ACTORSCHARACTERSSTARTEPISODES

EPISODE 617

In a clumsy attempt to free his sister Rita, Bongo Connors, speeding on his motor bike, runs into Ann's friend Dan.

First broadcast ... 1986 (Melbourne)
Broadcast on Channel 5 Sunday 21 May 2000 04:40
DVD release: volume 37 disc 5 (AUS)
Duration: 0:46:12



Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne
Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson
Joyce ~ Joy Westmore
Nancy ~ Julia Blake
Rita ~ Glenda Linscott
Julie ~ Jackie Woodburne
Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor
Alice ~ Lois Collinder
Jessie ~ Pat Evison
Janet ~ Christine Earle
Kath ~ Kate Hood
Bob ~ Peter Adams
Mervin ~ Ernie Bourne
Steve ~ Peter Hayes
Officer Radcliffe ~ Marion Dimmick
Officer Dixon ~ Maureen Edwards
Bongo ~ Shane Connors
Grub ~ Ingle Knight
Amy Ryan ~ Penny Ramsay
Jim Barry ~ Iain Murton
Det. Insp. Barrett ~ Ian Walker
Judge O’Grady ~ George Dixon
Nurse 1 ~ Meredith Abbot
Tony Browning ~ Bradley Croft [R]
Minister ~ George Viskich
Gate Guard Trevor ~ Brad Lindsay
Gate Guard Greg ~ Rod Allen
Gate Guard Roger ~ Bryon Dolan
Truck Driver ~ Alan Barrett
Fight & Stunt Co-Ordinator ~ Glenn Ruehland
UNCREDITED
Dan ~ Sean Scully

  • Written by Ian Coughlan
  • Directed by Kendal Flanagan
  • The credits list Det. Insp. "Thorne" instead of Barrett and Officer Dixon should really be Officer Bailey.

    Lurch takes Lou's place in the mugshot credits.

    Ann's mysteriously intermittent heavy cold reveals several scenes that must have been shot on a different day than the rest. In these scenes, her blouse collar is also tucked inside her jacket collar rather than worn outside it as in the other scenes.

    Joyce and Mervin get ready for the wedding, with much "comic" business from Mervin in trying to avoid seeing Joyce in her wedding dress before the ceremony. Rita frets that Dan won't get her message in time. Judge O'Grady plots with Jessie to arrange her escape to entrap Bassinger to come after her. Kath makes a statement to the police, but it is not as helpful to Lexie as she hoped, especially when Kath admits that she only came forward because Lexie asked her to. Alice drags Kath to the laundry to get her to tell the women what she said. Lexie attacks Kath, who fights back, pushing Lexie away violently so that she is winded by the folding table. Rita watches with interest but refuses to get involved. Steve's mother tells him there's been a call from the prison asking him to go in urgently. He realises that she has blown his cover and tells her he's moving out. Joyce's son Jim arrives for the wedding. Lexie is charged with Lou's murder and is sent to solitary. The new gym equipment is delivered. Ann sacks Steve with immediate effect for working at Wentworth under false pretences and allocates Meg to keep an eye on him until he leaves the premises. Bob goes to the police with new information, telling them about Lou and Janet's blackmail attempt and suggesting Janet should be interviewed. Somehow this information merely has the effect of angering Inspector Barrett and he shouts at Bob that he is lucky not to be facing charges himself. Alice overhears Steve talking to Meg in the staff room about why he has to leave Wentworth. Janet is interviewed by the police, and is tricked into confessing to Lou's murder with an outburst about Bob: "I should have killed him too" . Julie is angry when she finds out about Steve's deceit from Alice's garbled report of the conversation she overheard. Steve manages to talk to Julie in the visitor's room (despite Ann's explicit order that she shouldn't speak to any of the women) and Julie rightly lets him know how she feels about his behaviour and attitude to the women. She tells him she regards their relationship as over. Lexie hears Janet being brought to solitary as Meg also comes to release her. Nancy comforts Julie when she finds her crying in her cell. "Mervin John" and "Joyce Edith" plight their troth in church with handfuls of Vaseline slopped on the camera lens and harps plashing in the background. Ann belatedly tells Dan that Rita wants to see him: he realises something is wrong when Ann tells him Bongo's reason for visiting, as he'd seen Ida only a few hours ago and she certainly hadn't been in hospital. Bongo and Grub hijack a truck on a deserted country road. Bob tells Kath that he won't see her again before he leaves. Rita decides to foil Bongo's escape plan for her by keeping the women inside for the exercise period. Dan tells Ann on their drive back to Wentworth that he wants to marry her. Alice tells Rita that some of the women from C block have been sent outside to exercise as a punishment and is worried that Bongo will mistakenly think Rita is among them. Rita and Alice dash outside, for no very good reason and alarmingly easily, getting past reception with a transparent lie to the officers on the desk. As Ann and Dan are walking to the main building, the van driven by Grub arrives and Bongo rides his bike out of the back looking for Rita. Dan tries to reason with him and is run over . As Ann and Rita tend to Dan, Bongo and Grub escape on the bike.

    ***


    Story Editor: Bevan Lee
    Script Editor: Quincy McQuade (616), (617); Alister Webb (618), (619); Quincy McQuade (620)
    Storyliners: Bevan Lee, Tony McDonald, John Coulter


    ITV regional broadcast dates:-
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