|
|
PRISONER: EIGHT YEARS INSIDE |
|
|
- Detailed overview of the Prisoner storyline - |
||
Contents |
Love it or mock it Prisoner has
enjoyed enduring popularity in the decades since it was first produced. But
as with many long running serials, there are different phases a series passes
through during its run with different styles and flavours
and varying levels of quality. The series is probably the world’s only
television serial to prove popular in repeated screenings decades after the
original episodes were produced, particularly in the UK despite the series
not appearing there until after actual production on the series had almost
ceased. Thousands of fans throughout the world devote considerable time
energy and money to their Prisoner fan-dom, many
religiously retaining videotaped copies of each of the 692 fifty minute episodes
originally produced in Australia between November 1978 and September 1986.
The series has also spawned several theatrical spin-offs in the United
Kingdom which have been successfully staged in several cities there. Shortly
after its Australian premiere the series was sold to the US and successfully
screened in many areas. It achieved high ratings for a couple of years, but
the US saw only the show’s first three years and subsequently it has been
largely forgotten there. Prisoner has stood up remarkably well to criticism over the years and is indeed
superior to many similarly produced television serials produced more recently
with more time and more money than was available to the Prisoner producers.
While much criticism seems to point out that various similar storylines were
constantly re-worked throughout the run of the series this is no more the
case in Prisoner than with any other series to have such a lengthy run. During its
original run in Australia, the series did garner a few good reviews (though
many were quite negative) and was regularly applauded for providing meaty
roles to talented actresses who were never likely to succeed on looks alone. 1979 - THE
FIRST TWENTY EPISODES
Prisoner was originally devised by Reg Watson and was intended as a sixteen-part serial with
a definite beginning, middle and end. The initial emphasis according to
publicity at the time was realism, although entertainment value played a big
part too. The original cast basically represented each character type that
may well be found in any women’s prison, intentionally ignoring the fact that
in reality the vast majority of women prisoners are serving time for drug
charges. THE
ORIGINAL PRISONERS
Bea Smith (in for murder
- was released March 1979 having served ten years) Franky Doyle (armed robbery and murder - life
sentence) Karen Travers
(murder - life sentence) Lynn Warner
(kidnapping - ten years) Doreen Anderson
(forgery, theft) Lizzie Birdsworth (murder - had served around twenty years when
the series began) ‘Mum’ Brooks (murder
- had served 15 years and was due for parole as the series began) Marilyn Mason
(prostitution - sentence of six months) THE
ORIGINAL STAFF
Erica Davidson
(Governor) Vera Bennett (Deputy
Governor) Meg Jackson
(Officer) Dr Greg Miller
(Doctor) The show’s other
original regular character was electrician Eddie Cook. THE INITIAL
STORYLINES
The introduction to
the series was provided by two naive and relatively innocent young women
prisoners entering Wentworth. They arrive during the opening scenes of the
first episode and dumbfounded shock quickly escalates to sheer terror as the
twosome encounter the horrors of Wentworth: everything from the perfunctory
induction to sadistic screws and unwelcoming and dangerous fellow inmates.
The horrified newcomers, Karen Travers (Peta Toppano) and Lynn Warner (Kerry Armstrong), are our eyes
and our introduction to the strange and unfamiliar Prison and its
inhabitants. Early scenes detail
the problems of Karen and Lynn settling into Wentworth. Karen is preyed on by
tough lesbian inmate Franky Doyle (Carol Burns)
between romantic interludes with her former fiancé, who just happens to also
be Wentworth doctor Greg Miller (Barry Quin). Lynn,
meanwhile, quickly finds an enemy in tough and unsympathetic “top dog” Bea
Smith (Val Lehman) who knows just how to deal with a suspected child
kidnapper. Lynn did have one
friend, the wise and forgiving Mum Brooks (Mary Ward). Mum led a quiet and
dignified life tending the Wentworth garden while serving a twenty-year
sentence for the mercy killing of her terminally ill husband. Mum is soon
released and the problems of a long term prisoner entering an unfamiliar and
hostile outside world are explored. On a lighter note was a serving of sex
and romance in the form of seductive blonde nymphomaniac Marilyn Mason
(Margaret Laurence), cunningly enticing the prison electrician Eddie Cook
(Richard Moir) into amorous trysts which quickly
develop into a cute though sometimes rocky romance. The officers were
not left out of the proceedings with contrasting vignettes featuring sadistic
Vera Bennett (Fiona Spence) exploring the person behind the stern facade,
while nice officer Meg Jackson (Elspeth Ballantyne)
deals both with teenage rebellion and a personal tragedy that underlines most
emphatically the concept of giving ones life to the prison service. Patsy
King enacted the prim governor Erica Davidson, a progressive but somewhat
misguided academic. Due to the
envisioned short run of the series the storylines move along very quickly.
These early episodes were extremely well written and produced, and are
definitely a far cry from the typically padded out serial fodder of most
continuing series. The early scenes have a stilted, almost theatrical feel
which actually works very well considering the prison setting. Much of the
storyline progression of this period lay with hugely popular character Franky Doyle, detailing her one sided love affair with Karen
Travers and her attempts at replacing Bea Smith as top dog of the prison.
Such was the quality and popularity of these episodes, Network Ten edited
together many of Franky’s scenes to produce a TV
movie entitled The Franky
Doyle Story that aired later the
same year. Finally, with Bea
firmly back in place at the helm and the realisation
that any relationship with Karen is pure fantasy, Franky
stages a daring escape, taking along two previously under-utilised
members of the original regular cast, Doreen Anderson (Colette Mann) and
Lizzie Birdsworth (Sheila Florance).
Originally the death of Franky Doyle was to form
the conclusion of the series. THE
REMAINDER OF 1979
After the first ten
episodes the popularity of the series prompted the decision to extend it from
sixteen to twenty episodes, and then into an indefinitely running serial. As
the story moves past episode 16 we begin to see a slight shift in focus and a
slackening of the brisk pace while writers take stock of the situation and
try to adapt the characters and situations into a long-running serial format. As the storyline and
characters had initially been devised with a foreseeable conclusion, some
retooling was needed to extend the situation into an ongoing serial. Though
Karen was to originally have been released at the end of the sixteen episodes
the storyline was changed to keep her in Wentworth longer. Less important
characters Marilyn Mason and Eddie Cook, involved in basically a lightweight
romantic storyline, were written out of the series. Carol Burns felt
that she could not continue her intense characterisation
of Franky Doyle at the increased rate of two
transmitted hours each week, fearing that the quality of her performance (and
that of the series as a whole) would suffer. One of the more senior cast
members, Mary Ward who played Mum Brooks, did not have such a draining
character to play, but also left the show believing that the increased
workload would not be sustainable. The writers did
manage to come up with some entertaining situations almost immediately, such
as the return to the series of former bit-part prison officer Ann Yates (Kirsty Child) and the appearance of intriguing new
prisoner Susan Rice (Briony Behets),
though on the whole the series at this point seems to lack focus. Other storylines
that traced events leading to a character’s arrest and imprisonment were
first introduced at this point. A new character Catherine Roberts (Margot
McLennan) joined the show as the mother of a teenage girl who was raped.
After several scenes depicting the domestic dramas that ensued after the
attack on the girl, Catherine killed the rapist by running him down in her
car. Subsequent episodes depicted Catherine’s trial and imprisonment
in Wentworth were she befriended Bea Smith. These storylines
would be featured regularly throughout the run of the series, though some
fans would rather have seen just the in-prison antics of their favourite prisoners. Indeed even the writers seemed to
dislike the Catherine Roberts storyline; shortly after her trial was over she
was abruptly transferred to another part of the prison and never seen again. As the series
regained momentum several new characters were added to round out the regular
cast. Bea gained a rugged lieutenant in Monica Ferguson (Lesley Baker) and an
irritating adversary in the rough and tough career criminal Noeline Burke (Jude Kuring).
Garrulous social worker Jean Vernon (Christine Amor)
arrived followed by stern Deputy Governor Jim Fletcher (Gerard Maguire). With these new
characters quickly established we see the storylines and pace pick up again,
the plots move along very quickly and various guest characters appear and
disappear at a rapid rate. Memorable characters from this period include Toorak socialite Clara Goddard (Betty Lucas) in on
embezzlement charges, cocky career crim Joyce
Martin (Judy Nunn), Noeline’s daughter Leanne
(Tracy-Jo Riley), and the wife of a powerful crime boss Toni McNally (Pat Bishop).
In fact there are so many different things going on during this period
missing just one episode could prove disastrous. Also notable at this point
is the gritty, hard-edged nature of many of the characters and events, which
contrasts the softer, soapier style that seemed to creep in during the later
years of the series. Initially a rather
severe and efficient professional, Governor Erica Davidson soon evolved into
more a parody of a well-meaning but hopelessly naive bureaucrat. As Erica,
actress Patsy King created an often humorous character, which with her
towering blond hair-do and refined accent, sometimes descended to the level
of caricature. As time went on we saw more of the staff politics within the
prison. While Erica usually found support in caring officer Meg Jackson and
varying support from tough and often cynical Deputy Governor Jim Fletcher,
officious Vera Bennett would always present a hostile front, frequently at
odds with all the other officers. Though Jim and Vera often seemed to have
similar methods and ideals they were often rivals and rarely agreed, with Jim
mainly siding with Meg. Various storylines
would explore relatively ordinary family and social aspects of Meg and Jim’s
lives away from the prison or their personal involvements in various
prisoners. Events depicted as the source of Vera’s frequently nasty demeanour would be also explored, along with subtle
indications of a special Vera-Lizzie understanding. Later we would also
occasionally see a guest officer patrolling the corridors of Wentworth, and
any corruption or illegal activities by officers was usually handled by these
interlopers who would be promptly removed from the proceedings once their
nasty proclivities came to light. Wentworth, it seemed, was home to only the
most ethical and law abiding of prison officers. Karen Travers and
Lynn Warner who had been the initial leads in the series had meanwhile
settled into slightly lesser roles. Unfortunately it was soon apparent that
there was little remaining storyline potential for Lynn and she was written
out of the series. However the writers persevered with Karen successfully
re-building her role with various new storylines. This included the
understated romance with her appeals lawyer Steve Wilson and the quite
intriguing antics of the lecturers and fellow students she meets after being
granted day-release to attend university lectures. Finally Karen is
granted parole and we see a thoughtfully handled and quite compelling
exploration of the problems facing a recently released prisoner; problems of
finances and finding work and accommodation, well-meaning but misguided friends,
and simply the mundane problems of settling back into normal life. After
struggling for awhile Karen is rescued by stylish lesbian lawyer Angela
Jeffries (Jeanie Drynan) who offers Karen support
and a job and finally appoints her as live-in manager of the new halfway
house, a house providing accommodation and support for recently released
women prisoners. Despite a new romantic involvement with Meg, Greg Miller
remained interested in Karen and, partly as he was wary of Angela’s
intentions, was quite heavily involved with Karen and in the halfway house
project. The halfway house provided a home for the newly paroled Doreen, and
we see a touching storyline where Doreen’s estranged mother Alice Hemmings (Anne Haddy) appears. By the end of 1979
Monica, Noeline (though she would return the
following year) and Jean Vernon had departed, while new characters in
substantial roles were Pat O’Connell (Monica Maughan),
a concerned and caring mum and Bea’s new off-sider,
and the young but embittered Roslyn Coulsen (Sigrid
Thornton). Chrissie Latham (Amanda Muggleton) the
despised tart who had made such a pleasing impression during the very early
episodes also returned for the first of many stints in the series. While Karen’s
storylines remained interesting actress Peta Toppano decided to leave at the end of 1979 and the
character was written out of the series. Karen’s departure also spelt the end
for Greg Miller, with whom she had resumed a romantic liaison. In all, an excellent
year, with mostly thoughtful, convincing and enjoyable storylines, few goofs,
and good characters and acting. 1980
As the series
continued on into 1980 the regular cast became slightly larger than before
with up to three different storylines running concurrently. Guest characters who previously might appear in only a few episodes in
which they would be extensively featured now seemed be around for up to three
months while their particular storyline slowly pans out. Three such
characters were new prison social worker Paul Reid (George Mallaby), his wayward son Tony, and inmate Sharon Gilmour
(Margot Knight). The storyline concerning Sharon Gilmour, a spiteful drug
dealer and enemy of Bea Smith, was particularly memorable. Here the series
began to show more complicated plotting in comparison to what had been seen
before, with longer running storylines and various complex characters and
events interwoven contrasting the earlier style that was characterised
by a high turnover of short-lived characters in relatively brief storylines. Unlike some of the
storylines that had featured during the first year, much of the action of the
next few years concentrated on the internal dramas of Wentworth Detention
Centre. Storylines usually revolved around short-term prisoners and their
interaction with the more established inmates. The success of this period
lies squarely with the popular Bea, Lizzie and Doreen trio, a perfect vehicle
for all manner of storylines and enough comic relief at other times. Bea was
the tough leader, Lizzie the loveable but crotchety old dear, and Doreen the
wayward youngster finding support and guidance from the other two. Each had
quite marked weaknesses and temperaments which, combined with their gleeful
rebellion against authority, led to many explosive situations and
unpredictable events over the years. Likewise the mix of officers; nice Meg,
acidic Vera, stern authoritarian Jim and the progressive Erica was an ideal
combination. The producers had
always agreed that drug use should not be shown and violence should be kept
down, so while the prisoners mostly delighted in causing trouble, in many
ways it was depicted as girls’ boarding school gone wrong. There would always
be more unscrupulous prisoners battling the goodies (notably Noeline Burke and Chrissie Latham during the early years)
but they usually came to no good with Bea and her gang always remaining
victorious. Apart from these measures, Prisoner is
nonetheless one of the most consistently violent modern television serials
ever produced. The Bea, Lizzie and Doreen
dynamic was soon joined by newcomer Judy Bryant (Betty Bobbit).
Initially introduced as Sharon Gilmour’s lover and intended as a tough but
short-lived rival for Bea, Judy soon softened and became a permanent fixture
in the series, eventually becoming Bea’s new off-sider,
though she was not always willing to accept Bea’s sometimes prescriptive
leadership without a fight. The halfway house
continued in the series with Rhonda West (Joan Letch) replacing Karen as
manager. Lizzie was paroled and moved into the halfway house where she and
Doreen continued their comical routines. Later Doreen met and eventually
became engaged to Kevin Burns (Ian Gilmour). However Lizzie and Doreen were
sorely missed in the inside Wentworth scenes which meant their freedom could
only be short-lived. The halfway house
was also used to introduce Caroline Simpson (Ros Speirs) and her mother Vivienne Williams (Bernadette
Gibson) to the main proceedings when they arrive there seeking refuge from
Caroline’s abusive father. Turned away by Rhonda they return home and the father
ends up with a knife in his back. The two women are promptly charged with his
murder and arrive at Wentworth. Vivienne takes the familiar role of
middle-class woman completely out of her depth in prison, while stylish and
attractive daughter Caroline begins a romance with officer Jim Fletcher. Though
it provided a more direct link to new characters destined to commit a crime
and wind up in Wentworth, as well as serving as the locale for a bailed
Caroline to conduct her romance with Jim, without continued sustenance from
the main Wentworth crew the halfway house scenes quickly became monotonous
and it soon disappeared from the storyline. Pat O’Connell also
left the series, while Jim Fletcher suffered personal and professional
problems connected to his involvement with Caroline and his soured friendship
with former army colleague Geoff Butler (Ray Meagher). The shocking
conclusion to this storyline resulted in Jim’s storyline involvement being
temporarily scaled down; appearing in the minimum of scenes with no
storylines - in other words silent grieving, soap opera style. Various recurring
guest characters including Colleen Powell (Judith MacGrath),
bookie and second-rate thug Margo Gaffney (Jane Clifton), and general prison
rabble such as Phyllis Hunt (Reylene Pearce) and ‘Mouse’
Trapp (Jentah Sobbot)
popped up in regular appearances. With the main core
cast members all in place the scene was set for a series of memorable
storylines: ex-con Ken Pierce (Tom Oliver) helps the women set-up a drama
group, a scheme succeeding purely because of Bea’s romantic interest in him.
Later crusader Ken arranged for his wayward daughter Debbie (Dina Mann) to be
sent to Wentworth as an inmate for two days in an attempt to scare her
straight. After an impassioned speech from Bea Smith, seems this scheme was a
success. Meanwhile evil new officer Jock Stewart (Tommy Dysart) attempts to
coerce Doreen into selling her mother’s house after making a deal with the
developers. This period also saw
the eventful appearance of artist inmate Kerry Vincent (Penny Downie), the surprise appearance of Lizzie’s long-lost
daughter Marcia (Judith Dick), and the shocking death of Sharon Gilmour. Sharon’s
demise led to a climactic protest staged in an attempt to expose the identity
of her killer, a protest that famously featured the reappearance Leanne
Burke, who was at this time a prisoner at Wentworth. All fondly remembered
classic highlights in the series. Soon after this Noeline Burke made her triumphant return, and with a lull
in the storylines the glamorous beauty dominated the series for awhile. Pace
picked up again with the women’s work release at the factory becoming the
major plot-thread. After an extended quiet and pensive period, Jim Fletcher
slowly began returning to his normal stern self, while Gail Summers (Susanne
Haworth) entered Wentworth as a despised new inmate. The factory plotline saw
Doreen being victimised yet again, this time by
gruff foreman Vince Talbot, and the storyline also introduced a suave and
sinister new character in the form of the shady office manager Kay White
(Sandy Gore). Meanwhile a new dimension was added to the Erica Davidson
character when she was romanced by factory owner Andrew Reynolds (John Lee). Tracey Morris (Sue
Devine) was a remand prisoner charged with drug smuggling. The crime made an
enemy of Bea Smith while Judy befriended a naive youngster. This friendship
caused many perceived problems due to prejudice from others over Judy’s
lesbianism, but ultimately it was the engagement of her father Bob Morris
(Anthony Hawkins) to officer Meg Jackson that prompted Tracey’s transfer to Barnhurst. Then there was Jacki
Nolan’s (Diane Craig) association with Jim and Vera’s excellently handled
alcoholism storyline. Finally the tunnel escape and Anne Griffin (Rowena
Wallace) came at the end of 1980. Vera Bennett had
emerged as a particularly interesting character. Though there were exceptions
(she was gleefully sadistic in the earliest episodes, and agreed to smuggle
in a drug filled doll to prisoner Barbara Davidson as part of a supposed set
up shortly after) Vera was generally a strict and officious stickler for the
rules. The prisoners soon nicknamed her Vinegar Tits, but generally
understood that her bark was worse than her bite. Fiona Spence shone
as the socially inept spinster who nevertheless ruled within Wentworth. There
she had power over others, and was utterly convinced that her strict and
unerring adherence to prison regulations was the proper way to run a prison.
Vera judged Governor Davidson as too soft, believing the women took advantage
of this, and knew she could show them all how a prison should be run - if
only she had the chance. Fittingly this is just what happened; when Fiona
Spence finally decided to leave the series Vera was written out by being
given the coveted job of Governor of Barnhurst. Vera was not above
using devious tactics to get her own way. She had nursed her sick but shrill
and demanding mother for years, causing her to be stuck at home and be left
on the shelf when it came to boyfriends and marriage. The mother dies early
on in the series leaving Vera all alone. Resentful of this she decided that
mere prisoners, whom she referred to as “animals”, did not deserve to be mothers,
and on a couple of occasions conspired to ruin prisoners’ relationships with
their children. Knowing that custody might be granted if prisoner Rosie
Hudson (Anne-Marie MacDonald) was seen to be emotionally distraught on
separation from her young son, Vera convinced the young prisoner that custody
would only be granted if she remained cool, calm and level headed. Seeing the
girl’s blasé attitude, authorities refused to give custody. Rosie’s outburst
when the truth came to light led to her transfer to a mental institution.
Later, Vera attempted similar dirty tricks with Pat O’Connell. Several times during
her run in the series Vera had enjoyed short-lived romantic interludes.
Unfortunately she was terrible at picking men, frequently ending up with sinister
types with ulterior motives, and her strong sense of morality meant that
these unions would always be short-lived. 1981
The 1981 episodes
seemed to be more outwardly flashy. They seemed to be aiming for
entertainment and excitement with less emphasis on social commentary or
realism. While many of the 1980 stories had been thoughtful and serious the
1981 episodes were less so, however the quality remained and stories remained
enjoyable with some great highlight storylines appearing during this period.
These included the appearance of herbalist/poisoner
Evelyn Randall (Julia Blake) and the associated quarantine dramas as the
prison was gripped by a deadly and mysterious tropical disease, the antics of
idealistic new prison teacher David Andrews (Serge Lazareff),
the emergence of ambitious and spiteful union-rep officer in Colleen Powell,
and the eventful stay of feisty young rebel Georgie
Baxter (Tracey Mann). Elderly Sid Humphrey (Ed Hepple)
began as prison handy man providing a romantic storyline for Lizzie while
vicious Vera, rather smitten with an attentive David and friendly with jolly
Sid, softened considerably. Of course the nice Vera did not last too long... Margo Gaffney got a
major storyline of her own when she was released and made a concerted effort
to go straight... unfortunately she was soon involved in a failed payroll
grab with dim boyfriend Wayne Bradshaw (Vincent Gil). Next came Bea Smith’s abrupt transfer to Barnhurst.
The action at this point briefly extends to the rural prison and there we
meet that prison’s top dog Marie Winter (Maggie Millar) for the first time.
This was quickly followed Bea’s unforgettable amnesia storyline which
included the return of the Mum Brooks character. Despite being rather
far-fetched, this was one of the best storylines ever seen in the series, an
excellently handled further exploration into the character of Bea with the
acting of Val Lehman and Mary Ward riveting. It is perhaps at
this point that the series seems to be moving into its next phase. After her
involvement with the hostage dramas that ensued after Margo’s bungled payroll
robbery, Meg was convinced (mainly by husband Bob) to switch jobs and become
a parole officer, which she promptly did. Though she continued to make
regular appearances within the prison Meg had many other outside storylines
during this period thus opening her character up to new stories such as her
over-involvement with sulky young parolee Nick Clark (Ned Manning) and also
making her more accessible to events occurring outside Wentworth, as seen
during Bea’s amnesia plotline. Terry Harrison
(Brian Hannan) joined as a new officer. He
initially seemed rather caring, supporting Bea through her amnesia and
romancing Vera, however soon afterwards he rather foolishly became embroiled
in some blackmail strife after trying to cultivate Margo Gaffney as an
informant. He then had even greater problems when his ex-wife Kathy Hall (Sue
Jones), who was apparently in trouble with a ruthless organised-crime
boss, arrived in Wentworth as a prisoner. Terry was eventually revealed to
not be the nice-guy he initially seemed. Briefly seen guest
characters included scheming remand prisoner Michelle Parkes
(Nina Landis) - a beautiful and cunning athlete who had Jim Fletcher
spellbound, and the appearance of Judy’s long-lost daughter Lori Young (Sussannah Fowle), which gave
Judy something to do finally after an extended period of inactivity. Later we
got the irritating Alison Page (Fay Kelton), a
troubled prisoner from suburbia constantly asserting her superiority to the
other prisoners but convincing no one. Alison brought out the viciousness in
Vera again, after a rather soft period for the officious screw. Late 1981 saw the
first major change to the show’s regular line-up with the departure, in episode
224, of deliciously evil Officer Vera Bennett who had been with the series
from the beginning. Terry Harrison had also departed and, on Vera’s
departure, Colleen Powell became a regular character. Though Colleen’s
reputation states that she was instantly transformed into the new nasty screw
once Vera left this is not entirely true. Colleen had already been seen as
consistently spiteful and ambitious and we had already seen her get into
strife several times through her overzealous application of the rules.
Immediately after Vera’s departure we got another such storyline for Colleen
with her terrifying clashes with middle-class inmate Alison Page and with new
political-activist prisoner Andrea Hennessey (Bethany Lee). While Colleen
alienated her colleagues during this period and then started a rivalry of
sorts with Meg, Colleen’s nasty period here lasted only a few episodes.
Nonetheless Colleen did remain smug and sarcastic, was at times a scheming
bitch, and did set-up an informant in new prisoner Kate Peterson (Olivia Hamnett). Fortunately by this
point the writers had also allowed Meg to return to her previous job as
officer. Though the career change had initially generated some good
storylines for the character, the rather limited scope of storylines in this
area had by now become exhausted. A new officer, Janet Conway (Kate Sheil), arrived soon after. She started out rather a
sympathetic character and suffered the usual dramas befalling any new
inexperienced officer while also playing romantic interest for Jim Fletcher.
Janet’s other twist was that she had previously been a remand prisoner at Wentworth,
and had known Bea Smith from those days. The cosy
chats between the pair made the other prisoners suspicious for awhile. Certainly
Janet was a well-drawn character, and Kate Sheil a
perfectly adequate actress in the role. Unfortunately Janet Conway was a bit
too serious, a bit dull, and not particularly appealing. While there was a
constant stream of guest characters moving through the series, Bea, Lizzie,
Doreen and Judy remained the dominant figures in most of the storylines. That
said, increasingly priggish Doreen had become rather repetitive with her
childish jealousies, while Judy now seemed to have few storylines of her own. After a memorable
period dominated by obnoxious activist Andrea Hennessey’s stay in Wentworth
where her extreme views antagonised the other
prisoners and incited the kidnapping of Erica Davidson we see another major
change to the usual formula. Doreen and Judy were abruptly transferred to Barnhurst, Lizzie was transferred to another block and
Bea sent off for a lengthy stay in hospital. With these departures high-powered
recent arrivals, tough career-criminal Sandy Edwards (Louise Le Nay), and Dr
Kate Peterson, rose to the top of the prisoner pecking order. Then Marie
Winter was transferred back in from Barnhurst to
become chief villain. This was a welcome change from the usual formula that
had dominated for so long. It also allowed such semi-regular support
characters as Phyllis Hunt and Hazel Kent (Belinda Davey)
to grab a bigger piece of the pie, as usually they didn’t get much of a
chance. Shortly after her
reappearance Marie started an explosive prison riot; a memorable cliff-hanger
in which new officer Steve Fawkner (Wayne Jarratt) and Janet Conway are held hostage. In a familiar
storyline seen throughout the series, two dominant prisoners, in this
instance Marie and Sandy, vied for the top dog position. The storyline
featured an interesting twist in the dynamics between Sandy, Marie and Kate,
with all sorts of scheming and plotting ending in a shocking murder. Judy and
Lizzie returned midway through the storyline though would temporarily take a
back seat to the main proceedings. Finally Bea and then Doreen returned in
time to witness the demise of Kate, Sandy, and Marie (who was shipped back to
Barnhurst) and to resume their leading roles in the
series. In reality of course actresses Val Lehman and Colette Mann (Bea and
Doreen) took time off to appear in a film. Nevertheless it was a breath of
fresh air to see someone else dominating Wentworth for awhile. The riot had an
alarming effect on Janet, who had been stripped and forced to don a prisoner’s
uniform while Sandy read the charges and inducted her for the crime of
becoming an officer (having previously been a remand prisoner). Janet
developed an intense hatred of the prisoners and began barking orders at
them, Vera style. She also became overly possessive of Jim, and soon took to
following him about and turning up at his flat unannounced at odd hours.
Later, in a vengeful mood she demolished his lounge room and took to openly
sniping at Meg after a paranoid Janet decided that she and Jim were in fact
enjoying a secret affair and were laughing at her behind her back. Each of
Jim’s attempts to end the affair just resulted in more intense possessiveness
and jealousy from Janet, and more bitter accusations of an affair with Meg. Janet’s secret
ex-prisoner status and her special relationship with Bea Smith seemed to be
forgotten at this point. In any event new
producer John McRae, who had arrived some months earlier and had begun
instituting changes to revamp the show, here decided to dispense with Gerard
Maguire’s services. Jim Fletcher, a good and somewhat under-used character,
was abruptly written out of the series by being given the job of Governor of
a juvenile prison. This new producer
apparently also managed to patch-up the technical problems that had slowly
crept into the series over the preceding months which had resulted in a spate
of such on-air goofs as fluffed lines and overhead mikes in shot. While Marie
Winter’s riot had generated some suspense, those scenes unfortunately yielded
perhaps the show’s greatest concentration of on-air technical glitches ever.
In contrast, the early 1982 episodes seemed to return to the more atmospheric
filming style as seen in the show’s first twenty episodes. Camera angles emphasised the high ceilings and long corridors of the
prison set, darker and more atmospheric lighting was used, and generally more
attention was paid to making the show look good. Susie Driscoll (Jacqui
Gordon) was a sympathetic new prisoner. Just sixteen years old she was
finally sent to Wentworth after escaping from every other institution she had
been placed in. Her innocence and tender years provoked a motherly kindness
from the staff and inmates of Wentworth, yet still she staged a series of
escapes and escape attempts. With Jim gone Janet’s
“Fatal Attraction” style pursuit of him also ended. She settled down to
become a rather ordinary officer who was romanced by printing instructor Ian
Mahoney (Peter Curtin) thus paving the way for her departure when Janet was
written out of the series a short time later. Having found love at last and
disillusioned with prison service Janet was happy to resign from her job and
go work with Ian in the business he was setting up. A happy ending is finally
provided for the character: in their final scene Janet tells Ian she is
pregnant and he is overjoyed. Wayne Jarratt’s nice-guy Officer Steve Fawkner
enjoyed few major storylines during his eight-month stay. Initially he was
only in the job for the money, and then enjoyed an illicit affair with
prisoner Sandy Edwards. However he later developed an intense interest in the
prisoner’s welfare and encouraged the women in their printing press project
and Bea in her journalist endeavours. A subsequent change
was the re-establishment of a Halfway House in the series, this time run by
freshly released prisoner Judy Bryant. Named Driscoll House after its first
resident Susie Driscoll (who soon after went to live in the country with
Joanne Slater, a mother-figure Susie befriended in Wentworth) the house
allowed a greater range of storylines to be explored by the series. The halfway house
would play host to a constant stream of guest characters, as well as such
regulars and semi-regulars as bikie and occasional
Wentworth inhabitant Maxine Daniels (Lisa Crittenden), social worker Tony
Berman (David Alan Lee), and Judy’s friends Wally Wallace (Alan Hopgood) and Helen Smart (Caroline Gilmer). Driscoll House
provided opportunity to explore some softer storylines and social issues,
however these scenes where decidedly less interesting than those occurring
within the prison, with many new characters appearing there having no
connection with Wentworth or its familiar inhabitants whatsoever. Also notable here is
the series’ only proper drug storyline, exploring the problems of
heroin-addicted prostitute Donna Mason (Arkie
Whitely) who a newly released Susie had initially turned to for support. ENTER THE
FREAK
A big change to the
popular formula began with the addition, in May 1982, episode #287, of
formidable Officer Joan Ferguson, superbly portrayed by actress Maggie
Kirkpatrick. The appearance of Joan Ferguson heralded far-reaching changes to
the series that would remain until the end. While ostensibly a replacement
for Vera’s nasty screw, Joan Ferguson in fact had a much greater impact on
the series quickly developing a cult following of non-Prisoner viewers and generating huge amounts of publicity. Joan was initially a
Jock Stewart-type corrupt officer, a type of character never to last too long
in the series, however ensuing changes in the show
would see Joan Ferguson emerge as its brightest light. Coming when she did,
just as the gradual departure of core cast members began and as the series
was undergoing a natural renewal, Joan Ferguson found a snug niche in the
series and slowly began to dominate the storylines, in particular with her
long-running battle with Bea Smith. With Joan Ferguson’s
introduction came another new character, Hannah Simpson (Julieanne
Newbould), and the welcome return of Chrissie
Latham, who could always be relied upon to generate plenty of interesting
plot developments. Just as she had done earlier with Sharon Gilmour, Chrissie
entered into an unwise partnership with Hannah, plotting an escape, while
Joan Ferguson unwisely developed an attraction of her own towards Hannah.
Chrissie went on to form a dangerous friendship with prison nurse Neil Murray
(Adrian Wright), again planning an escape. She quickly found herself as one
of Joan Ferguson’s least favourite prisoners,
though had by this time become friends with Bea Smith. Another new character
Paddy Lawson (Anna Hruby), who arrived a little
later, also ran foul of Joan Ferguson, largely due to Paddy’s friendship with
Bea. Joan did not fare so well trying to heavy new inmate Barbara Fields
(Susan Guerin) who managed to blackmail her, but of course, in the end, Joan
would come up trumps. Bea was granted
work-release at a printing company, and befriended Cookie (Judi Connelli), a married woman with a troubled teenage
daughter and womanising husband; much like Bea
Smith herself fifteen years earlier. In a well-handled storyline we see
Cookie deal with her problems with Bea’s help, and Bea explores what could
have been handled differently in her own past. In perhaps the show’s
most irritating and badly handled storyline ever, we meet Sally Dempster (Liz Harris), a shrill
middle-class housewife who can’t cope so turns to alcohol and abuses her
child. The Dempsters are initially introduced when Maxine Daniels
gets a job helping Sally around the house, though she is eventually fired by
Sally’s husband Peter (played by experimental film actor Peter Carmody). Sally later runs him down in her car after an
argument, ending up in Wentworth where the other prisoners ostracise her. She eventually attempts suicide after
Peter files for divorce. While the earlier Alison Page and her family
troubles failed to impress the show’s fans the writers here tried a similar
storyline exploring the ongoing dramas of Sally’s family life and ultimate incarceration.
If the Page family were unpopular, here we have an even less appealing bunch
of characters; few fans cared for them and were glad that the storyline was
quickly resolved. Meanwhile Chrissie,
Margo, Paddy and Lizzie are among the Wentworth women allowed to go put on a
concert at men’s prison Woodridge. In one of the sillier storylines, Joan
pressures Margo into ruining the concert hoping that the failure will reflect
badly upon her rival, supervising officer Colleen Powell (since when was Joan
so subtle?) Meanwhile Chrissie gets into strife when reunited with former
criminal associates, Colleen is reunited with an old friend: Deputy Governor
of Woodridge Geoff Carlson (Danny Adcock), and Paddy befriends shy male
prisoner Andy Hudson (Ric Herbert). Finally, in a
culmination to the brewing hostility between Bea Smith and Joan Ferguson was
reached with the big Wentworth fire of November 1982, another well-remembered
highlight in the series. After a switch of
locale where Wentworth’s prisoners are shifted to a wing of Woodridge (well,
they built all those new sets and introduced some of Woodridge’s inhabitants
in the concert storyline, so why not get two storylines out of it?) we return
to Wentworth to find some of the Wentworth sets rebuilt giving the show a
more modern and more spacious look (though the cells, corridors and the
laundry sets remain unaltered). It was at this point it became clear that
Joan Ferguson would be a permanent fixture in the series rather than a
passing villain. A new character, the
frighteningly ruthless double murderer and prison escaper Nola MacKenzie was introduced when she turned up at the
halfway house calling herself Jean Carter. When her true identity was learned
Nola was arrested and sent straight to h block. There she became Bea’s
despised enemy by running various rackets designed to fleece the other
prisoners and through her devious dealings with Joan Ferguson. Chillingly
portrayed by actress Carole Skinner, Nola seemed likely to become part of the
new guard, quickly finding herself central to many
of the storylines. It therefore came as quite a surprise when such a popular
character suddenly exited the series only six months later. It really seemed
Nola was being groomed to fill the gap when Bea Smith’s imminent departure
occurred. The period after the
fire is marked by a high turnover of various quite disparate and often
outrageous guest characters, and some bizarre and frequently under-developed
and rushed plot-lines. Chrissie Latham has by this time left the series for
the final time, while Margo Gaffney and Erica Davidson also departed rather
abruptly (though they would both briefly return the following year.) Many
storylines seemed to be trying to explore an interesting social-conscience
perspective, including the dramas of paraplegic prisoner Tracey Belman (Alyson Best); the incredible Laura
Gardiner/Brandy Carter (Roslyn Gentle) multiple personality case; “Drug
granny” Maggie May Kennedy (Davinia Whitehouse); Litza and Mikki Wallace at the
Halfway House; abused wife Carol Coulson (Merrin Canning); and Judy and Helen rescuing Helen’s
sister Sharon (Liddy Clark) from a cult. Unfortunately these
storylines were rushed to a clichéd and abrupt conclusion (for example the
sudden suicide of a character, or the miraculous and instant recovery or
absolution of others) after the interesting expository scenes. Possibly the most
outrageous story was that of Alan “Ellen” Farmer (Michael Cormick),
a man inducted into Wentworth with his girlfriend Lainie
Dobson (Marina Findlay) on shoplifting charges having been mistaken for a
woman. How realistic! And the associated plotline involving the heavily
tattooed Lainie having the tattoos removed was then
rushed to an abrupt conclusion having shown promise as a thoughtful and realistic
story. These under-developed storylines seem somehow connected to Nola’s
untimely demise; seems her departure may have been unplanned leaving the
writers to hurriedly come up with some new and unexpected characters and
plot-lines at short notice. Some earlier
plotlines were also rehashed, most obviously the romance between remand
prisoner Petra Roberts (Penny Maegraith) and Dr
Scott Collins (Tim Elston); a shameless rip-off of
the earlier (and superior) Karen Travers - Dr Greg Miller story, while the
Lassa Fever outbreak was a retread of the memorable Evelyn Randall quarantine
crisis of 1981. It is was during this period of turmoil that the consistently
evil Joan Ferguson character became a key figure in the show’s popularity. In the midst of Joan
Ferguson’s rise to power, the new Governor Ann Reynolds joined. She proved a stabilising and popular character and stayed until the
end of the series. Ann Reynolds gave the series great strength with the two
excellent actresses Maggie Kirkpatrick (Joan Ferguson) and Gerda Nicolson (Ann) regularly
battling it out to the delight of fans. This interplay also brought the
previously unseen Department of Corrections into the fore, with political
power-plays and repeated phone calls and surprise visits by Departmental
personnel, often stemming from Joan Ferguson’s typically underhanded
treachery. Another good
character to join during this period was the vivacious and dreamy romantic,
Pixie Mason (played by former The Young Doctors favourite Judy McBurney), while long-time semi-regular thug Phyllis Hunt
found herself upgraded to a regular character. Meanwhile Bea Smith seemed
increasingly less prominent, and the extent to which she was side-lined during
her final period suggests the writers may well have been trying to punish her
for wanting to leave by giving her next-to-nothing to do! During Joan Ferguson’s
first eighteen months in the series long-established characters Steve Fawkner, Doreen, Mouse, Margo, Chrissie, Erica, Hazel,
Bea and finally Lizzie all left the series. With each departure Joan Ferguson
got that little bit more important, picking up the slack left by the missing
character as the scripts increasingly relied upon the show’s infamous new
villain. By 1983 Joan
Ferguson’s increasing importance had completely changed the general
storylines. Though there had been strict screws stirring prisoners and
causing resentment never before had there been such a major officer character
who planned and plotted with the prisoners or who
tried to control the prison much the same way the top dog would. Joan used
the prisoner’s pecking order and codes to her own advantage. Storylines
throughout Joan Ferguson’s run in the series seemed dominated by plots
concerning Joan in an uneasy partnership with a villainous prisoner and
battling the top dog, the other staff, and the Department of Corrections.
Sadly by mid-1983 it seemed the all-powerful Joan had the increasingly
apathetic Bea beat, and in quick succession we saw various catastrophes
befall the great Bea Smith, each threatening to remove our favourite top dog for good... THE END OF
AN ERA
Finally, in
September 1983 - episode #400, much loved character Bea Smith finally
departed the series as actress Val Lehman had decided to leave. This was a
great loss for the series; Bea was a well-crafted character and Val Lehman
extremely appealing in the role, meaning Bea’s absence was strongly felt and
the character difficult to replace. The end of a truly great character. Another great loss,
almost as devastating, was the loss of the other favourite,
Lizzie, which came a couple of months later in
episode 418. Over the years other characters had come and gone but viewers
could always rely on the Bea and Lizzie team. Sadly this era was now over and
the earlier loss of Bea had resulted in little for Lizzie to do. She slipped
into a slightly less prominent role, before finally being released from Wentworth
once and for all at the wish of actress Sheila Florance
who had decided to leave the series. After Bea’s
departure a new group of prisoners including Pixie Mason, Cass Parker (Babs MacMillan), Minnie Donovan
(Wendy Playfair) and Bobbie Mitchell (Maxine Klibingaitus) emerged as the leading characters of the
series. To lead them, old favourite Judy Bryant was
returned to Wentworth, thus ending the halfway house which had outlived its
storyline potential by this stage anyway. Fortunately the bizarre and
outrageous plots were toned down with the series becoming more down-to-earth. The departure of Bea
Smith could easily have spelt the end of the series but fortunately the new
cast was largely accepted by hard-core fans of the series. However it was
felt a strong central figure was required amongst the prisoners to fill the
gap left by Bea’s departure. With this in mind
the writers introduced cool and sinister new prisoner Sonia Stevens, a sly
and powerful criminal mastermind. Played by actress Tina Bursill,
who had become Australia’s quintessential cool blonde bitch after her role in
Skyways, villainous Sonia immediately teamed with
Joan Ferguson, initially helping to remove Bea Smith, and then to run all
manner of money making scams within Wentworth thus reinforcing Joan’s power
and involvement in storylines regarding the prisoners. This retraces some
of the earlier concepts that had been explored with the Nola MacKenzie character and was quite a change in that while
the earlier storylines had mostly been more simplistic and character or event
driven we now had lengthy and involved plots regarding the interaction
between Joan and Sonia. Also new was the degree of interaction between an
officer character and a prisoner character, as any officer character
previously found to be involved in illegal plots and practices had always
been quickly written out of the series. For the viewers to
cheer on in the fight against such a powerful front we had the somewhat
comical Minnie Donovan (Wendy Playfair), a tiny,
middle-aged and squeaky voiced woman who teamed with the dim-witted but tough
Cass Parker to become top dog. Like Bea, Minnie stood for the masses against
the screws and the crooked deals of Sonia Stevens, and she had a cheeky
disregard for authority. The 1983 season came
to a close with a reappearance by Meg’s son Marty (now played by Andrew McKaige) who while on leave from the navy visited Meg and
introduced his new fiancé Jenny Gleason (played by former The Restless Years favourite Zoe Bertram). Soon after, Meg was horrified to discover
that Jenny was in fact a high-class prostitute known professionally as Randi Goodlove who admitted to
targeting an unsuspecting Marty for a marriage of convenience. Randi predictably soon wound-up in Wentworth where she
befriended the recently arrived nice-guy officer David Bridges (David
Waters). David was a kindly officer with somewhat a mother fixation, and he
had a devious habit of arranging mysterious escapes for favourite
prisoners. These secret escapes were so clever that prisoners simply went
missing: no sign of any escape was ever uncovered, and viewers never saw how
they were pulled-off. In the cliff-hanger for 1983 viewers learned the truth
as the fate of most recent escaper Randi was
revealed: as David waited in the boiler room for a planned absconder who
never arrived the camera pulled-out to reveal Randi’s corpse draped across the top of a boiler with
blood streaming down the sides. Meanwhile awaiting her release Lizzie made a
horrifying discovery in the prison garden: David’s other victims in a shallow
grave. David confronted Lizzie with the revelation that when he “set the
women free” he was actually murdering them. We learned that David’s mother
was also in fact dead, and in the final cliffhanger he pulled a knife on
Lizzie as she collapsed in shock. As the series
resumed for 1984 Cass came to Lizzie’s rescue. Cornered by a knife wielding
David in the garden shed, poor Cass had no choice but to decapitate him with
a handy spade: a grisly end to an enjoyable and effective bit of hokum.
Meanwhile Lizzie had merely fainted, and was quietly released from prison for
the final time, leaving Elspeth Ballantyne (Meg) as
the only remaining original cast member. During the first
half of 1984, the much changed cast was enlivened by the welcome guest
appearances of such departed favourites as Erica
Davidson, Helen Smart, Doreen Burns and Margo Gaffney (though this also
marked the final appearance of all these characters). The Minnie and Cass top
dog partnership soon tumbled and Myra Desmond (Anne Phelan), a character who
had earlier made a few brief appearances as a member of the Prison Reform
Group, found herself returned to Wentworth where she quickly took over the
reigns as top dog. Myra was basically a successful character, well acted by
Anne Phelan, though as the first major top dog after Bea Smith she had a
difficult role to fill. With Myra in charge
the series took another turn. Myra was missing Bea’s uncompromising toughness
and cocky disregard for authority, and with the increasingly soft Judy Bryant
becoming Myra’s pacifist off-sider, Wentworth
seemed less violent and volatile as it had during Bea’s reign. However Anne
Phelan was excellent in the role of Myra creating an extremely real and
complex character. Myra felt greater remorse than Bea when her plans failed
or when risky gambles failed to pay off. Myra was less selfish than Bea,
frequently putting everything on the line for others, and she faced many
tough decisions and was forced to make many sacrifices in fighting her
battles. Another big plus of
this period was the hugely popular character Reb Kean (Janet Andrewartha), who proved quite an adversary
for Myra and Judy (and Joan) and generated all manner of exciting
developments. In fact, it was the more thoughtful and egalitarian leadership
of Myra Desmond that allowed such popular young punks as Reb
and Bobbie to flourish during this period, as it seems unlikely they would
have been so illustrious had Bea Smith still been in charge. The new characters
to fill the ranks after Bea’s departure were all actually quite good and it
is a tribute to all involved that coming so soon after the recent big-star
departures these episodes were so very good and very enjoyable, even though
many viewers still missed the presence of Bea and Lizzie. Many of the
characters to appear during this period are still well remembered, even
today, and the compelling nature of the series was successfully maintained. Stan Dobson (Brian
James, pictured right) was a new officer introduced during the first half of
1984. A popular character, Stan was transferred to Wentworth to serve his
last few weeks before retirement. He quickly befriended many of the women,
particularly Bobbie Mitchell. A positive viewer reaction to the character
prompted the writers to bring him back after his retirement. Rather
improbably, he returned as the Wentworth handyman, but in this new role he
encountered as many dramas as he had as an officer, which included being
blackmailed by a criminal associate of Lou Kelly. Eventually Bobbie would be
released into his care at the beginning of the 1985 episodes. FREAKED OUT
In mid 1984 the
series suffered a jarring cast exodus as several key characters abruptly
departed within a few episodes of each other. Here successful characters
Sonia Stevens, Pixie Mason, Phyllis Hunt, and Cass Parker (Cass, brilliantly
portrayed by Babs MacMillan,
was a particular favourite) all departed. Another
big blow came with the loss of long-time screw Colleen Powell, a great
character whose contribution to the series is largely underrated. The
recently arrived male officer, Rick Manning (Andy Anderson) abruptly left and
was replaced by the irritating Officer Dennis Cruikshank
(Nigel Bradshaw), who was from Yorkshire in case you couldn’t pick it from
his heavy accent. Short-term characters of this period include two under-utilised remand prisoners: Rachel Milsom
(Kim Trentgrove) and glamourous
model Leigh Templar (Virginia Hey), both given comparatively little to do
during their stay. After the loss of
Bea and Lizzie and these subsequent cast changes old fans returning to the
show may well have thought they were watching a spin-off what with so few of
the show’s established cast favourites remaining.
It was at this point that those second-rate thugs Lou Kelly (Louise Siversen) and Alice Jenkins (Lois Collinder)
first appeared in the series. Obviously concerned about the high cast
turnover the writers had Lou and Alice suddenly appear one day having
supposedly been in Wentworth for years: though both actors had been prison
extras for some time before becoming main characters, they had not been
around for nearly as long as the scripts implied. Nevertheless Lou and Alice
would emerge as durable and quite effective characters. They were joined by
annoying and immature new prisoner Marlene Warren (Genevieve Lemon), a
less-successful re-tread of the Doreen Burns character, and a moderately
interesting new trainee officer Heather Rodgers portrayed by well-known
television personality Victoria Nicholls. And to ensure things don’t get too
grim Marie Winter returns to liven things up with another big riot, just the
thing to smooth over a bumpy cast shake-up. Marie wasn’t around
too long, quickly making her exit via an incredible helicopter escape
sequence, typical of the more extreme measures now being employed to try and
out-do the major stunts and catastrophes that had gone on before. While Marie’s return
was welcomed her departure highlighted the need for more exciting characters
behind bars; which is exactly what we got in the form of Bev
Baker. A mass murderer and thrill-killer, Bev took
gleeful enjoyment in inflicting pain and suffering on the hapless inmates.
Chillingly portrayed by Maggie Dence, the villainous
character remains a popular favourite with many
fans despite her relatively short time in the series. Other new characters
were the deceitful young prisoner ‘Angel’ Adams (Kylie Foster) who managed to
stir substantial trouble for the other characters during a brief but eventful
stay, and elderly Dot Farrah (Alethea
MacGrath), who was just too close a Lizzie clone
for our liking. Dot was another character who had supposedly been in
Wentworth for years, but in another block, and like Lizzie was an institutionalised old
lag used in comic/pathos scenes, however unlike Lizzie she was not kept on to
be a permanent feature of Wentworth, instead lasting only a few months. Sadly around this
time the producers decided to include a few inane guest appearances by people
who were at the time well known folk-heroes to Australian viewers but must
look mighty odd when viewed years later in the UK. Also included were silly
storylines such as the fund raising Waltz-a-thon, and cockroach races devised
by Marlene to raise funds for herself. The return of Pixie was a plus though. With some patchy
storylines concerning the prisoners, viewers during this period could
nonetheless enjoy the further attempts to open up the action with strong
characters Joan Ferguson and Ann Reynolds utilised in outside Wentworth storylines. For once,
journeys into the prison staff’s personal lives provided interesting viewing
and some very good stories resulted. While the writers
(unlike Marie, as it turns out) successfully pulled off the helicopter stunt,
a subsequent storyline featuring three male Woodridge prisoners being housed
at Wentworth required a major suspension of disbelief - particularly as one
of the prisoners was a convicted rapist! Fortunately having the rapist
character Frank Burke come to life through the spirited performance of actor
Trevor Kent helped viewers forgive and forget the ludicrous plot developments
as Frank’s cell-mates Geoff McCrae (Les Dayman) and
Matt Delaney (Peter Bensley) embarked on their
romantic escapades with prisoners Myra Desmond and Marlene Warren
respectively. Though the arrangement seems implausible, it was in fact based
on the real-life situation of three male Pentridge
prisoners being housed at women’s prison Fairlea.
Also beefing up the male ranks was well-known actor and comedian Maurie Fields playing evil Officer Len Murphy, a male
version of The Freak. Long-time
semi-regular Officer Joyce Barry (Joy Westmore)
gradually made larger and more frequent appearances in the series and by 1984
had become one of the leads. Joyce has her introduction to the forefront
proceedings while stalwarts Meg Morris and Ann Reynolds are temporarily away
from Wentworth and being held hostage in a crumbling warehouse laden with
bombs and booby-traps - a chilling and suspenseful storyline that has become
one of the most remembered sequences in the series. The final episode of
1984 sees the loss of popular trouble stirrer Reb Kean. Though fans were sad to see the end of such a great
character, in many ways the departure was apt, coming after Reb had had a satisfying run in the series with an
interesting character development. An enjoyable new prisoner character
introduced as the 1985 episodes commenced was the temperamental young Lexie Patterson (Pepe Trevor)
who dressed as the then-popular singing star Boy George of the band Culture
Club. Unfortunately Lexie’s Boy George gear badly dated the series. Prisoner was filmed six months in advance of the episodes being screened and Lexie was undoubtedly devised during Culture Club’s
Australian concert tour in mid 1984 where the devotion of Australian fans and
the country’s overall favourable reception took
even George himself by surprise. However after this tour and the accompanying
flood of publicity where reports on the minutia of George’s activities
reached dangerous levels of overexposure, fans quickly grew tired of George.
After the tour George went on holiday with pop-star pal/rival Marilyn and
during a stop-over en route to the holiday destination of Jamaica,
George had chopped off his dreadlocks and subjected the remaining hair to a platinum bleach. The paparazzi pics
of a returning George with snapped-off white straw for hair and a five day
growth were not flattering, and his band’s subsequent popularity was not helped
by a notoriously lacklustre third album and the
high-profile failure - gleefully reported by a vengeful press and publicly
rejoiced by rival pop stars - of such singles as The
Medal Song. Back on Prisoner, with the six-month lag between taping and broadcast Lexie didn’t appear on-air until after Boy George had
become suddenly passé, the media backlash in full swing. The supposedly with-it Lexie wore hats, with rags, ribbons and dreadlocks tied
in her long dark hair: the look that George had by now famously ditched.
Luckily Lexie soon abandoned that look as well,
switching to a more original punk/new wave look. Overall her character turned
out to be very vibrant and a lot of fun, giving the series quite a lift. Early 1985 saw the
departures of Bobbie Mitchell and Pixie Mason. Bobbie had a happy ending: she
was released from prison and went to live with former officer Stan Dobson.
Pixie’s departure was much darker. After being brutally raped by Frank Burke,
Pixie went into shock and was transferred to a mental asylum. Much to Judy’s
anguish Myra framed hated officer Len Murphy for the crime, which led to his
sacking. Myra subsequently exacted her own revenge on Frank, branding him on
the forehead with a soldering iron. Through the first
half of 1985 we saw the usual array of guest prisoners appear and disappear.
New characters of the period included the quiet university student Samantha
Greenway who once in Wentworth continued her quest to find her estranged natural
mother who had given her up for adoption, alcoholic solicitor/prisoner Janice
Grant (Jennifer Ludlum), and Ettie Parslow (portrayed by former The Box actor Lois Ramsey) who like Lizzie was an
elderly institutionalised inmate. Ettie had recently been transferred from Barnhurst where she had spent much of her life. When it
was learned she had never actually stood trial, solicitor Janice worked on
having her freed, whilst battling her own problems of alcoholism. Like
Lizzie, Ettie would be pardoned and awarded
compensation, but finding herself unable to cope on the outside would
intentionally have herself re-imprisoned, before
regretting her self-imposed return to prison. While the battle-axe characterisation of Ettie
initially seemed forced she did gain a degree of
popularity after settling into the role, and would return to the series
several times after her initial stint had finished. Finally activist
Anita Selby (Diane Craig) appeared behind bars having been arrested at a
protest. It was later learned she was actually a nun. ANOTHER BIG
SHAKE-UP
By mid 1985 the
three male prisoners were to be transferred from Wentworth, with Geoff and
Myra saying a sad goodbye while feverish plans are made for Marlene’s wedding
to Matt. Marlene had received news she would soon be released as well, and
wanted her wedding in Wentworth with all her friends. The wedding of Marlene
and Matt turned out to be a highly popular storyline with fans, resulting in
strong ratings and Grundy’s being flooded with requests for a transcript of
the wedding vows. Meanwhile a violent attack had left Joan Ferguson suffering
mental blackouts. Myra used these blackouts to frame Joan for the bashing of
Lou which had purportedly been committed by Joan during a moment of rage she
could not remember. Plagued with guilt Anita finally confessed to Ann
Reynolds that the bashing was a set-up engineered by Myra to secure Joan’s
sacking, permanently damaging to co-operative relationship between Ann and
Myra. Anita was released from prison and visited Joan in hospital as she
recovered from the resultant brain surgery. Along with the
departure of the male prisoners and Marlene Warren came the loss of Judy
Bryant when actress Betty Bobbit finally decided to
leave the series. Then we learned that Bea Smith had been killed in a big
fire at Barnhurst. This was an unsatisfying attempt
to tie up the loose ends regarding Bea’s open ended departure of some
eighteen months earlier when it became obvious that actress Val Lehman would
not return to the series despite numerous offers to do so. With a mass exodus
of cast members at this point, a special flashback episode where Myra, Lou
and Alice recount famous moments from the show’s past was staged. This gave
new viewers a chance to see old clips from the show, gave the news of Bea’s
death greater impact, and on a practical level it solved the problem of
filling an episode what with so few contracted cast members on board. Though
most viewers loved seeing the old clips, die-hard fans knew that Alice and
Lou had not been around for nearly as long as suggested, making the premise
whereby the flashbacks were staged somewhat unsatisfying. Worse still was the
fact that the sudden departure of many cast members, the loss of long-running
favourite Judy, and news of Bea’s death all at the
same time seemed very jarring. Seeing clips filled with long-ago cast favourites only emphasised
these unfortunate cast losses. Following this
Wentworth was suddenly overrun by a group of total strangers who were
transferred in from the now destroyed Barnhurst
Prison. These newcomers, Nora Flynn (Sonja Tallis),
May Collins (Billie Hammerberg), Willie Beecham (Kirsty Child), Daphne Graham (Debra Lawrance)
and Julie Egbert (Jackie Woodburne)
had the cheek to casually talk about such long-ago favourites
as Bea and Vera Bennett in an unconvincing attempt by the writers to provide
some sort of continuity and link these new characters to the earlier
episodes. The situation was not helped when Alice and Lou joined these
discussions of events from the show’s early years. Clearly significant
work had gone into creating an interesting new range of characters. Nora had
been willingly and heavily involved in a triple “thrill killer” murder incited
by her boyfriend decades before, and there seemed little chance of her ever
being released. Perhaps inspired by the real-life members of the Manson
Family incarcerated for the murders they were incited into executing, Nora’s repeated
parole applications were routinely rejected out of hand, and her reputation
as a cruel thrill killer persisted. She longed to have a child of her own but
cruel and untrue rumours that she had murdered a
baby while working in the maternity wing at Barnhurst
meant she was prevented from even nursing other women’s babies. It was too
bad that as portrayed she hardly recalled the feared Manson Family and seemed
overwhelmingly dull rather than chilling or feared. May and Willie were long time criminal associates: the tough and
no-nonsense May was once a famous cat burglar and the flighty and fussy
Willie her eager fence. Having been imprisoned at Barnhurst
they had always shared a cell and upon arrival at Wentworth insisted that
this arrangement be continued, while Willie continued her scrounging, trading
and selling of trash and treasure. Though never explicitly confirmed many
fans assumed that the constantly squabbling Willie and May represented a
long-term lesbian couple. Daphne was a socially inept young girl who lovingly
tended a menagerie of potted plants - all with names and the beneficiaries of
pep talks from their mother. We learned that Daphne’s violent outbursts and
self-harming was due to a particularly severe case of pre-menstrual tension,
which was controversially mooted as grounds for her release if it could be
proved the true reason she committed her original crime. Finally Julie was a
meek, quiet and bookish young girl denied the opportunities to develop her intellect.
Julie was forced to leave school and obtain work to support her ill mother,
and had eventually embezzled money from her employer to send her dying mother
on a dream holiday. In prison Julie masked her talents and while her clumsy
social style initially irritated Lexie the two
eventually became best friends. In addition to these
Barnhurst imports there was a new officer, Terri
Malone (Margot Knight), and a terrified new prisoner in the Lynn Warner
mould, naive rich-girl Jenny Hartley (Jenny Lovell). Ettie
Parslow was also returned to Wentworth. Though her
first introduction had in fact only been a short time before, it was nice to
see a familiar face return in this time of great change. Prisoner then developed Dynasty type pretensions and added wealthy
super-bitch Ruth Ballinger to the cast. Played with sinister perfection by
actress Lindy Davies, Ruth helped ease viewers into the new cast of prisoners
with a strong presence and a diverting storyline, though the hardened crims comprising the new Wentworth gang largely gave her
the benefit of the doubt, something that Bea would never have done. The new characters
were quickly inducted into the Wentworth hall of fame when subjected to yet
another major catastrophe: a terrifying siege with heavily armed and
dangerous intruders holding most of the cast hostage in the prison. Here the
writers proved that it was still possible come up with new situations that
could shock viewers after so many previous disasters and also proved that
much mileage can be had from ending a major character on a high note rather
than a whimper. Unfortunately, after
a reasonable start with these new characters some regrettable patterns
emerged. Overall there seems to be a pervading sense of sober reflection,
kindness and co-operation amongst the Barnhurst
prisoners who dominate the second half of the 1985 season. The tensions
between them are resolved quickly and smoothly: not something audiences of Prisoner are tuning in to see. Also they are such a closely bonded and almost
cliquey bunch that even the viewer sometimes feels excluded. With the
unfortunate loss of Myra Desmond shortly after the Barnhust
prisoners arrived (a departure that left Alice and Lou as the longest serving
characters amongst the inmates) came Nora’s appointment as the series’ least
popular top dog, while it seemed too much time was devoted to showing the
prisoners gossiping amongst themselves and airing their petty grievances. Some storylines
during this period also seemed pale and insipid compared to earlier dramas
seen in the series. An example was Nora’s rule by Council where a
representative group of prisoners would hold an official court-room where
grievances were heard and infractions would be punished. The storyline
featured the likes of Nora Flynn, May Collins and Willie Beecham assessing
improper prison etiquette and issuing smug lectures to fellow prisoners in
sequences that would seem more at home in a series set in a convent-school
than a prison. It certainly was a big contrast to the infinitely more
entertaining antics of the all-powerful Bea Smith who could be self-centred and stubborn at times, and who frequently managed
to get her own selfish way, usually through force but sometimes through
deviousness and cunning. Another highly unpopular and ineffective storyline
features four female teenagers sent inside so they could be “scared straight”.
This scaring largely consisted of stern lectures provided by prisoners,
though the toughest nut Nikki Lennox (Vicki Mathios)
seemed unreachable. This led to one of the silliest storylines ever with
recently introduced prostitute Queenie Marshall
(Marilyn Rodgers), who had just completed a short stint in H block, called
upon to fake a bold crime that would illustrate the realities of the criminal
life to Nikki. Prisoners Nora, May and Willie set-up the crime scenario with
Nikki during her daytime visits to Wentworth and when released each afternoon
she is coerced into attending night-time meetings where Queenie
and her criminal pals plan a supposed mass escape from Wentworth. In her
criminal tasks for Queenie Nikki is endlessly
inconvenienced, challenged, and then asked to commit a murder, which finally
has the desired effect of convincing her that she is not cut out for a life
of crime. Though their motives remained unclear, this false crime was
gleefully enacted with Queenie and her colourful friends - already gross stereotypes to begin
with - putting on their campiest film-noir gangster personas for Nikki’s
benefit. There were some good
points of this period however. The episodes were slickly written and produced
and well acted. Some storylines did work, and slowly evolving relationships
such as the one between Julie and Lexie were
effective. This period introduced a particularly good character in the form
of the formidable May Collins, although part-way through her run she was
unwisely converted from a heavy to more a comic relief vaudeville partner for
the campy Willie Beecham character. Willie herself annoyed some fans but
pleased others, and her comic banter and squabbling
with May was frequently quite effective although in some ways it might have
worked better to continue May as the heavy. The main problem with this era
was installing Nora as top dog. Nora’s egalitarian, co-operative ways did not
make for gripping television. Myra had been much fairer and less selfish than
Bea, yet her decisions and methods were frequently met with the disapproval
of other prisoners, and she frequently employed contentious problem-solving
methods. Thoughtful Nora had such consistent support from so many of the
prisoners it soon became quite dull. Only Lou, Alice and Lexie
were a constant chorus of disapproval, yet their poorly presented complaints
came across as childish whining and were usually dismissed by the other
prisoners, and much as we all loved Ann Reynolds it seemed the bulk of the
prisoners was just a little too co-operative during this period. One bright spot in
all this was the appearance of Ann Reynolds’ spirited daughter Pippa (Christine Harris) who also took art class at
Wentworth. Pippa’s main energies however were taken
with clashing with her patient mother and with her own romantic entanglement
with Daphne’s lawyer Ben Fullbright (Kevin
Summers). Pippa was the sort of character who could
always be relied upon, like Lexie, to open her
mouth at the wrong time and get herself into all sorts of trouble, and she
often stridently disagreed with the bid to have Daphne pardoned because she
had suffered from PMT. Pippa and her associated
dramas was an instance of an outside prison storyline that was particularly
enjoyable in its own right, though few fans seem to agree with me on this
point. Another interesting
twist was provided by Officer Terri Malone who resigned from Wentworth and
then, for a time, became Joan Ferguson’s live-in lover. This storyline was
well handled, if rather brief. Interestingly, most
of these new 1985 characters where all abruptly written out of the series
after only six months, the only survivor being Julie Egbert
who lasted until June 1986. Though their departures did come rather suddenly,
the closing storylines for these characters turned out to be very good, and
quite exciting. The three characters to really shine during this period were
the earlier introduced Lou Kelly, Alice Jenkins and Lexie
Patterson. Set up as the villains against Nora’s endlessly sanctimonious
gang, they provided the spark of interest during this period, and were kept
on as the Barnhurst girls departed. THE FINAL
YEAR
Finally November
1985 rolls along. Several jarring cast changeovers had left the series on
somewhat unstable footing and as 1986 began a new batch of characters were
introduced. These new characters seemed a bit more varied than the instant
import from Barnhurst six months prior and included
a mix of glamour, mystery, comedy, scheming and a six-foot bubbly bikie. First we had the intriguing glamour queen Eve
Wilder (former Cop Shop star Lynda Stoner), comedy stereotype
dumb-blonde Barbie Cox (Jayne Healy), spirited bikie
Rita Connors (Glenda Linscott), working-class and
rather moralistic housewife Nancy McCormack (Julia Blake in her third role)
and loveable former madam Jessie Windom (Pat Evison).
Old favourite Reb Kean also makes a shocking return. New storylines for
1986 involve prison breaks and serial killers, while Wentworth is the scene
of yet another riot which leads to one prisoner being lynched. From now on,
obviously there’s lots of fun to be had. Long time prison toughie Lou Kelly
is put in her place by the even tougher Rita. The increasingly vicious Lou
was played just a little too well by actress Louise Siversen
so it was nice to see her get her comeuppance. Scripts increasingly
emphasised a less serious tone. With Rita we again
have the feeling that almost anything can happen and when she takes over as
leader of the women we finally have a top dog who doesn’t take herself too
seriously. Though an appealing character, things got slightly out-of-hand as
several of Rita’s relatives and associates are introduced. These new
characters included preacher Dan Moulton (Sean Scully) who also briefly
romanced Ann Reynolds, Rita’s brother ‘Bongo’ Connors (Shane Connor) and his
girlfriend ‘Roach’ Waters (Linda Hartley), and cackling elderly bikie and granny-from-hell Ida Brown (Paddy Burnett).
These associates were not universally liked by fans, with Ida particularly
disliked. Like Bea Smith, Rita
develops an intense hatred of Joan Ferguson, which quickly escalates into an
all out war. Here Joan Ferguson returns to the tougher vendetta storylines
that had been eschewed in recent years in favour of
more sensitive, personal storylines. This Rita Connors/Joan Ferguson vendetta
led to several explosive moments, and Rita soon became arguably the most
popular and successful new character to appear during the show’s last two
years on air. A new prison gang develops: Rita and Nancy become a very close
and oddly matched team, with Lexie and Julie
entering the fold. Rita comically names her gang the Wentworth Warriors while
Rita’s own nickname is ‘Rita the Beater’. The chief baddies are Alice and Lou
though Alice soon sees sense and joins Rita’s gang. A new villain Janet
Williams (Christine Earle) joins Lou as trouble maker. In early 1986 Lou
Kelly succeeds in ousting Ann Reynolds from her job. Her resignation is not
accepted however and she is given a couple of months off work instead,
allowing further outside Wentworth storylines for Ann. Her temporary
replacement is the tough Bob Moran (Peter Adams) who initially makes several
enemies with his unbending ways but soon gains everyone’s respect with his
strength and commitment to the prisoner’s welfare. After Ann’s return he
stays on as Officer for a couple of months while someone thoughtfully gets
rid of Lou Kelly, much the relief of the other prisoners, although viewers
would miss the character. Ettie Parslow makes a
welcome return appearance in early 1986. She manages to stay away from
Wentworth this time and her scenes are with Ann and Bongo and Roach, outside
the Prison. 1986 is set when
despised child killer (actually euthanasia but try explaining that to a group
of simple-minded criminals) Kath Maxwell enters Wentworth. Her crime makes
instant enemies of Alice and many others while her cool and tough attitude
only serves to alienate Rita. Prisoner here benefits from a great performance by
Kate Hood as Kath. Kath is a tough lady and there is trouble in store for
everyone! Kath is soon joined by gentle giant and viewer favourite
Merle Jones (Roseanne Hull Brown) who conveniently gets not so gentle when
her considerable temper is aroused. The 1986 cast is rounded out by sexy
blackmailer Lisa Mullins (Nicola Paull, then Terrie
Waddell), daffy mother Lorelei Wilkinson (Paula Duncan), wise cracking bad
girl Vicki McPherson (Rebecca Dines), sneering schemer Rose ‘Spider’ Simpson
(Taya Straton), and fiery
young aboriginal inmate Sarah West (Kylie Belling). Meanwhile Lexie’s and Julie’s storylines are nicely concluded and
the characters are written out of the series. Here the writers show the
courage to let go of a character when the story-line dictates rather than
drag them on indefinitely. The Officers
basically remain static, comprising Meg Morris who had appeared continually
from episode one, long time trouble maker Joan Ferguson, Governor Ann
Reynolds, and the venerable semi-regular cum lead character Joyce Barry. Late
in 1986 this line-up was joined by three new trainee Officers: apprentice meanie Rodney Adams (Phillip Hyde), typically nervous new
recruit Delia Stout (Desiree Smith), and Meg’s son, the upstanding Marty
Jackson (Michael Winchester). Though not
necessarily better written or acted than those of previous years, the more
varied new characters of 1986 seemed a refreshing change from the somewhat
earnest new characters introduced during the 1985 season, though the enforced
joviality - clearly a reaction to the more sober previous year - did irritate
some fans. During the later
stages of 1986, the writers expanded on the successful formula with some
original ideas and more outlandish storylines. On the outlandish side we had
the prisoners work experience on a boat out at sea which turns into another
opportunity for Rita to menace arch-enemy Joan Ferguson. The origins of this
unusual storyline are unclear, perhaps it was a
desperate bid for a last-minute ratings boost as the show’s renewal time
approached? In any event a number of fans regard this section of the
storyline as the show’s lowest point ever. We then follow Rita
Connors’ harrowing experiences on being transferred to notorious Blackmoor prison. This turned out to be a thrilling and
highly popular storyline which introduced an equally popular new character, Blackmoor’s evil and corrupt Governor Ernest Craven as
played by familiar actor Ray Meagher, along with the last new regular
characters to join the show: Blackmoor prisoners
Michelle “Brumby” Tucker (Sheryl Munks) and “Spike”
Marsh (Victoria Rowland). These characters were all seen at Blackmoor, before making the move to Wentworth itself. Prisoner ceased production in September 1986 but for | |
