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Prisoner was an Australian television soap opera set in
Wentworth Detention Centre, a women's prison. The series was produced by the Reg Grundy
Organisation and ran on Channel Ten from 1979 to 1986. Storylines concentrated on prisoners, officers and other prison
staff and their relationships with one another inside and outside the prison. However the main storylines focused primarily on
prisoners' relationships amongst themselves; their power struggles, friendships and enmities.
Unlike many other contemporary soap operas (Dallas, Dynasty,
etc.), the characters and settings are predominantly of working-class. A great majority of the characters are female, their
average age is over 40 years. There is little glamour, and most of the women are average looking, torn by hard lives. The themes
of the show were often radical (e.g. feminism, homosexuality, social reform). Several lesbian characters were featured
throughout the show's run, most notably Franky Doyle, Judy Bryant, and Joan Ferguson. The lesbian angle was never used for
titillation but instead for thoughtful and realistic storylines.
The series made good use of cliffhangers, often involving dramatic
escapes, crimes, and catastrophes befalling the prison and its inhabitants. Sometimes non-prison related storylines concerning
officers occurred, and some periods of the series also extended the action to a halfway house for recently released prisoners. As
the series progressed increasingly outlandish stories occurred.
One of the earliest Australian soap operas exported to the UK where
it was screened as Prisoner: Cell Block H, possibly to avoid confusion with The Prisoner. It achieved enduring success there despite much negative criticism from reviewers. In
addition to the UK and Australia, the show has also aired in Canada, New Zealand, South Africa,
Sweden and the United States of
America.
Principal cast included:
- Elspeth
Ballantyne as kind officer Meg Jackson (later Morris), the only character to continue the show's entire run
- Betty Bobbitt as prisoner
Judy Bryant, initially tough and later motherly lesbian prisoner
- Sheila Florance as
Lizzie Birdsworth, an elderly, cigarette puffing, alcoholic recidivist prisoner
- Maggie
Kirkpatrick as Joan Ferguson, a sadistic and corrupt lesbian prison officer
- Val Lehman as Bea Smith, the
tough and uncompromising top dog (unofficial leader of the prisoners)
- Patsy King as well-meaning Governor Erica Davidson
- Gerda Nicolson as
Governor Ann Reynolds who succeeded Erica for the second half of the series
- Colette Mann as Doreen Burns,
a dim-witted and easily led prisoner
- Judith McGrath as
sarcastic and ambitious Officer Colleen Powell
- Joy Westmore as inept Officer
Joyce Barry
- Fiona Spence as Vera Bennett,
an acid-tongued officer convinced that Erica's progressive methods were wrong and never missed an opportunity to relish Erica's
failures
- Gerard Maguire as Deputy
Governor Jim Fletcher a stern authoritarian ex-army man with a tendency to fall in love with the "nicer", "innocent"
prisoners
- Lois Collinder as
prisoner Alice Jenkins late in the show's run. She started out a dim-witted thug but later softened
- Louise Siversen as
prisoner Lou Kelly, a vicious thug during the show's later years
- Pepe Trevor as prisoner Lexie
Patterson, loud-mouth punk and card-sharp in the show’s later years
- Reylene Pearce as
dim-witted prisoner Phyllis Hunt
- Anne Phelan as prisoner Myra
Desmond, a thoughtful but strong woman who took over as top dog after Bea left
- Amanda Muggleton as
prisoner Chrissie Latham, tarty and lascivious prostitute who turned over a new leaf after the birth of her daughter
- Maxine Klibingaitis as prisoner Bobbie Mitchell a
rebellious and street-wise youngster
- Jane Clifton as prisoner
Margo Gaffney, a thug who often operated as prison bookie
- Glenda Linscott as
spirited biker Rita Connors who became the show’s last top dog
- Judy McBurney as flighty
romantic Pixie Mason in on bigamy and fraud charges
- Janet Andrewartha
as scheming toughie Reb Kean
- Lisa Crittenden as
wise-cracking young biker Maxine Daniels
- Jackie Woodburne as
Julie Egbert, a young prisoner in the later years, plagued by self-doubt and low self esteem
Carol Burns who played tough
lesbian biker Franky Doyle was the show's first big star, capturing viewer's hearts despite the fact she appeared in only the
first twenty episodes.
External Links
Follow this link for the 1967 UK television series The Prisoner, created
by and starring Patrick McGoohan.
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