Women from Blackmoor are transferred to Wentworth after Rita burns it down (668)
BODY ODOUR
Not exactly coming up smelling of roses are:- Footy Parsons and Sheila Brady.
BODY SEARCHES
One of Joan Ferguson's trademarks is supposed to be the black leather gloves she pulls on to give a body search and the first prisoner to get one is Doreen Burns in (287). Surprisingly perhaps, there seems to be only a few other examples: one other example: Paddy Lawson in (323).
BOMBS
The first instance was the bomb made by Geoff Butler to kill Jim Fletcher, but which ends up killing his wife and two sons (109). This situation is mirrored later in the death of Colleen Powell's family in a car bomb intended to kill Rick Manning (433). A third bomb intended to kill an officer is the car bomb which ends up killing one of Joan Ferguson's neighbours (555). Colleen has more than her fair share of experiences with explosives: when the women cross Lionel Fellowes a phony building inspector ties her up in the boiler room with a time bomb (386) and in the same incident, Bea is trapped in solitary with another bomb wired to the security gate which goes off killing a bomb squad officer. Ann and Meg are kidnapped by Brian Lowe are tied up in a booby-trapped warehouse, which eventually explodes (500). There are also a couple of bomb scares: one during the dance marathon when a crank caller phones Wentworth (481) to say he has planted a bomb to protest over the "degradation" forced on the women (and he doesn't mean the silly plot line); another when the women humiliate Joan by planting false information in Nancy McCormack's diary that there will be an escape attempt by planting a bomb against the perimeter fence (630).
BRANDINGS
A particularly blantant bit of recycling occurs in (518) when Myra and Geoff brand Frank Burke with a soldering iron for raping Pixie, just as Bea had branded Nola McKenzie with a soldering iron for killing Paddy Lawson (342). The dialogue ("This is for Paddy/Pixie") is echoed so the writer probably realised the parallel. The director undoubtedly did - it's Chris Adhead in both cases and the same camera angle (subjective shot from the brandee's point of view) is used in both scenes.
CELEBRITY INMATES
Swapping their fame for fifteen minutes inside Wentworth are:- Helen Masters, Camilla Wells and Leigh Templar
CELL BLOCK D
The other blocks of the prison are hardly ever seen, but sometimes alluded to when characters are consigned to them when all else fails, or from where shortterm newcomers may be recruited. Starting from or ending up in Block D are: Faye Quinn, Joyce Martin and Marge Briggs. Other blocks are also sometimes alluded to: Minnie Donovan is sent to Block B, and Spider Simpson is transferred from C block.
CHEAP REPRODUCTION
Whenever the props department were asked to furnish somewhere with a bit of class (or even somewhere a bit cheap aspiring to class) they almost always fell back on reproductions of the Old Masters. Unfortunately, they seem only to have had two or three to hand and so they pop up several times in some surprising locations...
The two favourites are undoubtedly Leonardo's "Portrait of Ginerva de 'Benci" and Vermeer's "The lacemaker", with another Vermeer substituting for it in one memorable location.
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Portrait of Ginerva
de 'Benci (Leonardo)
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The lacemaker (Vermeer)
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The milkmaid (Vermeer)
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We can see these three in various combinations over the years. For instance...
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In episode (42) lining the implausibly shallow staircase leading down to Steve Wilson's office.
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In the slightly less salubrious surroundings of Pearl's brothel, there's Ginerva on the wall between Pearl and Ros Coulson...
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... and the Lacemaker can be glimpsed through the curtains out in the corridor.
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Here Ginerva looks down from behind Ruth Ballinger's MFI bargain basement brass bedstead, joined this time by "The Milkmaid".
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This picture on Ruth's other wall is more of a mystery. An art historian friend suggested it might be a Hogarth, but I've had no luck tracing anything that looks much like it.
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However, Amy Ryan has one that is very like it indeed. I thought originally these were the same painting but I see now that they are not. Even the frames are somewhat similar, though. Notice incidentally how the picture has just been propped up on the mantlepiece, not hung properly.
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CLASSICAL GAS
Showing the writers' apparent prejudice that a liking for classical music makes you wimpy, tedious and effete are:- Ken Roberts, Ronnie Willis and Jenny Hartley
DEPARTMENT LACKEYS
The Men from the Department throughout the series are:- Ted Douglas, Arthur Richards, William Coleby, Andrew Fry, Geoffrey Chaucer, Mr Watkins and Mr Hudson.
DIRECTORS
There is an index to the credited directors of the series.
DOCTOR PATIENT RELATIONSHIPS
The use from the start of Prisoner of a plotline tracing the relationship between a prison doctor and an inmate was perhaps an example of the writers trying to relate Prisoner explicitly to some traditional soap plotlines to help ease in viewers who might otherwise find the whole thing too "gritty". The relationship of Karen Travers and Greg Miller lasted just over a year (longer than any of the other initial plot situations) and seems to have been a favourite with viewers. Perhaps it is not surprising that the writers harked back to it whenever things started to seem a bit shaky, though later versions of this plot situation were feeble imitations of what was already perilously close to "Mills & Boon" territory. Scott and Petra are drafted in during the dire period just before Bea leaves, and later on after the failed Barnhurst gang have mostly left, the sole survivor Julie Egbert is given romantic interest with doctor posing as handyman Steve Ryan.
DREAMS & HALLUCINATIONS
Some of the finest examples of Prisoner's directors overreaching themselves are their attempts to stage dreams or drug-induced hallucinations.It is hard to decide between Joan's LSD-induced hanging fantasy (413) - director Ross Jennings - and Hannah's nightmare of Joan as a concentration camp guard (452) - director Kendal Flanagan: both are breathtakingly inappropriate to the context, and so wildly over-the-top that they almost look deliberately humourous.
Other less lurid examples: Mum's dream of Wentworth (5); Erica's nostalgic daydream of her relationship with Andrew Reynolds (136); Anne Griffin imagining a baby spinning inside the drier (163); Bea's fantasy of dancing cheek to cheek with Ken Pearce (191); Tracey Bellman's nightmare about her car accident (370); Marlene's dream of splitting her wedding dress (528); Myra's hallucinations after being drugged by Ruth Ballinger (543); David Adams dreams of Eve Wilder (580); Lou Kelly imagines a man attacking her with a chainsaw (610); Julie Egbert after being drugged by Kath Maxwell (625).
DRUGS
Denise Morgan (quoted in Hilary Kinglsey's book): "As the series progressed we introduced many subjects which were controversial, but I was always very cautious with drugs because I knew a lot of schoolkids were watching in Australia when it was seen at 8.30. Kids were mimicking the characters in school. I made Bea Smith very anti-drugs"
A tradition that was followed for most of the other top dogs too: Myra is even given a drug addicted daughter to give her a similar motivation to Bea. Rita's conversion from smuggling cocaine into prison to vehemently anti-drugs after reading one of Steve Ryan's leaflets (614) is perhaps the least convincing of all.
But even if there's a lot less drugs around than in a real prison, there's still quite a bit in Wentworth...
You could try the following if you need a hit:- Erica's niece Barbara Davidson; George Lucas; Sharon Gilmour; Tracey Morris; Marie Winter; Des Williams; Nola McKenzie; Maggie May Kennedy; Joan's niece Lucy Ferguson and her boyfriend Wayne; Sonia Stevens; Margo Gaffney; Reb Kean; Sam Greenway; Lou Kelly; Ruth Ballinger; Kath Maxwell; Janet Williams.
Pathetic junkie types include: Sara Hamilton; Donna Mason; Kay Desmond; Glynnis Ladd.
DRUGGING THE TEA URN
The first time this old staple occurs is when Ros Coulson drugs the officers to help Janet Dominguez' terrorist friends break into Wentworth. Evelyn Randall seems to be inspired by Lizzie telling her of Ros's action to poison Meg with pollen, though she may in this case poison the biscuits rather than the urn itself. Maybe it even inspires Joan Ferguson when she slips a mickey in the staff room urn to make things easier for Marie Winter's riot in (466)?