EPISODE 276Broadcast on Channel 5 Friday 22 May 1998 04:40 Jennifer Powell is taken to the bank robbers' hideout, and Erica Davidson takes a lenient view of Bea's birthday celebrations. Judy ~ Betty Bobbitt Lizzie ~ Sheila Florance Erica ~ Patsy King Bea ~ Val Lehman Doreen ~ Colette Mann Off. Powell ~ Judith McGrath Steve ~ Wayne Jarratt Susie ~ Jacqui Gordon Robert ~ Benjamin  Mel ~ David Cameron Carol ~ Elisabeth Crosby  Jennifer ~ Sarah Machin Wendy ~ Helen Noonan Doug ~ Martin Phelan Patrick ~ Rob Steele Joanne ~ Carole Yelland | Robert returns home without Jenny but Colleen isn't worried immediately. However amused Erica may be privately to find the telegram she ordered had been cancelled, she nevertheless tells Judy and Doreen they will lose buyup for the rest of the week as punishment for the stripper. Outside the Governor's office, Bea points out they have already had buyup for the week, and Erica must have seen the funny side. Colleen's husband Patrick decides to go out and look for Jenny when she still hasn't returned in time for tea. Jenny is taken to a hide-out by Mel and Doug, where Doug's girlfriend Carol is waiting. Jenny is locked in a room and Carol warns her not to anger Doug, as he has already killed a bank guard during the robbery. Doug is further annoyed by the fact that they only got a few thousand from the bank robbery as the shooting meant they weren't able to get into the vault. Colleen rings round a few of Jenny's friends to see if she is staying with them. Jenny tries to escape through a window and is stopped by Doug. Robert notices that a report of a bank robbery getaway car sounds just like the one abandoned in an alley nearby, but his parents are too distracted to take much notice. Patrick phones the police to report Jenny missing. Steve shows Bea her article in the Dispatch. Colleen goes to work and tells Erica that she is worried because Jenny did not come home. Doreen pins up Bea's column  on the workshop noticeboard (though strangely it begins with the word "CANBERRA"...) Ted Douglas phones to complain about Bea's article: Erica is forced to agree that the prison newspaper must now not go outside Wentworth and all articles are to approved first. Steve points out that this makes the whole exercise pointless. Bea writes another article protesting about the censorship and plans to get it out to the Dispatch. Jo invites Susie to come and live with her family on the farm when she is released. Carol has a guilty conscience and having found out from Jenny about her family, she phones the prison, but Mel cuts her off before she can speak to Colleen. Colleen phones the police when Wendy tells her about the call. Mel finds out that Doug has given Carol a bashing for making the phone call. Doug insists that they cannot afford to let Jenny free as Mel and Carol want. Jo evades the issue when Susie talks about their past as a family rather than forcing her to face the truth. Lizzie sees Colleen crying by herself in the staff room and reports it back to the women in the workshop. Doug gets bored and invites Jenny out of her room to join them. Susie gets a letter from her aunt about her real mother and rejects Jo for lying to her. |
EPISODE 277Broadcast on Channel 5 Saturday 23 May 1998 04:40 A mystery prisoner arrives at Wentworth. Doug Lewis plans to kill Jennifer, and even Mel if necessary.Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Judy ~ Betty Bobbitt Lizzie ~ Sheila Florance Erica ~ Patsy King Bea ~ Val Lehman Doreen ~ Colette Mann Off. Powell ~ Judith McGrath Steve ~ Wayne Jarratt Susie ~ Jacqui Gordon Mel ~ David Cameron Carol ~ Elisabeth Crosby Doug ~ Martin Phelan Patrick ~ Rob Steele Off. Bailey ~ Maureen Edwards Jenny ~ Sarah Machin Joanne ~ Carole Yelland Sen. Det. Lennox ~ Colin Vancao  Robert Powell ~ Benjamin Wendy Scott ~ Helen Noonan | Erica asks Wendy to help with censoring the prisoners' mail. When Erica is told about the call, she insists Colleen must go home. Doreen tries to console Susie while Bea talks to Jo and agrees to talk to Susie to persuade her to give Jo another chance. Susie reacts to Doreen's advice not to give up by deciding to try another escape attempt, so Doreen tells Bea who gives Susie a lecture on how silly she is being and says they will spoil any escape attempt she makes. Steve reluctantly agrees to try to smuggle Bea's letter about censorship out to the Dispatch  . Patrick persuades Collen to go to work as there is more chance that the mystery woman will call the prison. Steve slips Bea's letter into a pile at reception that Wendy has already checked. Colleen is unhappy at Wendy's efforts with the blue pencil and takes the letters away to be rechecked. Erica tells Susie her best chance of an early release is to agree to live with Jo but she refuses. Colleen finds Bea's letter and takes it to Erica. Steve admits to Wendy that he put the letter on her desk and asks her not to tell anyone. Susie requests to be put on garden duties to have a good look at the fences and plan her escape. Doreen tells Jo that Susie has hidden a shovel in the grounds so they have another go at persuading Susie to give up her attempts to escape. Carol gets Mel to phone Colleen to tell him Jenny is safe while he is away from the hideout doing some food shopping. Bea protests to Erica about the mail being censored and threatens her article will get out even so. Erica responds that security will be made tighter to make sure it does not. Sen Det Lennox interviews the Powell family and gets details from Robert of the car the gang are now using. Doug is suspicious and jealous of Carol's concern for Mel. Jo offers to smuggle Bea's article out when she is released. Meg returns to work and Erica tells her about a new prisoner who is to be given special treatment when she arrives. Mel hears on the radio that the police are looking for their car and arranges to buy another one from a friend. Jo's plan for Bea's article is to hide it in her bra  . Susie catches up with Jo as she leaves to apologise to her and thank her for her help. The women are sent back inside when the new prisoner arrives in a security van, which immediately makes them suspect it is another child killer like Bella Albrecht. Colleen asks for time off work while the serach for Jenny continues. The women search the newspapers for clues to the mystery prisoner's identity, but they find nothing, not even any sign of an article being cut out. Meg catches Lizzie with the laundry trolley near solitary and sends her away. After Mel has left to pick up the new car, Doug argues with Carol, knocks her unconscious and bursts into Jenny's room  to rape her. |
EPISODE 278Broadcast on Channel 5 Sunday 24 May 1998 04:40 Carol discovers that Doug has attacked Jenny, and Erica is under pressure to keep the mystery prisoner out of the other women's way.Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Judy ~ Betty Bobbitt Lizzie ~ Sheila Florance Erica ~ Patsy King Bea ~ Val Lehman Doreen ~ Colette Mann Off. Powell ~ Judith McGrath Steve ~ Wayne Jarratt Susie ~ Jacqui Gordon Doug ~ Martin Phelan Carol ~ Elisabeth Crosby Jenny ~ Sarah Machin Mel ~ David Cameron Patrick ~ Rob Steele Margo ~ Jane Clifton Sen. Det. Lennox ~ Colin Vancao Det. Sgt. Ryan ~ Will Deumer  What would a psychologist make of Colleen's doodle during the staff meeting? | The police call Colleen to ask to talk to Robert again about the car. The women listen to the radio but a promised interview with the Minister about Bea's article is called off. When Carol comes round she tries to calm Jenny down then returns to Doug to slap his face in disgust at his actions. Lizzie fails to get into solitary but hears Steve address the prisoner as "Smart". The gang take Jenny with them when they move on in another car. The women don't believe Lizzie's report that it can be Helen in solitary. Erica is told by the police that the mystery prisoner can help them smash a drugs ring, and that the secrecy is as much for her protection as it is to scare her into talking. Erica points out that she cannot go along with the police's demand that the prisoner is refused access to a solicitor. Sen Det Lennox tells Colleen they have found the car, but not the gang or Jenny, though they have traced the owner and through him they know the names of the bank robbers. He asks her to identify Jenny's clothing which was found left behind in the hideout. Judy attacks Doreen  to get into solitary, but is given another punishment of two week's loss of priveleges. The women are just listening to a radio report about the kidnapping daughter of a Wentworth officer when Colleen comes to the laundry door and stands in silence listening. Steve catches Susie lifting goods from the kitchen store room but decides to let her off. Margo and Doreen have no greater success when they fight in the dining room, even when Margo taunts Colleen about Jenny. Colleen realises the women think they can do anything and phones Erica to get permission to have solitary re-opened. The gang hide out in a motel. Meg talks to Susie about arranging a job for her when she is released. Doreen sets fire to a bed  , and this time succeeds in getting put in solitary (into the only solitary cell with its own toilet bowl  ). Margo translates a tapped message on the pipes from Doreen that the other prisoner has been moved out of solitary before she got there. Doug is still plotting and tells Carol  how is going to dispose of Jenny, and Mel. Jenny waits until Mel is asleep and makes a run for it. Mel is woken up by the sound of a gunshot. |
EPISODE 279Broadcast on Channel 5 Tuesday 26 May 1998 04:40 After killing Doug, Carol urges Mel to flee with Jenny, and Helen is re-arrested as soon as she leaves the prison.Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Judy ~ Betty Bobbitt Lizzie ~ Sheila Florance Erica ~ Patsy King Bea ~ Val Lehman Doreen ~ Colette Mann Off. Powell ~ Judith McGrath Steve ~ Wayne Jarratt Susie ~ Jacqui Gordon Helen ~ Caroline Gillmer Carol ~ Elisabeth Crosby Mel ~ David Cameron Jennifer ~ Sarah Machin Patrick ~ Rob Steele Mr Saunders ~ Robin Cuming  Motel Owner ~ Malcolm Darby Robert ~ Benjamin Sen. Det. Lennox ~ Colin Vancao Mr Douglas ~ Ian Smith Doctor ~ John McCallum-Howell  | Mel catches Jenny and drags her with him into Carol's room to see what the noise was: he sees that she has shot Doug. Carol tells him to make a run for it while he can: he takes Jenny with him and drives off in the car. The motel manager notes down the registration number then finds Carol, who says she'll wait in the room for the police to arrive. Meg is amused by Steve's sudden interest in prisoner's rights and his criticisms of the Department's attempts at censorship. Mel pushes Jenny out of the car in the middle of nowhere. Sen. Det. Lennox reports to Colleen next morning that Jenny has been found and she and Patrick ask to accompany him to pick her up from hospital where she is under observation. Lizzie suspects the mystery prisoner must have been transferred to Barnhurst, but Judy thinks they are just moving her around within Wentworth. Lizzie takes the laundry truck around to see if she can get near isolation to pick up any gossip. Colleen is horrified when the doctor tells her Jenny was raped, and outraged that the police didn't tell her straight away. She angrily rejects Sen. Det. Lennox's suggestion that Carol protected Jenny and says she can wait until Carol is brought to Wentworth. Lizzie overhears Meg talking to the mystery prisoner and recognises Helen Smart's voice. Helen is insisting she should be let back in with the other women, but Meg says the authorities don't want a repeat of the Kathy Hall incident. Steve catches Lizzie earwigging, and sends her back to the laundry, where the women are listening to a radio interview with Harry Stanfield when Lizzie reports back to them that Helen is the mystery prisoner. The women are kept in their cells next morning as Helen is taken off to court: she shouts to them that she was framed in a drugs bust. Meg spots another article from Bea in the Dispatch, and tells Steve he will have to cut it out of all the copies the women will see. He starts to do so, but slips one cutting in his back pocket. Doreen returns from solitary. Steve tells Bea off for putting the Stir under threat, and using Jo to get the article out. He deliberately crumples up the cutting in front of her and throws it the waste bin where she can retrieve it as soon as he has gone. Ted Douglas insists that Erica has all the women's writing materials confiscated. Bea shows Judy an article she's written about her, but Judy doesn't want it published because she still hasn't told Lori she's back inside. Helen is back inside on a twelve month sentence, but tells the others she doesn't know who planted the drugs in her flat. Colleen and Meg search the cells for writing materials: Colleen finds the cutting hidden in Bea's locker. As the officer responsible for censoring the papers, Steve is given a carpeting for letting it slip through. The women are searched for writing materials before they are allowed out of the workshop. As a protest, they refuse to leave the dining room after the evening meal. Erica offers to rescind the order if they will agree that no more unauthorized articles will appear in the Dispatch. Most of the women want to stick out for more, but Bea agrees. She argues later that Erica may well keep her promise, but if not they will at least have had the chance to stash some writing materials away in case the ban is re-instated. Meg tells Steve that she was in a similar situation to Colleen when she had to deal with Chrissie. Helen confirms that a news report that Harry Stanfield has been supplying call girls to foreign businessmen is true: she knows because she helped set it up through "Smart's Catering". She admits that she and Harry fell out a while ago over an unpaid bill and Helen threatened to go to the media. Judy tells her that Mr Stanfield is standing as an MP and maybe he set her up to get her out of the way. Helen's solicitor backs off when he hears she is accusing Harry Stanfield of setting her up: he tells her that "professional ethics" prevent him handling her appeal and leaves in a hurry. Carol Lewis is brought to Wentworth. Meg is just about to process her when Colleen takes over and makes a deliberate point of letting Carol know she is the Deputy Governor "Powell". |
EPISODE 280Broadcast on Channel 5 Wednesday 27 May 1998 04:40 The woman who abducted Colleen's daughter arrives at Wentworth, and Bea gets all the details from Helen about her business deal with Harry Stanfield.Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Judy ~ Betty Bobbitt Lizzie ~ Sheila Florance Erica ~ Patsy King Bea ~ Val Lehman Doreen ~ Colette Mann Off. Powell ~ Judith McGrath Steve ~ Wayne Jarratt Susie ~ Jacqui Gordon Margo ~ Jane Clifton Helen ~ Caroline Gillmer Carol ~ Elisabeth Crosby Jennifer ~ Sarah Machin Off. Bailey ~ Maureen Edwards Wendy ~ Helen Noonan Jackie ~ Catherine Lynch Gary ~ Wayne Cull  Neil ~ Colin Setches  | Colleen tries to send Meg off to patrol D block and continues to read Carol's charges, only faltering when she reads "accessory to rape". Judy tells Bea that they've got no hope of getting an article on Helen in the Dispatch, as Harry Stanfield is already suing the paper for libel, but Bea likes the idea of putting it in The Stir anyway. Meg tells Erica about Colleen taking over the induction and that she has taken Carol to a single cell, so Erica decides they had better check what's going on. Colleen is being coldly efficient, but is obviously upset to see she's being spied on when she finds Erica and Meg outside the cell. Carol asks Meg if she can work. Doreen reports to the others on the new prisoner and says they should give her a bashing for standing by and letting a child be raped. Margo replies that she knows herself what it's like to get involved in a job with a couple of useless men and they ought to hear Carol's own story before they judge her. Erica lets Colleen know none-too-tactfully about her concern that she will be able to deal with Carol objectively. Margo comes to check that Carol is "still in one piece" and takes here off to meet the other women. Doreen manages to get hold of some yeast in the kitchen, and has to hide it when Meg sends her off with a lunch tray for two workmen in the boiler room. Margo introduces Carol to Bea: Carol tells her story, and though Bea is obviously not very impressed she decides Carol has enough trouble watching her back for Colleen. Doreen flirts with the workmen and finds out that one of the small boilers is to be disconnected, even though the thermostat is still working. Helen worries about the effect on her career if details of Bea's article leaks out, but is angry enough with her treatment by Harry Stanfield to let it go ahead. Judy thinks of a use for the boiler, telling Doreen that she knows how to make moonshine from seeing one of her uncles make it. Bea wants copies of the paper printed up quickly for the PRG to collect before an officer has chance to read it. Colleen finds Jenny at home when she returns from work, and Jenny asks her if Carol is all right. Colleen dismisses Jenny's claim that Carol was good to her, and says Carol deserves what's coming to her. Lizzie hears about the plan to set up a still and asks if she can be put on kitchen duty. Steve takes the tied-up bundle of papers for the PRG to collect from reception, but Bea isn't able to stop him taking a few loose ones too. He distributes these around the prison, giving one to Erica, several to officers in the staff room and even one to Wendy who's just leaving to go to a dental appointment. Lizzie volunteers to take the tray to the workmen, and takes with her a ball of pastry saying she'll get an impression of Officer Bailey's key. Erica reads her Stir and demands that Steve confiscates every copy: he claims later to have done the job, but obviously bites his tongue when he mentions reception and remembers the copy he gave to Wendy. More copies of the paper are found hidden under tables in the dining room. Lizzie fakes a fainting fit and quickly presses a key from Officer Bailey's bunch into the pastry while she is being supported. Erica tells Bea that her latest article could involve the Department in legal proceedings, but Bea argues that as it is all true, and Erica knows it is, she is holding Helen when she is innocent. Bea is taken back to the workshop by Steve and she tears into him for his cowardice. The women make a copy of the key in the workshop and look for other bits for the still. However, the key won't open the boiler room door, as Lizzie has taken the impression of the wrong key. Jackie Donohue is brought to Wentworth on a two week sentence for soliciting.  Judy manages to get the key to work by wiping a smear of Susie's lipstick on it to see where it is catching in the lock and filing it down. Bea sees Jackie unpacking her things in Margo's cell, introduces herself and takes her to the dining room for the evening meal. Judy can hardly believe her eyes when she catches sight of Jackie and when Bea asks her what's up, Judy points out Jackie to her as "the bitch who's responsible for me being back in here". |
Script Editor: Ian Smith (276)-(279)
Storyliners: Dave Worthington, John Mortimore, Andrew Kennedy (276)-(280)
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