A quick word with: Micah Hewson

Micah Hewson. Photo / Supplied by TV3

How did you select the prison breaks you featured?
For each episode, we looked at really amazing escapes, things that were completely unbelievable. One of those was where someone slipped through the bars, for example. We looked for really great back stories - like a love story - and we looked for violent characters. People who had shady and awful pasts who managed to get out and on the run.

And are they all stories you were familiar with before you started researching? Are they ones people will remember?
There's a few obscure ones out of the United States that we certainly wouldn't have seen. There's one, for example, about a guy called Bucky Phillips who used a can opener to basically cut a hole in the roof of his cell. But once we started to dig deep, we found some amazing stories.

So has anyone ever smuggled a file into prison, baked in a cake?
Sort of. One of the big escapes that we did from Britain was by two brothers called the Littlejohns. They managed to use their lawyer to smuggle in files and things like that during their meetings. The lawyers would visit them and would bring in a hacksaw blade and rope, and all these bits and pieces they slowly compiled and used to assist their escape. But that story is dating back to the late 60s, so the security back then was pretty lax compared to now.

And of the escapes you followed, did most people stay free or were they recaptured?
Most of them have been reincarcerated. There's probably two or three stories where the guys are still on the run and we're unsure really what happened to them

You covered a New Zealand story as well. Who was that about?
It was called the Awesome Foursome and it was Arthur Taylor, Graeme Burton, Darren Crowley and Matthew Thompson from Paremoremo. They managed to go on the run through the forest and end up in a millionaire's mansion, where they lived in his home for a fair time.

And in terms of the territories you looked at, were there any trends specific to them? Do Australians escape differently to Americans?
I think the difference is the American escapes are far more violent. They usually involve guns and some sort of outside assistance. The Aussie ones tend to be more cunning and usually it's right time,

right place. British ones are pretty much the same. They're far more cunning and pre-meditated than the US ones. Because the US security is so huge, they really have to force their way out. And that usually involves gunfire.

So if you were going to escape from prison, how would you go about it?
Look, if you're going to escape from jail, you don't tell anyone. You keep it to yourself and when you're on the run, you remain by yourself. I think that's the key. Most of the people who have been caught have escaped with another prisoner and then stay together. It's usually one of the pair that trips up somehow and that leads to both of them. So I'd do it by myself.

Real Prison Breaks premieres tonight on TV3 at 9.30pm.