television series filmed at Shrewsbury's former prison combines celebrity cell-mates with real-life former prisoners and staff.
Channel 4's Banged Up showed from the outset just a snippet of the intimidation and power struggles that make up life within these prison walls.
And while it is 'just a show' the atmosphere certainly got to the three celebrities introduced in Tuesday's first episode.
Sid Owen, best known as Ricky Butcher in Eastenders, was first to be let into The Dana, the former prison in Castlefields now run as a visitor attraction and film set.
He revealed he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his two brothers, both of whom served prison sentences, and his bank robber father.
Sharing a cell with ex-prisoner and money launderer, Reece McCoy, he admitted on his first day that it was so intimidating he felt he had been run over by a bus. And things got so bad he 'escaped' to the prison yard - only to be taken back in and put in segregation.
Former Gogglebox star, Marcus Luther, received far more intimidation when he refused to 'check out' his fellow inmates for the leaders on the wing.
Protesting that he 'was a light in a dark place' Marcus quickly found he wasn't going to make friends on the inside.
However an unlikely understanding seemed to be forming between Tory MP Johnny Mercer and cell-mate, Kevin Lane, sentenced to 24 years behind bars for murder.
The MP and former commando quizzed Lane about what drove him down a life of crime then was absolutely horrified when after asking Mercer if he wanted a cigarette, the former inmate proceeded to produce them, having secreted them on his person.
Still to be introduced to The Dana, or HMP Shrewsbury are the other celebrities, 24-year-old singer HRVY, comedian Tom Rosenthal, journalist and foreign correspondent Peter Hitchens and former Conservative MP Neil Parish. The MP for Tiverton and Honiton from 2010 he resigned in 2022, after he admitted to watching explicit content on his phone in the House of Commons.
Shrewsbury Prison has become a go-to film set for soaps including Coronation Street, Casualty and Holby City. Its biggest drama filmed there to date was Time, starring Sean Bean and Stephen Graham.
