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PRISONER: EIGHT YEARS INSIDE |
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- Detailed overview of the Prisoner storyline - |
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TV Movie: The Franky Doyle Story |
Love it
or mock it Prisoner has enjoyed enduring popularity in the
decades since it was first produced. 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 perhaps the world’s only television serial to prove popular in
repeated screenings decades after the original episodes were produced,
particularly in the 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 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).
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. 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 1979After 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. The production rate on the series was also increased from one
hour a week to two. With this change came the announcement that four cast members:
Carol Burns, Mary Ward, Margaret Laurence and Richard Moir
would be leaving. Producer Ian Bradley rejected the idea that the quality of
the series would suffer. “We will be producing more, but we’ll be working on
twice as many days.” A blow to the production at this time was the sudden
death of one it directors, Graeme Arthur, leaving the show a director short.
To help out, veteran actor and television director Charles “Bud” Tingwell signed on to direct some episodes. [1] After the
first twenty or so episodes the tone and overall feel of the series changes.
Previously scenes seemed to have been very carefully blocked and lit, and
looked as if they had been shot using the single camera technique where each
shot in the scene is carefully arranged and lit. Later the series was clearly
shot multi-camera with a much flatter and more standard soap opera look. The
careful lighting, staging and camera angles that had given such an effective,
atmospheric look had apparently been sacrificed in the reshuffle to produce
two hours a week. 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. 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 continuing
serial format. Though Karen was to originally have been released at the end
of the sixteen episodes her trajectory was changed to keep her in Wentworth
longer. With the departures of their portrayers Margaret Laurence and Richard
Moir, Marilyn Mason and Eddie Cook, involved in
basically a lightweight romantic storyline, were written out of the series at
their storyline’s original conclusion. Carol
Burns left because she 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. Margaret
Laurence who played dim blond prostitute Marilyn initially had concerns about
taking a “sexy” role. “I really enjoy character roles and have done quite a
few Shakespearean plays, but on television they always want to cast me as the
dumb blonde. I really had to think hard before taking the Prisoner
role,” Laurence told TV Week. “I don’t particularly like the
character of Marilyn, and I was worried it would compound the sexy label, but
I finally decided to take it for a few reasons. In later episodes Marilyn has
a chance to develop, so she doesn’t come over as a shallow, one-dimensional
character for too long. Having just returned from Back on Prisoner
the writers did manage to come up with some entertaining situations almost
immediately. These included the return to the series of recurring bit-part
prison officer Ann Yates (Kirsty Child). Yates was
the briefly glimpsed corrupt screw who would help out whenever the script
needed to have contraband smuggled into prison, but the character was
previously undeveloped. Now she had been fired from the prison, and reentered
the storyline when she ran into Vera Bennett and struck up a friendship. Anne
Yates was now working as a drug dealer. Lonely Vera put aside her better
judgment and continued the friendship, especially after starting a romance
with Ann’s associate George Lucas (Bill Hunter). The romance ended with
George’s arrest. He severed contact with her and insisted to police that Vera
had been an unwitting participant in order to save her career. Meanwhile
intriguing new prisoner Susan Rice (Briony Behets) showed up in Wentworth. Her effective storyline
involved her mysterious association with dashing television celebrity Jason
Richards (David Bradshaw). Storylines
that traced the sequence of events leading to a character’s crime, 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 her
imprisonment in Wentworth where she befriended Bea Smith. These storylines
tracing the events leading to imprisonment 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. Though
the Susan Rice story and the return of Ann Yates were enjoyable storylines,
in some ways overall series here seems to lack focus with its attempts to
hurriedly introduce a range of new situations. The new storylines are short,
and are not necessarily well integrated into the overall storyline: something
to be expected given the recent change in production style. However as the
new production routine became established things gained momentum and several
effective new ongoing characters rounded out the regular cast. Bea gained a
rugged lieutenant in Monica Ferguson (Lesley Baker) and an irritating
adversary in scraggy career criminal Noeline Burke
(Jude Kuring). Garrulous social worker Jean Vernon
(Christine Amor) arrived followed by stern Deputy Governor Jim Fletcher
(Gerard Maguire). A stern
army man and veteran of the 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 as the show’s
storyline progressed it soon became apparent that there was little remaining
storyline potential for The
writers persevered with the character Karen with more success, and the
character continued with a range of credible and engaging 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. 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 an effective personal storyline when 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 confidante, 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,
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 of Prisoner,
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. This
dynamic worked well with effective and appealing portrayals, though it might
have all been very different. Val Lehman, who became one of the program’s
most popular figures forever synonymous with the role of top dog Bea, reports
she had initially been put up for the role of Vera Bennett. “My agent sent me
to audition for the role of the ‘gestapo’ style
prison officer, but when the casting people saw me, they said ‘we think
you’re Bea Smith material’, so I came back for a screen test, and got the
job.” [7] Meanwhile the show’s makers had
had much difficulty finding the right Vera, and it was the final role to be
cast. During auditions actor Fiona Spence was waiting in a room adjacent to
where producer Ian Bradley was on the telephone. He put his head around the
door a number of times after hearing her voice, and after looking at her,
suggested she pull her hair back – and Prisoner’s Vera Bennett was born. [8] 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 featured the death of his family and
resulted in Jim’s storyline involvement being temporarily scaled down for
some weeks. 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. Soon
after this Noeline Burke made her triumphant
return, and with a lull in the storylines the knockabout stirrer dominated
stories 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
whiny housewife 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
storyline and the activities of unbalanced prisoner Anne Griffin (Rowena
Wallace) took the storyline to the end of the 1980 season. Vera
Bennett had emerged as a particularly interesting character, and was in no
way a one dimensional villain. Vera was generally a strict and officious
stickler for the rules. Her cruel and scheming moments – she was gleefully
sadistic in the earliest episodes before the character was fully developed,
then agreed to smuggle in a drug filled doll to prisoner Barbara Davidson as
part of a supposed set up shortly after – were often followed by guilt and
misgivings. The prisoners occasionally repeated the nickname “Vinegar Tits”
that Franky had initially invented for her, but
generally understood that her bark was worse than her bite. Fiona
Spence shone as the socially inept spinster who was in control only in the
cellblocks of Wentworth. Only there Vera 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 believed she
could show them all how a prison should be run - if only she had the chance.
Vera 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 similarly
interfered with Pat O’Connell’s relationship with her children. 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. Vera’s strong sense of morality
meant that these unions would always be short-lived. Meanwhile
fellow authoritarian officer Jim Fletcher was consolidated as a key character
through the 1980 season. His portrayer said of the soap role that “I had a
very good reputation as a stage actor but due to some strange prejudices in
this business, a TV series was considered beneath the dignity of a lot of
actors. But when Prisoner came along I looked at the quality of the
people who were involved in it and saw it was an opportunity to play a
character and not be a personality. And the financial security that comes
with doing a soap opera was tempting. So, after 13 years of avoiding this
work I thought I’d give it a go.” Maguire had a lot of praise for the largely
female cast. “In Prisoner, more than any other series in TV MOVIE: THE FRANKY DOYLE STORY
Such was
the quality and popularity of the program’s early episodes – and the
character of Franky Doyle - that the Reg Grundy Organization in 1980 produced a TV movie
entitled The Franky Doyle Story. The movie did not contain new footage –
it was created by editing together key scenes from previously transmitted episodes. However the Reg Grundy Organization hit a major snag with the special
when the show’s actors learned they would not be paid for their work being
used in the special. They initially assumed they would be paid and when
learned they would not, the cast called a stop work meeting. Three hours
later, when Reg Grundy Organization had still
failed to make an acceptable offer, the actors went on strike. Grundy
executives made an immediate application for an Arbitration Commission
hearing in GEORGE
MALLABY’S FINAL EXIT
Paul Reid
acted as Wentworth social worker for several months and was involved in
several key storylines. His portrayor George
Mallaby had previously left his role in Cop Shop due to stress and high blood pressure. The
self-confessed “workaholic” had signed on for 13 weeks in Prisoner
because the role offered greater flexibility compared to Cop Shop.
Paul was not such a pivotal character and his presence was not crucial to all
of the Prisoner storylines, meaning he could realistically
operate as a peripheral figure in some storylines. In contrast his Cop Shop character was head of CID so realistically
would have to have a reasonably large involvement in the majority of
activities in the storylines of that show. Indeed Mallaby
had been promised a certain amount of flexibility to take time off from Prisoner if required and agreed to the role with hopes
that flexible schedule would mean the problems of over work would not
resurface. This flexibility would also give Mallaby
the time to write four Prisoner scripts, as
specified in his contract. [11] Eventually
an undisclosed health scare prompted his abrupt departure from the
show in June 1980. At the time of his departure Mallaby’s
contract was soon to expire and his character was in the process of being
written out of the storyline by returning to In December 1980 it was revealed that it was a heart attack that forced Mallaby’s sudden exit from his on-screen Prisoner role. [13] Mallaby had continued to contribute scripts for Prisoner after leaving the role of Paul. In May 1981 TV Week magazine reported that the arrangement where Mallaby writes scripts for the series was terminated when he came into conflict with the Reg Grundy Organisation after he had rewritten a script, reportedly without formal permission. The program’s then Executive Producer Philip East told TV Week that “the effects of his story had serious ramifications at that stage and affected a lot of following scripts. George didn’t agree with us over a story and we had to end the arrangement. He agreed he was in the wrong. There was no falling out. It was all very mutual. We were very pleased with George’s work and we didn’t want to lose him. We are always looking for good serial writers.” Mallaby himself refuted the claim it was “mutual” and presented his side of the story. “I was led to believe that I could change the script. I was led to believe that the changes I had made would improve it. Other people chose to assert themselves and it was rewritten. I was not planning to quit at all. Philip East may say that it was mutual but that is not so. I have a letter from Philip East which contradicts that.” [14] Co-incidentally Philip East had previously been involved in a dispute with several actors during the taping of the final-ever scene for serial The Box in 1977 when they asked an element of the script be changed. East was the director of that episode, and when he refused to alter the script some of the performers made their objections apparent as the cameras rolled to tape the scene. One the actors involved in that incident was John Stanton, who had joined The Box playing the character who replaced George Mallaby’s character in the show. 1981
The 1981 episodes
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 journalist
Sandra Hamilton (Candy Raymond) who had herself imprisoned hoping to get the
scoop on the recent tunnel escape. Of her six-week stint in the serial
Raymond told TV Week that “Prisoner and The Sullivans are my favourite
TV series. They are of high quality and the cast members are very
professional.” [15] Then self-righteous herbalist
Evelyn Randall (Julia Blake) was imprisoned after being accused of poisoning
a patient, and was ridiculed by the prisoners as a quack. The presence of
idealistic new prison teacher David Andrews (Serge Lazareff)
did little to help the mood of ambitious and spiteful union-representative
Colleen Powell, although David had some success with rebellious young
prisoner Georgie Baxter (Tracey Mann). Young
prisoner Jenny Armstrong (Sally Cooper) serves time in prison in lieu of
paying a fine, but when Georgie attacks her she
promptly pays the fine and is released. However news soon comes through that
recent international traveler Jenny might have been infected with a
mysterious tropical disease. Sure enough inmates and staff soon begin to fall
ill and a quarantine of the prison is instituted. Evelyn comes to the rescue
with herbal remedies that quickly cure the tropical fever,
however attending physician Dr Granger (Peter Regan) quickly discovers the
shocking truth behind the disease and the cure. 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. 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 a period of inactivity. Fowle had enjoyed a brief brush with fame after playing
the lead role in acclaimed 1977 Australian feature film The Getting of Wisdom. At the time of her Prisoner
casting she told TV Week that “for the two years Prisoner
has been on air, I wanted to act in the series. Finally my dream has come
true.” [16] Then we
got the irritating Alison Page (Fay Kelton), a
troubled housewife from suburbia thrown into prison after trying to run down
her husband in her car during an argument. Alison alienated inmates and
officers alike by constantly asserting her superiority to the other prisoners
but convincing no one. Alison filled the familiar role of the middle-class
woman thrust into prison and completely out of her depth. Alison’s
histrionics brought out the viciousness in Vera again, after a rather thoughful period for the officious screw. GOODBYE
VERA
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. The move was prompted by the decision of actor
Fiona Spence to leave the series in order for her to play other roles and
develop new characters, and was major news many months before the event
occurred on screen. Spence advised producer Philip East of her decision to
finish work on the series on 5 June 1981, while TV Week speculated that the news was
probably the biggest shock for Prisoner fans since the 1979 departure of
actor Carol Burns who had played the cult figure Franky
Doyle in the show. Spence told TV Week that “Certainly, I’ve enjoyed
working on the show and, therefore, I had to put a lot of thought into my
decision. It’s also been very nice to feel secure. I’ve been able to buy a
house and other luxuries. But, naturally enough, I didn’t go into showbusiness assuming total security, and I’ve left Prisoner
to play other roles. It’s been a lot of hard work, but I’ve enjoyed it enormously.
I’ve had the opportunity in the past couple of years of working with some of
the best actresses in Terry
Harrison had also departed and, on Vera’s departure, Colleen Powell became a
regular character. Colleen soon made her presence felt and emerged as an
officer whose temper rivaled that of Vera is her darkest moods. In her
previous, relatively brief, stints in the series, Colleen had already been
seen as frequently spiteful and ambitious. Audiences had already seen her
cause much angst through her overzealous application of prison – and union – rules, and she had forced teacher David Andrews out of his job in
this manner. 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. After this Colleen settled down again, but would remain a smug and
sarcastic presence. Sometimes her scheming, ambitious side would re-emerge. 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
good in the role. Unfortunately Janet Conway was a bit too serious, and
eventually got a bit dull. Janet’s
portrayer Kate Sheil described working on the show
for TV week. “I was hesitant about accepting Prisoner
because I didn’t like the thought of people hassling
me in the street. I’ve found a way out, though. I’m going to cut my hair when
I leave the show. Prisoner is about the only TV series that attempts to
comment of social issues, and it’s a chance to work with women in their own
right. I find the style of work in a soap is very
difficult. You have to find a line between going over the top and playing too
low. You’ve got to find a level otherwise you’ll kill a scene.” Sheil watched a playback of one of her early scenes but
wasn’t happy with it, so stopped viewing the playbacks. However it was her
appearance and not her performance she disliked. “I look so old. We’re not
allowed to wear makeup, and the word has come through that I’m not allowed to
curl my hair.” During her Prisoner stint she took time off to play a
glamorous role in the film The Perfect 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 (Olivia Hamnett), 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. At the time the program’s new producer, John
McRae, made clear some of his planned changes for TV Week. “When the show first started it
had a permanent cast of about 11. But when I arrived we were down to six or
seven. So I’m trying to populate the cast a bit more and try to introduce new
permanent characters.” [19] 1982
Shortly after
her reappearance Marie started an explosive prison riot. This formed the
memorable 1981 end of year 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 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 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. [20] Jim Fletcher, a good character
who had possibly played out most of his possible situations by that time, 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 several 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. He later developed an intense interest in the prisoner’s
welfare and encouraged the women in their printing press project, and Bea in
her journalism 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 show’s 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 FREAKA 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. Then in one of the show’s most
irritating and badly handled storylines 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 (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 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
In
episode number 400 originally broadcast September 1983,
the highly popular and pivotal character Bea Smith departed the series when
her portrayer Val Lehman decided to leave. This was a great loss for the
series; Bea was a well-crafted and charismatic character and Val Lehman
extremely appealing in the role. 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 another 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. 1984
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. With Another
big plus of this period was the hugely popular character Reb
Kean (Janet Andrewartha), who proved quite an adversary for 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) 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 OUTIn 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 glamorous 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. Like Lizzie she
was an institutionalised old lag spouting comic malapropism and sometimes used in scenes
trying for pathos. Unlike Lizzie she was not kept on to be a permanent
feature of Wentworth, instead lasting only a couple of months. Sadly
around this time the makers of the show decided to include a few inane guest
appearances by people such as shuffling runner Cliff Young. Young enjoyed
fleeting popular culture celebrity in 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. 1985
The final
episode of 1984 had seen 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 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 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 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. After Lehman left the producers of the series had on three different occasions asked her to reprise the role of Bea, but Lehman had rejected all these offers to return. [21] With a
mass exodus of cast members at this point, a special flashback episode where THE
BARNHURST FIVE
Following
this Wentworth was suddenly overrun by a group of total strangers who were
transferred in from the now destroyed Barnhurst
Prison. These newcomers were Nora Flynn (Sonja Tallis),
May Collins (Billie Hammerberg), Willie Beecham (Kirsty Child), Daphne Graham (Debra Lawrance)
and Julie Egbert (Jackie Woodburne). Arriving the
night of the fire they were quickly marched into Wentworth reception where
they had the audacity to casually talk about long departed characters Bea
Smith and Vera Bennett in an unconvincing attempt to link these new
characters with the show’s glory days. The situation was not helped when
Alice and Lou later joined their discussions of events from the show’s
classic period. Clearly
significant work had gone into creating an interesting new range of
characters. Nora Flynn had been willingly and heavily involved in the “thrill
killer” murders of three hitchhikers incited by her boyfriend decades before,
and there seemed little chance of her ever being released. Nora’s back story
seems based on the real-life “thrill-killer” Archie “Mad Dog” McCafferty who terrorised Mirroring
the much publicised situation of the real-life
members of the Manson Family, Nora was an easily led young woman incited to
participate in multiple murder. Like them, Nora’s repeated parole
applications were routinely rejected out of hand. She remained a notorious
prisoner and her reputation as a cruel thrill killer persisted. Nora herself
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 members and seemed overwhelmingly sensible and
thoughtful rather than chilling or feared. She seemed to posses not a hint of
being in any way sinister or even slightly eccentric. 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. 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. The
majority of these new 1985 characters where all abruptly written out of the
series in the space of a few episodes, after having had a run of only six
months. The only survivor was 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 had begun to be added to the series 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 trouble-stirring 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 biker Rita Connors
(Glenda Linscott), working-class and rather
moralistic housewife Nancy McCormack (Julia Blake in her third Prisoner
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 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 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. THE
END
Prisoner ceased production in September 1986 but
fortunately they still had eight weeks to write and film an impressive
conclusion storyline to the series. This meant that many major plotlines and
concepts that had been central to the series for many years could be
convincingly resolved. As usual, Prisoner was ahead of the soapy crowd and
finished with a bang - not a whimper, and many fans regard the closing
storyline as their favourite. After such a great
final year I think everyone involved was more than happy with the way things
turned out and the closing episodes are some of the most effective ever
produced. The
series has emerged as easily the best drama ever produced by The Grundy Organisation. Remember that the more critically acclaimed
Australian dramas such as The Sullivans, Cop Shop, Carson’s Law and The Flying Doctors were all produced by Crawford
Productions. When Prisoner was launched The Grundy Organisation
had only been producing drama for five years, and the show aired on Channel
Ten, known for outwardly commercial programs geared towards a young audience
and traditionally third place in the ratings behind Nine and Seven.
Nevertheless the series frequently transcended this, with episodes displaying
solid and engaging drama. |
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Originally written 1996, and uploaded to this site December 2000 Last updated 5 July 2009 |
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