EPISODE 326Broadcast on Channel 5 Friday 31 July 1998 04:40 Bea is planning to fix Joan once and for all.CREDITSMeg ~ Elspeth BallantyneJudy ~ Betty Bobbitt Erica ~ Patsy King Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Bea ~ Val Lehman Off. Powell ~ Judith McGrath Chrissie ~ Amanda Muggleton Margo ~ Jane Clifton Paddy ~ Anna Hruby Maxine ~ Lisa Crittenden Tony ~ Alan Lee Barbara ~ Susan Guerin Paddy ~ Anna Hruby Mouse ~ Jentah Sobott Sara ~ Celia de Burgh Jeannie ~ Rona McLeod Alan ~ Roger Stephens Det. Sgt. ~ Bill Binks Off. Bailey ~ Maureen Edwards Ambulanceman ~ Peter Byrne Jacko is again referred to as "Kennedy". | Bea returns to her own cell and Joan turns up on cue to "welcome" her back. Even in face of Joan's deliberately provocative remarks, Bea manages to hold her tongue. Joan says she can wait as there's 6 months yet to go. Maxine shows Tony a black lace nightie she's bought, presumably for his benefit. Judy phones up Tony to come round as the ambulance has arrived to take Sara and Alan to hospital. Bea returns to the rec room and has to listen to Chrissie's prediction that Joan will be worse than ever now, but it seems to make up her mind for her about something. Sara survives but Alan was already dead when the ambulance arrived. The police tell Judy and Tony that they could face a manslaughter charge for aiding and abetting a suicide. Maxine waits in her skimpy nightie to ambush Tony when he gets home, but his news acts as a bit of a damper. He shrugs off Maxine's half-hearted attempt at a massage and tells her the other night was a mistake he won't be making again. Meg commiserates with Bea for not getting her parole, but when Meg asks her if she knows why Barbara's cell was wrecked, Bea says nothing about the diaries. However, when Bea comes upon another group of conspirators, she tells them about the diaries to stress that they are inaccessible to anyone apart from Barbara. Bea adds that she won't need the diaries for what she's got in mind: her plan is to drop a hint to Joan that the diaries are hidden in isolation to lure her there for a bashing. First, though, they must get Barbara out of isolation. Meg finds out from the hospital that Lizzie is just about to be released. Joan and Meg clash over their attitudes to the prisoners: Meg tells Joan that sometimes the only difference between an officer and a prisoner is a conviction and that Joan herself is on the wrong side of the bars. Sara returns to the halfway house, and the police arrive to arrest her on a manslaughter charge after someone has made a complaint. Bea hints broadly to Meg that someone must badly want Barbara on her own, and wonders if Barbara's cell was genuinely wrecked, or if someone else did it and then reported it. Tony goes to bail Sara out. Bea tells Joan that Barbara is going the diaries to the women as a going away present. This sends Joan to isolation to quiz Barbara, but she runs into Colleen on the way who coldly enquires what Joan is doing there. Barbara is cagey when questioned by Erica, as she's too preoccupied watching Erica open the filing cabinet drawer where the diaries are hidden and drop a file into it. Bea tells Barbara that she has her to thank for getting her out of isolation: in return she wants her to tell Joan the diaries are hidden in the isolation wing. A large consignment of turpentine, much of it for Woodridge, is delivered by mistake: Colleen orders the surplus to be put in the East Wing store room. Margo is disgusted that Bea is only planning to put Joan in hospital and thinks Bea should be aiming to kill her. Bea suggests a fire as a diversion and no-one takes any notice of Margo's suggestions, so she quietly pockets a bottle of cleaning fluid. Barbara pretends to agree to let Joan have the diaries in return for a good report at the next classification meeting. After Joan leaves to search isolation, Barbara taps on the pipes to signal to Mouse, who goes to the rec room to report to Bea. Chrissie is intercepted by Colleen on her way to the laundry, so she has to go to the library instead. Erica hears that Paddy's release papers are to be delivered by courier, and she and Meg go to tell Paddy the good news. Chrissie starts a fire in a pile of books on a table in the library. Meanwhile, Margo lobs a Molotov cocktail into the storeroom. Joan fails to find the diaries: Bea corners her and tries to throttle her with an iron bar. She stops when Joan loses consciousness, leaving her on the floor and goes to the end of the corridor to get her own breath back. The fire catches hold and the prison is evacuated. Joan comes round and bashes Bea, knocking her to the ground, grabbing her by the hair and beating her head on the floor. The fire in the storeroom causes the gates to malfunction and they automatically lock throughout the prison. Joan goes to unlock the gate outside isolation, but sees her keys have fallen out of her pocket on the other side of the gate where Bea still lies unconscious. Erica and Meg are trapped inside by the smoke. Paddy and Mouse are trapped in the laundry: Paddy remembers Susie Driscoll and goes through the air conditioning ducts. Barbara breaks into Erica's office which is already filled with smoke to recover the diaries. Mouse blunders around the prison looking for a way out and opens the store room door. The turpentine explodes, engulfing her in a ball of flame. Barbara slumps to the floor overcome by smoke after managing to get the filing cabinet open. Erica and Meg get out, but Erica goes back inside to look for those who are missing. Bea comes round and Joan asks her to pass her the keys. Bea says she can't see any reason why she'd want to get out, and she'd be prepared to die if she knew she could take Joan with her. |
This was the last episode to be shown in the original run in 1982. Viewers would have had a long wait to find out the fates of the various characters trapped inside the burning building. This episode and the next were commercially released on video in the UK, but not in the US.
EPISODE 327Broadcast on Channel 5 Saturday 01 August 1998 04:40 Paddy, Bea and Joan attempt to escape via the trap-door to the roof but Joan falls from the ladder back into the corridor.CREDITSMeg ~ Elspeth BallantyneJudy ~ Betty Bobbitt Erica ~ Patsy King Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Bea ~ Val Lehman Off. Powell ~ Judith McGrath Chrissie ~ Amanda Muggleton Margo ~ Jane Clifton Paddy ~ Anna Hruby Maxine ~ Lisa Crittenden Tony ~ Alan Lee Sara ~ Celia de Burgh Geoff ~ Danny Adcock Andy ~ Ric Herbert Jeannie ~ Rona McLeod Mr. Jeffries ~ Syd Conabere Mr. Douglas ~ Ian Smith Off. Bailey ~ Maureen Edwards Det. Sgt. Farmer ~ Simon Chilvers Det. Sgt. McCumber ~ Doug Bennett  Fireman ~ Keith Baxter Nurse ~ Heather Brookman  At least 40 women can be counted arriving at Woodridge, though there only seems to be one small minibus! | The fire engines arrive and Erica is brought out safely. Paddy crawls through the ventilation shaft. Colleen reports that the head count shows four prisoners and Joan missing. Joan begs Bea to give her the keys to help them get up on the roof: Bea tells they are going to die together, and then loses consciousness again. Paddy climbs out of the shaft at Bea's side of the locked gate. She hestitates to unlock the gate until and distant boom and sudden onrush of smoke convince her, but she forces Joan to pick up Bea and carry her to safety. Some of the women shelter in the visiting suite: Chrissie feels responsible but puzzled how a pile of burning books could have destroyed the whole prison. Two bodies are brought out: one is identified as Barbara, but the other is thought to be either Mouse or Paddy. Ted Douglas arrives to survey the situation and delivers Paddy's release form in person. Paddy opens the roof trapdoor, but when Joan tries to get Bea up the stairs Bea falls backwards, knocking Joan off the ladder. Paddy sees the fire engine lift arrive on the roof  and Bea and Joan are lifted off on stretchers  . Meg tells the women that Bea and Paddy are safe, but that Barbara's body was found in the Governor's office and that the second fatality is thought to be Mouse. Officer Bailey comes to whisper to Meg that Joan is also safe, which Chrissie overhears, and she laughs bitterly at the pointlessness of the whole exercise. As Joan is winched down from the roof, she tries to talk to Erica and Ted, but neither of them can understand what she is saying. Ted Douglas orders Erica not to speak to the press. The women are sent off to Woodridge, which makes Chrissie nervous in case she has to face Neil again. Meg tells Paddy she is free to leave hospital as soon as the doctors give her the all-clear and suggests she goes to live at the halfway house. Erica goes to hospital with Joan. Bea finds out she's in the next bed to Joan when a nurse pulls back the screen. Deputy Governor Carlson welcomes the women back to Woodridge. Chrissie and Margo see Andy and agree they should try to get a message to him that Paddy is all right. The women protest at the poor conditions they will have to live in. Margo thinks she notices a certain chemistry between Colleen and Geoff Carlson. Paddy tells Judy about the fire, and Judy is particularly upset to hear of Mouse's death. Maxine surprises Paddy by revealing that she is living with Tony. Andy helps to deliver the meal to the women and finds out from Chrissie that Paddy is in hospital. She notices that he has a black eye and tells Margo she thinks he's been in a fight, but Margo points out that Chrissie's little doublecross on the Woodridge men might have got them annoyed. Judy confronts Tony over what his attitude is to Maxine and tells him he can't just sit back and do nothing. Maxine cooks a meal for Tony, lights a few candles and waits for him to arrive, but he is prevented from leaving the halfway house when Sara throws a weeping fit at the end of a sad film. The women are concerned for Jeannie's health in the conditions at Woodridge. Geoff Carlson and Colleen get chummy and he ends up giving her a neck massage. Erica is at Joan's bedside when she comes round and asks "Fields..?": she tells Joan that Barbara is dead, and Joan sinks back with a contented grimace on her face. Tony goes home very late to find Maxine asleep on the couch. Erica looks over the blackened ruins of her burnt-out office, and is surprised to be told of the breach of regulations in storing turps in the same store room as the fuse box. DS Farmer goes with Erica to talk to Joan in hospital: she accuses Bea of attacking her and trying to kill her, adding that Bea admitted to her that she started the fire as a diversion. |
EPISODE 328Broadcast on Channel 5 Sunday 02 August 1998 04:40 Bea learns of the death of Barbara and Mouse, and Jeannie goes into labour.CREDITSMeg ~ Elspeth BallantyneJudy ~ Betty Bobbitt Lizzie ~ Sheila Florance Bea ~ Val Lehman Off. Powell ~ Judith McGrath Chrissie ~ Amanda Muggleton Margo ~ Jane Clifton Maxine ~ Lisa Crittenden Tony ~ Alan Lee Paddy ~ Anna Hruby Geoff ~ Danny Adcock Andy ~ Ric Herbert Sara ~ Celia de Burgh Jeannie ~ Rona McLeod Les ~ Tim Robertson  Det. Sgt. Farmer ~ Simon Chilvers Spud ~ Robert Forza Off. Wilson ~ Ross Williams  Dave ~ James Steele  Truck Driver ~ Roy Edmunds  | Judy tells Sara she'll have to buck her ideas up and stop feeling sorry for herself. Alan's father arrives at the halfway house vowing to get Sara committed for murder and the halfway house closed. DS Farmer interviews Bea in hospital: she denies starting the fire but is taken aback by news that Barbara and Mouse are dead - and that she is likely to be charged with murder as a result. She tells him to get out and leave her alone. While the Woodridge prisoners are working to dismantle the back stage area to make a temporary accommodation area for the women, a prisoner called Les Brooke picks on Andy and hits him for no very good reason. Bea arrives at Woodridge and looks Geoff up and down, thanking him sarcastically for "making room" for the Wentworth women. Chrissie defends herself by saying that anyone could have made the mistake over the fire. Bea's reaction to the first meal she is served outside in the grounds is to spit it out on the floor at Colleen's feet: the rest of the women follow suit and throw their meals on the floor. Bea talks to Colleen to demand improved conditions, but when Colleen makes a reference to two fires, Bea is initially confused but shuts up when she realises there may be more to it than she knows. Colleen admits to Geoff in private that she thinks the women's complaints are justified. Jeannie's husband Dave visits her and brings a few gifts with him. Andy has a surprise visitor which turns out to be Paddy: for the women this is the first they have heard of Paddy's release. Paddy tells Andy that she's been to see his parents but she becomes evasive when he asks her about his father. Carlson asks her as she is leaving if there are any problems as Andy's father hasn't visited for ages. Paddy tells him Andy's father has had a stroke, but his mother asked her not to tell him. Bea demands Margo's bunk and when Lizzie is returned from the hospital to Woodridge, it is clear that someone else has to give up theirs also. Margo volunteers Chrissie, saying that after all she was the one who was responsible for Wentworth burning to the ground. Judy is woken up by one of Sara's nightmares: she tells Sara she has to stop feeling guilty for Alan's death. Maxine sneaks into Tony's bed while he's asleep, but he wakes up and pushes her away, so after an argument, Maxine leaves and goes back to the halfway house. After sleeping there overnight, she phones Spud and ask him to come and collect her. Bea repeats her demands to Colleen and adds that the women would like a TV set to break the monotony. Paddy gets a phone call from Deputy Governor Carlson asking her to visit Andy. Spud arrives and Maxine takes him upstairs  , despite protests from her "poofter boyfriend". He tells her that he still wants her to take part in a robbery with him. Andy has received a letter from a neighbour about his father's illness and is upset that Paddy didn't tell him the truth. Paddy has to contact Andy's mother to get her to come and talk to Andy: she confides in Judy that she's worried that Andy will try to escape. Maxine flirts with a driver at a truck stop and offers herself in return for a lift in his cab: Spud follows on his bike. Carlson tells the women they will get work sewing mailbags. Spud parks his bike when he sees that Maxine has got the trucker to stop by the roadside and goes back to pull him out of the cab and beat him up. Maxine tries to stop Spud because he seems about to kill the driver, but this gives the driver the opportunity to fight back and knock out Spud and subdue Maxine. Tony gets a call from Maxine asking him to try to arrange bail for her. The male prisoners complain about the women getting their facilities. Andy stands up for the women  and gets bashed, though probably worse than he intended. The men find out that the women are to take over their lucrative mailbag contract and start up a chant in protest: "KICK 'EM OUT". Andy is taken to hospital with a suspected ruptured spleen. Bea tries to get help for Jeannie when she says her baby is coming early  but she can't make herself heard above the noise. Jeannie thinks from previous experience that she's only about half an hour from giving birth.~ ~ ~ Is this a rejected design for Wentworth's new uniforms? |
EPISODE 329Broadcast on Channel 5 Tuesday 04 August 1998 04:40 Bea and Chrissie decide to deliver Jeannie's baby themselves.CREDITSMeg ~ Elspeth BallantyneJudy ~ Betty Bobbitt Lizzie ~ Sheila Florance Bea ~ Val Lehman Off. Powell ~ Judith McGrath Chrissie ~ Amanda Muggleton Margo ~ Jane Clifton Paddy ~ Anna Hruby Maxine ~ Lisa Crittenden Jeannie ~ Rona McLeod Tony ~ Alan Lee Sara ~ Celia de Burgh Andy ~ Ric Herbert Geoff ~ Danny Adcock Det. Sgt. Farmer ~ Simon Chilvers Barry Nicholls ~ Sean Myers  Mr Douglas ~ Ian Smith Mrs Hudson ~ Valma Pratt  Policeman ~ John Ramsay Policeman ~ Robert McClelland Policeman ~ Chris Donnelly Policeman ~ Wayne Hirst Policeman ~ Geoff Heatherington When Tony goes across the road to phone the police we can see the front door of the building that is supposed to be the halfway house through the window Hard to sort out the five "Policeman" credits in this episode as they are all over the place. The main ones with dialogue are: two playing cards in hospital guarding Andy, and one of them | Bea tells Chrissie that if they can't get help they'll have to deliver Jeannie's baby themselves. Chrissie protests that her only experience was in having Elizabeth and she wasn't exactly able to see what was going on. Margo says it makes her feel ill and she certainly won't be having any kids. Maxine arrives at Woodridge and Meg takes her to be locked up with the other women. When she sees Margo right up next to the peephole she at first refuses to open the door, but then sees what is happening and rushes off to get a doctor. When she returns, she pauses for a moment outside the door and hears the baby's first cry - perhaps thinking of the cicumstances of her own birth, as Chrissie guesses when she sees her looking pensive.The baby is a boy, and Jeannie decides to call him after the women who helped him into the world, so he will be Christopher B. Stanton. DS Farmer tells the officers the fire started in the store-room and spread so quickly because of the turps stored there against all the regulations. Colleen swallows hard and admits she was responsible for having it put there. Mrs Hudson comes to visit Paddy at the halfway house, but when Paddy phones the prison to see when they can visit, she is told about Andy being beaten up and they both set off for the hospital. Bea tells the women not to say anything at all about the fire to the police and they should be OK. Margo is interviewed by DS Farmer and denies any knowledge of the fire or of a plot against Joan: he writes it all down but looks unimpressed and disbelieving. Colleen calls Ted Douglas to Woodridge to make a clean breast of her mistake over the turps, but is appalled when his main concern seems to be to clear the Department of any blame. He adds ominously that if that isn't possible, he will reluctantly be forced to "accept her resignation". DS Farmer resists Ted Douglas' attempts to bluster, bribe or threaten him into hushing up the affair, but receives a phone call about new forensic evidence which lets Colleen off primary responsibility: the store-room fire was started by a fire bomb and not an electrical fault. Judy visits Lizzie at Woodridge and tells her and Meg that she's going to be a grannie, as Lori is pregnant. Mrs Hudson and Paddy see Andy in hospital: when his mother tries to explain why they kept it from him about his father, he says it doesn't matter as he'll be able to make it up to her when he gets out, which may be quite soon... Mr Nicholls from the Health Department calls to inspect the halfway house again after a complaint: he finds 27 breaches of health regulations and gives Judy 7 days to rectify them. Sara realises it must have been Alan's father who made the complaint. Andy waits until one of the policeman guarding him has left, then knocks out the other one with a bedpan, takes his gun and makes an escape from the hospital. Tony visits Maxine, but she angrily sends him away when he implies that she got involved with Spud again due to her wounded feelings over him. Further forensic evidence ties down fibres from the fuse of the fire bomb to fabric in a particular cell - the one occupied by Lil and Margo, and Lil can be proved to have been in the kitchen when the fire started. DS Farmer asks to interview Margo again, without the other women knowing. Under pressure of the evidence he lays out for her, Margo has to tell all and tries to shift the blame onto Bea and Chrissie. Andy arrives at the halfway house and Judy tells him he can have ten minutes to talk to Paddy but then he will have to go. Chrissie and Bea are held separately while waiting to be interviewed to make each of them think the other is being seen first. Andy wants to do a job to give his mother some money to live on, but Tony arrives back and Andy has to be hustled out by Judy. However, he has seen that Andy has a gun and goes across the street to phone the police from a bar. Paddy decides she will leave with Andy, but Judy persuades him that the best thing for everyone would be for him to give himself up. Just at that moment, two police cars arrive outside and Paddy and Andy make a run for it through the back alley  , but they are recaptured and taken away in a police car. Judy accuses Tony of being responsible for landing Paddy back in prison. Chrissie at first won't believe that Bea has lagged on her, but is tricked into admitting that Bea told her to light a fire as a diversion. Tony tells Judy he needs some time to think what he wants to do and resigns from the halfway house. Bea is taken by surprise when DS Farmer makes a reference to a big fire in the store room and tells him it had nothing to do with her. He replies that the truth will come out eventually: in the meantime she is to be charged with arson and murder. |
EPISODE 330Broadcast on Channel 5 Wednesday 05 August 1998 04:40 Bea ends up in solitary. And Tony resigns from his job at Driscoll House.CREDITSMeg ~ Elspeth BallantyneJudy ~ Betty Bobbitt Lizzie ~ Sheila Florance Bea ~ Val Lehman Off. Powell ~ Judith McGrath Chrissie ~ Amanda Muggleton Margo ~ Jane Clifton Paddy ~ Anna Hruby Maxine ~ Lisa Crittenden Sara ~ Celia de Burgh Valerie ~ Barbara Angell Andy ~ Ric Herbert Geoff ~ Danny Adcock Det. Sgt. Farmer ~ Simon Chilvers Barry Nicholls ~ Sean Myers Hazel ~ Belinda Davey Off. Bailey ~ Maureen Edwards Mr Jefferies ~ Syd Conabere | DS Farmer tells Colleen he's charged both Chrissie and Bea with arson and murder but he is convinced there must have been a third person involved. Paddy is taken to Woodridge at the same time as a new prisoner, Val Jacobs, who greets Colleen as an old friend. Colleen recognises her too and is taken by surprise. Val says she's relieved to see a friendly face. Paddy tells the women that she's in for 5 weeks for aiding Andy's escape, and blames Tony for lagging, causing Maxine to pipe up in his defence. When the women want to know who Val is, Paddy tells them she's a friend of Colleen's, and advises Val  she'd better forget about expecting any favours from Colleen. Colleen tells Meg that she's in a difficult situation through knowing Val, and that in fact it was Val who introduced her to her husband Patrick. Margo loiters nearby while Colleen warns Val not to mention their acquaintance to the women. Geoff Carlson tells Andy he's trying to organise a transfer for him and next morning he confirms that he will be moved to a prison farm. Lizzie asks him where Chrissie and Lizzie are and he tells her they're in solitary charged with arson and murder. Colleen speaks sharply to Val for complaining about the food and tells her not to use her first name, but call her "Mrs Powell". Carlson arranges it so Andy is left alone with Paddy briefly so he can say goodbye to her before he goes. Geoff hears that Colleen's husband is away and invites her to dinner: she accepts. Judy comes to visit the women and mentions that Tony has left: Maxine regrets the way she spoke to him on his last visit to see her. DS Farmer asks Colleen if there is anyone among the women who could plant information and report back on the reaction: he also wants Bea and Chrissie put back with the other women as a way of forcing the third conspirator to betray herself. Colleen approaches Val to ask her to spy on the women. Val says she doesn't think she'll be much good at spying but agrees to give it a try. Hazel turns up at the halfway house asking to stay until she can get a job. Meg is anxious to see Chrissie back with the other women and sure enough Chrissie is looking for supporters to help her bash Bea for lagging. Sara suggests that Judy could contact the State Health Department and ask them to overrule the decision by the local council. Bea is brought back to the other women and she and Chrissie square up for a fight  . Meg blames Bea for the fight and takes her back to solitary. Sara's suggestion works and the decision goes in favour of the halfway house. Barry Nicholls tells Mr Jeffries he can't do anything more to get Driscoll closed without having to go through a lengthy court battle. Hazel goes for a job interview and Judy gives her some cash for fares and lunch. Meg asks Colleen what's going on between the police and Bea and Chrissie, as she doesn't believe either of them lagged on the other, but when she tells Colleen that she put Bea in solitary, Colleen tells her to go and fetch Bea back again. Colleen finds that Val has changed her mind about spying on the women after seeing what happens to laggers. Hazel comes back to the halfway house: she tells Judy she didn't get the job, but Judy realises that she is drunk and spent the money Judy gave her on booze  . Hazel breaks down and tells Judy she's lost access to her kids altogether. Val tells the women an embarrassing story about Colleen: Colleen overhears and is furious with Val, but Val tells her it might do her a bit of good - at least the women now think she might be a little bit human and fallible like them. Bea and Chrissie meet once again, and Bea tries to convince Chrissie that the police are trying to use them to find out the truth about the fire  . Margo sews mailbags shiftily in the background. |
Script Editor: Barry Main (327); Ian Smith (328); Barry Main (329)-(330)
Storyliners: Dave Worthington, John Mortimore, Andrew Kennedy, Patrea Smallacombe
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