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EPISODE 176Broadcast on Channel 5 Monday 22 December 1997 23:45 Doreen misunderstands Evelyn's herbal remedy instructions. Georgie attends class in the library, but goes beserk when the women laugh at her. Lizzie collects pollen and weeds for Evelyn when she visits Sid.CREDITSMeg ~ Elspeth BallantyneJudy ~ Betty Bobbitt Lizzie ~ Sheila Florance Erica ~ Patsy King Bea ~ Val Lehman Jim ~ Gerard Maguire Doreen ~ Colette Mann David ~ Serge Lazareff Georgie ~ Tracey Mann Mike The Bike ~ Jon Geros  Sister Franklin ~ Diane Greentree Evelyn ~ Julia Blake | Bea dashes off to make Evelyn reveal what was in the the mixture she gave Doreen. When Evelyn finds out that Doreen heated up the mixture, making it toxic, she says she can take no responsibility if people ignore her instructions - just as her unfortunate patient who died had done, by eating the preparation for skin cancer that was supposed to be an ointment. David offers to talk to Georgie when she is released from solitary later that day. Doreen is soon back to normal and both she and Lizzie apologise to Evelyn, much to Bea's disgust. Evelyn is worried when she finds out that Sandra is in isolation, and won't be able to write the article to help her case, but Judy suggests it would be just as good if she could cure some illness while inside prison, such as the rare tropical illness they've just heard about: Evelyn points out that none of them seem to be suffering from it. Judy and Lizzie both offer to help Evelyn get the herbs and plants she needs to carry on her work, despite Bea's protests. Georgie's boyfriend Mike ("The Bike") comes to visit her, but Jim sends him away, saying she's in solitary and to come back next week. David follows Mike and tells him to come back again that afternoon. Georgie agrees to David's suggestion that she could wear uniform overalls rather than a skirt, but still won't promise to come to his classes. Erica refuses to let Evelyn have any books on herbalism, but reluctantly allows her to have "decorative" plants in her cell when Evelyn points out that the other women have them. Lizzie reads out the shopping list for Evelyn, which includes belladonna... Judy pinches some mouldy bread out of the skip for Evelyn to use to grow "cultures". Georgie turns up at David's classes, but as soon as she sees the women laughing amongst themselves, she assumes it about her and attacks Bea. Bea notices how David tries to stand up for Georgie. Mike returns for his visit and has it approved by Erica in person. Lizzie offers to hide Evelyn's "cultures" in the laundry where the warmth would help them grow faster. Bea has a nasty cough next morning, but refuses any help. Lizzie meets Evelyn outside sickbay as she is delivering tea and biscuits to Sister Franklin: Evelyn is left alone with the tea trolley for a moment after Lizzie has helpfully explained the staff's different tastes in biscuits... Georgie's excuse for not being interested in school is that everyone called her stupid: she refuses to go the classes and is taken to the laundry to work, where Bea gives her a quick rundown on who's boss. Georgie retorts that she doesn't take orders from anyone. Their antagonism boils over at lunch when Bea calls Georgie stupid after she burns her hand on a plate when she's been warned it's hot. Georgie attacks Bea and is taken off to see the Governor and put back in solitary. Sister Franklin tells Meg she feels ill as she leaves work: Meg suggest it may have been something she ate. David finds that Georgie is in solitary and goes to Erica to plead her case. Lizzie tells Evelyn about the time Ros Coulson drugged the staff room tea urn. After eating one of Evelyn's biscuits washed down with comfrey tea, Lizzie has a bad stomach ache next morning. Sister Franklin phones in sick. David tries to give Georgie an intelligence test, promising to have her taken from solitary if she finishes it. Meg finds out that Lizzie has the same symptoms as Sister Franklin. When Bea is told that Evelyn had access to herbs, she tells Jim she has to see Erica urgently. Georgie rips up the test paper and trashes her cell. Bea tells Erica that it was Evelyn who's responsible for poisoning Lizzie. When Jim is sent to look for Evelyn to bring her to Erica's office, he and Bea find her collapsed in a heap in the corridor outside the staff room. |
EPISODE 177Broadcast on Channel 5 Tuesday 23 December 1997 23:35 Wentworth is isolated after a tropical disease breaks out, believed to be carried by Jenny. Judy strikes up a friendship with Georgie. Meg contracts the disease and is put in the prison hospital with Lizzie and Evelyn.CREDITSMeg ~ Elspeth BallantyneJudy ~ Betty Bobbitt Lizzie ~ Sheila Florance Erica ~ Patsy King Bea ~ Val Lehman Jim ~ Gerard Maguire Doreen ~ Colette Mann Vera ~ Fiona Spence Evelyn ~ Julia Blake David ~ Serge Lazareff Georgie ~ Tracey Mann Sandra ~ Candy Raymond Dr Granger ~ Peter Regan  Sister Haines ~ Liddy Holloway  Hazel ~ Belinda Davey Officer Barry ~ Joy Westmore The scene where Doreen gives Meg Evelyn's remedy | A doctor arrives to carry out tests for tropical diseases: Evelyn scoffs at him from her bed in the infirmary. Dr Granger warns Erica that if Sally was the contact there could be an epidemic. No-one can explain how Lizzie became infected until Jim remembers that she'd brought Sally a meal when she was in sickbay. Georgie is forcibly removed from solitary for an examination and an injection of antibiotics. Dr Granger suspects typhoid and orders all food in the kitchen to be destroyed and that block H should be isolated from the rest of the prison. He also tells the officers they won't be allowed to go home. Judy reports back to Bea that she wasn't allowed to get out of the block to go to the library. Evelyn challenges the nurse, claiming that she could cure herself and refusing the injection. Sandra is moved out of isolation to make room for the female officers: when she finds out about the quarantine she begs Vera not to put her back with the other women. Georgie is put in Judy's cell. Sandra tells Bea she nursed her mother when she was dying of cancer, which is the reason she is so scared of illness. Judy enjoys the show as Georgie strips off for bed  : Vera happens to spy through the peephole and tells Meg about it when she goes back to the cell they are sharing. Vera is also put out that there's no-one to bring clothes in for her so she has to wear a prison issue nightie. Meg's temperature shoots up even though she's been immunized. Erica sleeps at her desk overnight. There is only porridge for breakfast, so most of the women stick to tea. Jim sets them to work disinfecting the building and burning the food (conveniently forgetting that they are supposed to be isolated from the rest of the prison). David asks Georgie why she did her sums but not the written questions: Georgie privately admits to Judy that she can hardly read or write. Dr Granger gets a phone message that the original contact has died, but typhoid is not suspected. Food is to be brought in from the outside. Evelyn tries to leave sickbay to get her herbs, but Dr Granger stops her, so when Doreen comes to deliver meals to sickbay, Evelyn takes the opportunity to get her to bring the stuff she needs. Meg slips into a coma. Doreen asks Bea whether she should help Evelyn and Bea tells her to keep out of it. Erica has to slap Sandra when she becomes hysterical after being refused permission to make a phone call. Hazel comes out of the infirmary just afterwards and realises what has happened. Doreen decides to help Evelyn after both Judy and Bea fall ill. Some of the women are sent outside to collect a food delivery under armed guard: Sandra considers whether she can risk making a break for it. Doreen gives a jar to Evelyn, but Evelyn makes her give the medicine to Meg herself so she doesn't have to get out of bed. Sandra elbows Joyce aside and makes a run for it. Jim fires over her head to scare her, but when she falls over, he aims the gun directly at her  , telling her to stop where she is or he will shoot. |
EPISODE 179Broadcast on Channel 5 Tuesday 30 December 1997 23:35 The secret of Evelyn's remedy is discovered. Dave begins to suspect that Georgie is deaf. Margot gets a visit from boyfriend Wayne.CREDITSMeg ~ Elspeth BallantyneJudy ~ Betty Bobbitt Lizzie ~ Sheila Florance Erica ~ Patsy King Bea ~ Val Lehman Jim ~ Gerard Maguire Doreen ~ Colette Mann Vera ~ Fiona Spence Evelyn ~ Julia Blake David ~ Serge Lazareff Georgie ~ Tracey Mann Sandra ~ Candy Raymond Margo ~ Jane Clifton Wayne ~ Vince Gil  Dr Granger ~ Peter Regan Mr Goodwin ~ Lloyd Cunnington The popular name for the plant Evelyn uses to poison the women is "screw palm" or "tropical pandan tree". There is no indication on any website I can find that the pollen (or any other part of the plant) is poisonous. | Dr Granger says he wants to carry out further tests on the women to confirm his suspicions. Jim reports Georgie's attack on Judy, but Erica tells him to put Georgie in solitary for now and bring Evelyn to her office immediately. Erica tries to get an admission of guilt from Evelyn but she brazens it out, knowing that Erica has no proof. Sensing that she isn't going to get anywhere, Erica visits Georgie in solitary to ask her about the incident with Judy, and seems very unsympathetic to Georgie's side of the story. When Judy is questioned, she tries to put Georgie's case, but admits she told Georgie she was lesbian and thought she felt the same way. Dr Granger gets the test results: the women were poisoned by pollen from the pandanus candelabrum plant, but he tells Erica he can't see any way Evelyn could have got hold of it, as there was none in her cell or in the prison garden. Jim is relieved that the quarantine can be lifted. Bea seems to be on the mend and learns from Dr Granger what caused the "epidemic". Putting two and two together, she works out that it must have been deliberate and also who must have been responsible. Evelyn admits to Erica that she knew of the effects of the pollen as it is a traditional poison of some Aboriginal tribes (apparently). Margo says she's going straight when she is released in a few days: her boyfriend Wayne has been released from Pentridge and has a job and a house for them both to live in. Bea asks Lizzie what she brought back from her last trip to visit Sid. Wayne arrives to see Margo out of visiting hours: Jim recognises him from Pentridge. Judy, Doreen and Lizzie still aren't convinced that Evelyn poisoned anyone, so Bea tries to get Evelyn to admit it in front of everyone. Evelyn is taken aback when Bea reveals that she knows about the pollen and she eventually admits sprinkling it on some people's food. In a panic, Evelyn runs out of the rec room and bumps into Jim. When she accuses the women of threatening her, he takes her back to the rec room, where the women follow Bea's lead and pretend not to know what he's talking about. Bea then tells the others they must be especially "nice" to Evelyn. Meg finds that Georgie has wrecked the solitary cell. Bea warns Margo to keep clear of Evelyn if she wants her release to go ahead, as things will very soon start to happen. Evelyn overhears this and scuttles back to her cell, finding it in darkness. When she ventures inside she is grabbed by the throat, but when she brings Jim back with her to investigate, the lights are on and there is no-one around. Evelyn asks Erica for a transfer to another prison, but is turned down flat. The VJ arrives to hear the charge against Sandra, but he dismisses it after Erica explains the stress Sandra was under. Sandra manages to work out from the VJ's remarks that the "epidemic" was a result of deliberate poisoning, and Vera confirms her suspicions, even hinting who may have been responsible. After visiting Georgie in solitary and noticing her failing to respond to a bell, David asks Dr Granger to examine her and confirm that she may be deaf. Sandra ignores Bea's instructions and accuses Evelyn of poisoning the women, but Evelyn responds by throwing her dinner at Sandra. Evelyn is unsettled to be left alone with Bea when Jim rushes to break up a brawl in the garden. We find out later the true reason for this diversion when Jim reports to Erica that a rope and some turpentine are missing from the garden shed. Vera finds a noose hanging in Evelyn's cell  and Erica is at last forced to agree to have Evelyn transferred to Barnhurst. Bea and Lizzie act friendly towards Evelyn, but meanwhile someone (Lil?) is rigging up a booby trap under her bed  using a candle, the turps and the cardigan Sandra discarded when it got stained from having Evelyn's dinner all over it. Evelyn smells burning when she returns to her cell, and pulls the tray out from under her bed, knocking the candle over and causing a flash fire  that burns her face so badly  she has to be taken to hospital. Vera recognises who the pink sweater belongs to, and Sandra is hauled out of her cell and taken to solitary. Jim tells her she can forget about her release which is due the next day. |
From this point Prisoner reverted to its original early morning slot, but with an increase at first to four episodes a week, then five from the week after.
EPISODE 180Broadcast on Channel 5 Tuesday 06 January 1998 04:40 Margo tries to contact Wayne, and David arranges for Georgie to have some hospital tests.CREDITSMeg ~ Elspeth BallantyneJudy ~ Betty Bobbitt Lizzie ~ Sheila Florance Erica ~ Patsy King Bea ~ Val Lehman Jim ~ Gerard Maguire Doreen ~ Colette Mann Vera ~ Fiona Spence Margo ~ Jane Clifton Wayne ~ Vince Gil David ~ Serge Lazareff Georgie ~ Tracey Mann Sandra ~ Candy Raymond Dr Patton ~ Warwick Randall  Jeannie Baxter ~ Leila Hayes  Mike the Bike ~ John Geros UNCREDITEDCES Officer ~ Tim Robertson OTHER CHARACTERSGary (Sandra's colleague) The commissionaire outside the bar where Margo and Wayne  celebrate looks like Patrick Aimer. There are two things wrong with the scene where Jim searches Evelyn's cell: the cell is locked, so how did Bea manage to plant the stuff, and shouldn't there have been another officer present for a cell search? One of the silent extras in the CES office | Sandra protests to Meg when her breakfast is brought to solitary that she didn't cause the fire. In the dining room, the other women are speculating about where Evelyn is, and what is likely to happen to Sandra. Margo phones Wayne but finds that the line has been cut off: Meg offers to pass a message to him that Margo wants to be collected on her release next day. Jim deals with Sandra in Erica's absence, and agrees to allow her out of solitary for half a day if she will use her journalistic skills to try to find out who really caused the fire. Lizzie passes on to the others that Evelyn is in hospital. Vera drops a heavy hint when she brings Sandra back to the laundry and Bea has no trouble picking it up, realising that Jim has put her back among them deliberately to act as a stool pigeon. Meg visits Wayne and is appalled by the squalid living conditions. Bea decides to get Sandra to write some good PR for them by convincing her that Evelyn started the fire herself to make it look as though the women were persecuting her to get a transfer. David tells Georgie the tests show she has "glue ear" and a simple operation can correct it. He offers to tell someone in her family that she's going into hospital, and she warns him not to contact her mother, who only cares about "those girls". Bea goes to Jim and tells him that Evelyn paid some of the women to steal the rope and turpentine for her from the garden shed. He seems unconvinced until Bea asks him if Evelyn had been angling for a transfer. Jim goes to search Evelyn's cell and finds the stuff hidden in the bottom of the locker. Sandra thanks Bea and agrees to write whatever story the women want. Judy apologises to Georgie for coming on strong to her and Georgie's response is "Rack off, you old dyke". Margo and Sandra are both to be released: Margo asks Bea to look after her profits from running the book until she can collect it, as she fears that both she and Sandra will be searched. Wayne and Gary are waiting for the two women: Vera sourly predicts that they'll both be back. Margo finds Wayne's house isn't quite what she expected but manages to hide her disappointment and refuses a cup of tea in favour of something else she hasn't had for 18 months. David suggests a pottery course, and Erica offers to provide the materials, and asks if she can attend the class as a pupil. Dr Randall explains the operation to Georgie but she still sounds scared. Vera wants to censor Sandra's article when it appears in the paper, but Meg persuades her to let it go through. Bea isn't at all satisfied by Sandra's sensationalist piece which is entitled "How I Took On Wentworth and Lost". Margo tells Wayne she's had to pay a month's rent to get the rent collector off their backs. Vera isn't impressed when David tells her about Erica's egalitarian gesture and comments that next she'll be wanting to help out in the laundry. Wayne takes Margo out to an expensive bar and gives her a flashy wristwatch: she seems unsure whether to believe his assurances that it isn't stolen. The women are amazed to see Erica at the pottery class  , and even more so when David introduces her by her first name (though Erica visibly stiffens when Bea dares to use it). Margo goes to the CES but is told her chances of finding a job are next to nil when she admits she's just come out of prison. Erica monopolises the only potter's wheel  at the pottery class. Georgie's operation is a success and she is visited by her boyfriend Mike, though she's less pleased to see her mother Jeannie. Wayne admits to Margo that he doesn't have a job, though it seems doubtful that he had actually walked out that afternoon after an argument with the foreman, as he claims. Margo goes back to Wentworth hoping to get her money back from Bea, but as she can't tell Meg the real reason for her visit, she has to go away empty handed. |
Script Editor: Ian Smith (176)-(177); Patrick Amer (178)-(179); Ian Smith (180)
Storyliners: Dave Worthington, Alastair Sharp
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