EPISODE 522 Myra clears Geoff's name but lands up in trouble herself. Frank takes Dennis hostage. First broadcast ... 1985 (Melbourne) Broadcast on Channel 5 Saturday 26 June 1999 4:40 DVD release: volume 33 disc 3 (AUS) Duration: 0:45:23

Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Judy ~ Betty Bobbitt Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Myra ~ Anne Phelan Dennis ~ Nigel Bradshaw Marlene ~ Genevieve Lemon Lou ~ Louise Siversen Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Sheila ~ Colleen Hewett Janice ~ Jenny Ludlam Ettie ~ Lois Ramsay Matt ~ Peter Bensley Geoff ~ Les Dayman Frank ~ Trevor Kent Mr Warren ~ John Proper Mrs Warren ~ Eve Godly Major Ferguson ~ Carl Bleazby Dr Kent ~ Robert Morgan Alice ~ Lois Collinder Kath ~ Michele Sargent VJ Sinclair ~ Jim O'Donohue Totty Brown ~ Esme Melville Nurse ~ Gaytana Adorna Written by Christopher Milne & Fay Rousseaux Directed by Steve Mann

Myra gets the truth out of Alice after punching Lou out of the way. Lou challenges her to do something about it without lagging, but Myra says she only has to tell Frank they were planning to frame him. Meg decides to take a flat in the block where Dennis lives, even though Ann suggests she takes Paul's old room. Geoff tells Myra that the police suspect him, but he won't let her reveal their alibi. Myra tells Frank that Lou intended to frame him for Sam's murder. Joan taunts the women with list of the VJ hearings the next day (including "Murray" - what did poor old Tina do?) and takes special care to read out all Lou's charges. Judy catches Sheila singing "Pixie's song" and tells her she has a good voice and should try to do something with it. Frank goes to Lou's cell and bashes her. Marlene is just going on about how good it is to have a friend to talk to when Lexie reminds her it's her trial the next day and she doesn't intend to lose. Ettie realises she knew Meg's mother Bertha Coppen and nursed Margaret ("little Meggiepops") as a child . Alice pleads with Myra as she is worried that Frank will beat her up too. Lexie gives Sheila a pile of her clothes, as she won't need them any more. Joan is informed her father is dying . Geoff is taken to solitary charged with Sam's murder and tells Dennis he knows he will not get his parole whether the charge sticks or not. Myra collects the key from the mural and goes to Ann to clear him, though it embarrasses her when Myra produces the key in front of the VJ. Frank attacks Dennis in the workshop, but Dennis kicks him in the leg and takes him away. At the VJ's hearing, Judy gets 2 months concurrent for the attack on Dennis after Ann points out the mitigating circumstances. [At the end of the scene, the VJ mystifyingly says "Thank you Mrs Barry" when Joyce isn't in the room] Sheila sings "Pixie's song" in the rec room to Judy's piano accompaniment. Joan sees her father in hospital , who pretends he is going to recover, though the doctor has told Joan he will not. Lou is brought in front of the VJ and collapses from the effects of Frank's attack after hearing she will get six months for all charges except the attempted murder which will be heard in court later. Frank attacks Dennis in solitary, and hides a piece of broken plate . Sheila sings Judy one of her own songs: Judy does not have the heart to tell her how awful it is (though to my ears it sounds not much worse than "Pixie's song"). Marlene's parents come to visit her but they obviously do not approve of Matt and don't think Marlene will take to being a "farm girl". Joan's father dies while she is telling him her memories of going with him on a victory parade after the war when she was about four years old. Meg tells Myra that Lou has been taken to hospital with internal injuries. Frank takes Dennis hostage in solitary . Ruth has no dialogue written for her when Marlene slops a hefty pile of stewed cabbage on her plate, so can only tut inaudibly to show her disgust at the standard of catering. Lou refers to "Blackmoor, where there's no fellahs", but it is a mixed prison when Rita goes there later. ***

"Totty Brown" does not appear in the episode, nor - so far as I can tell - in any other either. To judge by her position in the credits she would either have been a patient in the hospital or maybe an older prisoner at the VJ's hearings? There is not necessarily anything sinister about "cuts" like this - scenes in the original script could either never have been shot, or could have been missed out of the final version of the episode to bring it down to the required running time.

ITV regional broadcast dates:-
Broadcast on Meridian Tuesday 23rd September 1997 23:40

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