EPISODE 601 Lou will wish that she had been transferred back to Blackwood (Blackmoor!) prison. Who will be Wentworth's new top dog? First broadcast ... 1986 (Melbourne) Broadcast on Channel 5 Sunday 26 March 2000 04:40 DVD release: volume 37 disc 1 (AUS) Duration: 0:45:51

Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Jessie ~ Pat Evison Nancy ~ Julia Blake Rita ~ Glenda Linscott Julie ~ Jackie Woodburne Lou ~ Louise Siversen Barbie ~ Jayne Healey Bob ~ Peter Adams Alice ~ Lois Collinder Mervin ~ Ernie Bourne Steve ~ Peter Hayes Dan ~ Sean Scully Fay Donnelly ~ Maud Clark Janet Williams ~ Christine Earle Off Radcliffe ~ Marion Dimmick Wendy Stone ~ Vivien Davies Ronnie Kennedy ~ Lyn Ford Alan Maxwell ~ Peter Flett Kath Maxwell ~ Kate Hood Det. No. 1 ~ James Patrick Sam Page ~ Bruce Crowl Woodridge Officer ~ Bill Tisdall Neighbour ~ Pat Drenann Written by Alister Webb Directed by Kendal Flanagan

Rita and Joan fight, cheered on by the women outside the locked laundry gate. Ronnie and Wendy squabble over breaking the strike by eating food from the kitchen. (*1) Jessie manages to free her hands and attacks Wendy, but fails to overpower her. Bob talks to Mervyn through a ventilation grille to find out what's going on. Steve tries to persuade the women to get medical help for Julie. Bob comes out through the ventilation shaft in the shower block. He knocks out Wendy as she's walking along the corridor towards the laundry and locks her in an empty cell. Bob collects Mervyn and they go to find Steve. On the way, Mervyn notices a woman hanging in one of the cells: it is Eve, who has been moved there from the dining room to make it look as if she committed suicide (but more I suspect to get the body out of the way so it doesn't have to be shown). Steve refuses to leave Julie, so Bob gives him a gun and tells him to barricade himself in the cell. Meg arrives at the prison (having been called in by Officer Hagen) and Joyce tells her the situation. When Faye is distracted for a moment, Bob knocks her out, frees the hostages in the dining room and captures the other conspirators lurking in the kitchen. Rita and Joan tire and Lou sends the women away so she can move in for the kill. Bob and Meg arrive in the laundry as Lou has a knife at Joan's throat . Lou forces them to drop their guns but Rita trips Lou as she moves forward to pick them up which allows Bob to subdue her (*2) . Lou is still defiant as she shouts to her fellow conspirators in solitary (*3), but they are worried they will be transferred to Blackmoor. Rita is surprised to hear Meg say that Eve was found in her dormitory, but Rita won't tell Meg what she knows about it. Lou is put in solitary. Bob tells Meg he isn't going to transfer Lou to Blackmoor and wants to keep her in Wentworth: he says it is to make an example of her and goes to solitary to tell her so (*4) . Jessie finds out Nancy's secret when she refers to how grateful she is she didn't let Peter go to prison. Nancy begs her not to tell anyone else. Rita returns to the women, somewhat battered. Barbie manages to get out a few broken sentences. Jessie and Rita impress on Nancy that saying anything to the police about Eve's killing is lagging. Bob invites his friend Alan Maxwell and his wife Kath to dinner: he explains to them both about the no-lagging code. Alan and Bob reminisce about their time in Vietnam. The police interview Nancy but she pretends she can't remember even when offered extra privileges. Nancy asks Rita if she thinks there will have to be a new top dog, and Jessie and the others speculate on the same subject next morning at breakfast. Ann tells Dan she can't go on the camping trip with him after what happened at Wentworth, but he persuades her to come along anyway. Joan demands to know why Rita saved her life: Rita says it was only because she wanted to finish her off herself and not have someone like Lou do it for her. After getting Bob to drop the charges against her, Joan tells Rita she thinks that makes them square .. for now. Julie comes back from hospital: she tells the women she is to be recommended for early parole along with Barbie and Jessie. Nancy's solicitor says she has no alternative but to plead guilty to her husband's murder as the case against her is very strong. Ann leaves for the camping weekend on the pillion of Dan's motorbike as the neighbours look on. Barbie and Jessie are released: Barbie whispers to Jessie what she's inside for much to Jessie's amusement. Bob thanks Rita for what she did during the riot and hints to her that he wants her as top dog. ***

I haven't seen the Channel 5 version of this episode, so grateful thanks to Mark Caffrey ("chicken") for pointing out some very strange cuts in it compared to what was previously seen on Central, Anglia (and Granada).

At the point marked (*1) part of Wendy Stone's speech (in italics) has been removed:

"Same goes for the rest of you scabs. Lou wasn't too rapt when she heard you broke the strike so I hear. [To Nancy] Oh, what are you looking so scared about? Your name on the list, is it? Eh? I wouldn't bet me boots on Big Chief Moron doing much to help yous, either. He's too full of himself to worry about you lot. Should have known which side your bread was buttered on, girls. Oh don't tell me Bird Brain's got somethin to say".

Later on in the scene marked (*2), Lou's response of "Try it, Moron" has been clumsily edited to remove the word "moron". Presumably this is the point of the previous cut, too? In addition, there was a snip at (*3) which may also have included the dreaded M word. A further cut of Lou mouthing "you bastard" after Bob has left her solitary cell might only have been a result of a commercial break clumsily inserted by Channel 5.

Story Editor: Bevan Lee
Script Editor: Fay Rousseaux (601); Alister Webb (602)-(603); Ian Smith & Fay Rousseaux (604); Fay Rousseaux (605)
Storyliners: Bevan Lee, Tony McDonald, John Coulter, Kelly Bermingham

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