Former Strictly star reveals experience banged up in county prison for TV
A former Strictly Come Dancing star has revealed what it was like to be locked up in prison – as part of a TV show.
The singer HRVY was jailed alongside a group of other celebrities at Shrewsbury Prison for the forthcoming Channel Four show.
Others taking part included EastEnders actor Sid Owen, comedian and actor Tom Rosenthal, Gogglebox star Marcus Luther, former MP Neil Parish and Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens.
The six well-known inmates were incarcerated with a variety of real ex-criminals, including those who have served long sentences for serious crimes – although all are now reformed and agreed to re-enter prison for the series.
The celebrity inmates had the opportunity to interrogate their cell-mates on their prison experiences and former crimes – as well as examine the impact of the system on them – for better or worse.
Run by a former prison governor, with 20 years’ experience in some of the UK’s toughest prisons, and former prison officers, the inmates lived by current UK prison rules.
HRVY told the Daily Star: "I go to a prison, and I live in a prison environment for like eight days, it’s the maddest thing that I have ever done in my life.
"It was like Love Island, Big Brother style cameras and filming, but in a prison. It was 24 hours a day filming, the weird thing was it was a social experiment documentary but it has that reality TV format with the cameras and I am not used to any of that stuff, I have never done anything like that, so it was weird to have cameras on me 24/7.
"But I was in a cell, and I mean we are talking like one toilet in a cell, and I was sharing a cell with convicted contract killers, this is mad stuff."
He added: "It was cool that I got to experience it, because hopefully touch wood I’ll never be in a prison! And I knew how lucky I was anyway, I can always see that, but it did solidify how lucky we really are."
When the show was announced, producer Tim Whitwell said: “For the first time, we have rigged a prison to find out what really happens in the cells after bang up. This series aims to enthral and entertain, whilst kickstarting a national debate about crime and punishment.”
It is the latest TV production to use Shrewsbury Prison for filming, after The Apprentice, Celebrity Hunted, and Time.
The venue has also become a hugely successful visitor attraction in recent years.
No date has yet been confirmed for the screening of the show, which had the working title 'Banged Up'.
