ACTORSCHARACTERSSTARTEPISODES

EPISODE 510

Frank rapes Pixie, but the women frame Len for the attack.

First broadcast ... 1985 (Melbourne)
Broadcast on Channel 5 Sunday 09 May 1999 04:40
DVD release: volume 32 disc 4 (AUS)
Duration: 0:43:26



Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne
Judy ~ Betty Bobbitt
Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick
Myra ~ Anne Phelan
Len ~ Maurie Fields
Pixie ~ Judy McBurney
Bobbie ~ Maxine Klibingaitis
Marlene ~ Genevieve Lemon
Joyce ~ Joy Westmore
Lou ~ Louise Siversen
Chris ~ Gregory Ross
Geoff ~ Les Dayman
Frank ~ Trevor Kent
Matt ~ Peter Bensley
Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor
Yemil ~ Maria Mercedes
Ahmed ~ George Harlem
Ralph ~ Charles Gilroy [L]
Peter ~ David Whitney
Dr Goldstein ~ James Taylor

  • Written by Fay Rousseaux
  • Directed by Chris Adshead
  • Marlene's nickname for Lexie as "Banjo" is an allusion to writer A. B. "Banjo" Patterson whose poem "The Ballad of the Man from Snowy River" provided a home for many ex-PCBHers in its TV series and film incarnations.

    Portrait of Judy

    Joan finds Meg asleep in the staff room and tactfully makes a noise to wake her up. She then spoils it by attempting to sympathise with Meg's decision to have an abortion and gets her head bitten off by Meg, who sweeps off in a huff to do her rounds. As she checks on the men in solitary, Meg smells the gas and rushes off to get Joan's help. Together, Meg and Joan save Matt and Geoff from being gassed by carrying them out into the corridor. Next morning the women speculate about Geoff being taken to hospital, but they are mildly disgusted to find that Joan gave Geoff the kiss of life. Myra admits to Judy without realising why, that she is worried about Geoff. Len tells Meg and Joyce that the poilce are treating it as attempted murder. Joan sees Bobbie after tarting up by Lexie and Marlene and threatens to phone the factory and cancel the work release unless she changes. Len visits Matt in the infirmary to warm him not to mention the threatening note thrown over the fence. Lou catches Lexie in her cell practising her card sharping techniques and threatens to spread the news unless they join up to get money from innocent punters. Bobbie starts work and is introduced to her fellow worker Peter who gives her a tough aptitude test in rewiring a conrtol for a crane. Lou challenges Marlene to give the women an opportunity to win their money back. Len tells Joyce the Department have given them a replacement officer - a certain Dennis Cruickshank. Bobbie proves her ability and wins a bet with Peter. Marlene is conned by Lou into agreeing to take on any challenger at cards. Frank comes out of solitary and pesters Lou and then Pixie. Frank tries it on with Lexie, but just gets laughed at for his trouble: Lou is annoyed at him for wasting his time flirting with any "piece" that passes. Myra has a visitor: it is Ahmed, who begs her to try to make her understand he is sorry. He says he genuinely wants to try again to have an equal relationship with Yemil and is upset to hear that Yemil seems determined to let herself die in payment for causing a death in a supposed "custom" unknown to any tradition in the world anywhere ever. Len covers his back by hinting to Chris that he should keep an eye on Matt for any signs of instability. Joyce gives Myra permission to talk to Yemil to try to persuade her that Ahmed is prepared to give up "the old ways". Frank meets Pixie in a corridor and pesters her again and when she raises her fists they engage in a horseplay boxing match. That is, until Pixie punches Frank: he drags her into the library and rapes her. Meg attends the hospital and is told she must have an operation to remove a tumour: she say it will have to wait until a ceratin court case the following week. She does not realise until told that she must lose the baby during the operation. Pixie arrives distraught in the laundry : Myra reluctantly agrees to Joan's suggestion to fix the blame on Len. Despite Judy's protests , Pixie is taken to her cell for the setup. Yemil finds Frank in the toilet block splashing water on the scratches on his face. Judy tells Myra she is sickened by her willingness to ignore people's feelings. Yemil's sighting of Frank confirms his guilt. Joan gets Len to visit the cell by saying the women are making booze in Yemil's cell [*]. When Len arrives in Pixie's cell, he realises it is a setup and hits out at Myra and Joan, who disables him with a punch to his ample gut .

    ***


    Most of the scene marked [*] was cut in the Channel 5 broadcast, presumably to remove Len's offensive response "Oh the wog's making jungle juice, is she?". The rest of the scene goes as follows:Joan: Someone is.
    Len: Beats me why you didn't handle this yourself.
    Joan: I thought you might appreciate the feather in your cap.
    Len: What?
    Joan: It's going to look very good on your record, isn't it, when the Department finds out that you nipped it in the bud single handed?
    Len: What are you after?
    Joan: I've changed my mind about working on your team. Well, you've shown me that a prison can be run efficiently with the right person behind the desk
    Len: That it?
    Joan: No, you were right. They'd never consider me for the job. I know that now.
    Len: Quite a change of heart. Good. Anyone else in there with her?
    Joan: I only saw Warren go in there
    Len: She see you?
    Joan: I don't think so
    Len: You don't think so? God, woman. What's got into you?
    Joan: All right, she didn't see me. Now do you want to catch them or..
    Len: Of course I want to catch them, but we'll wait a few minutes, let them settle down
    Joan: But if you wait ...
    Len: We'll wait.

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