EPISODE 331Broadcast on Channel 5 Friday 07 August 1998 04:40 Jeffries has it in for Sara. Lizzie sees a chance to make illicit booze.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 Geoff ~ Danny Adcock Nola ~ Carole Skinner  Hazel ~ Belinda Davey Mr Jeffries ~ Syd Conabere Valerie ~ Barbara Angell Charlie ~ John McCallum-Howell  Tom ~ David Scott  Lil ~ Judith McLorinan Shop Assistant ~ Vikki Eagger  Secretary (Miss Doyle) ~ Brenda Clarke  Man ~ James Wright  Not surprising that Tom is a dodgy character: what is he trying to hide with that monstrous cravat? | Chrissie and Bea discuss whether to bash the lagger or hand her over to the police: Bea suggests they bash her then hand "what is left" over to the cops. Mr. Jeffries' solicitor phones the halfway house asking to speak to Sara: Judy advises her not to speak to anyone until the hearing is over. Judy visits Bea and offers to contact Legal Aid for her to get her a solicitor. Lizzie gets cramp sewing the mailbags and uses it as an excuse to ask if she can be put on kitchen duty instead. Bea and Chrissie start asking questions about the fire on their own behalf: they start with Paddy and ask her where she was at the time the fire broke out. Margo edges closer to try to hear what is being said but Bea notices and tells her to move away. Paddy can't tell them anything they don't already know, but Bea tells her they don't suspect that she's involved. Bea suggests to Chrissie that they carry on questioning the least likely suspects to make their chief suspect sweat a little. A man in a suit comes to the halfway house, sits down and orders a coffee. As if this were not already suspicious enough, he asks for Sara and gives Judy twenty dollars in payment for some "information". Judy tears up his note and tells him to get lost (though in the next scene she can be seen trying to stick it back together with Sellotape). Lizzie gets to know the men working in the kitchen and notices them apparently smuggling in booze. A mystery woman arrives off a freight car. Lizzie checks the bottle she has seen the men put out of sight on a shelf in the kitchen, but it is empty. She then sees a drop hanging from the spout of an urn, tastes it  and realises that the booze is in the kitchen and is being smuggled out to the cells. At the first opportunity, she tells Maxine to start a raffle and she will get something from the kitchen to be the prize. The mystery woman buys a wig, but is in too much of a hurry to try it on. Judy catches Sara packing her things ready to leave, so she reminds her that she is standing surety for her and has the power to "arrest" her if she tries to go anywhere else. Lizzie tells the women she can get a chicken as the raffle prize. The mystery woman comes to the halfway house referred by the Salvation Army, and introduces herself as Jean Carter  : she says her husband ran out on her and she needs somewhere to stay. She is put in to share a room with Hazel. Judy can't persuade Sara not to talk to Mr Jeffries, so she goes with her. Sara reminds Mr Jeffries that his wife also committed suicide under the pressure of his intolerable expectations and that if anyone was responsible for Alan's death, it was him. He responds by throwing Judy and Sara out of his office, but later on leaves and tells his secretary to cancel all his appointments. Lil is questioned  and asks for Margo to be sent away so she can speak freely. [After so long trying hard not to speak, she can only communicate in a hoarse whisper anyway!] She tells Chrissie and Bea that Margo wasn't happy with Bea's plan and disappeared just before the fire was started. Chrissie wins the chicken, but finds it's raw and straight out of the freezer, so Lizzie has to offer to get it cooked for her or find her something else. Lizzie tells Maxine she needs the cash to buy booze from the men. Margo threatens Lil to keep quiet. Tom Forbes visits Val: he tells her he's made "other arrangements" while she's been inside and has found another "supplier". Bea announces that it's Margo's turn to be questioned: she and Chrissie are just starting to heavy her when Carlson brings Val back after her visit. Jean lies and tells Judy she's broke, but we have seen her earlier with a thick wad of banknotes. She tells Judy she doesn't want to claim social security and doesn't put anyone's name as next of kin on the registration form for the halfway house, claiming she has no family left after her husband left her. Margo is bashed  into confessing to the women that she started the second fire, but then refuses to admit it to the police and says Bea can't make her. Val tells Maxine she had been stealing goods from the department store where she worked so that her boyfriend could resell them in his shop. Colleen interrupts the conversation but refuses to tell Val how much she heard. Margo repeats that she isn't going to be confessing to starting the fire. Bea says she hopes Margo gets a good night's sleep, but agrees with Chrissie that there isn't much they can do to force a confession, for as Margo reminds them before lights out, if anything happens to her the police will know exactly who's responsible. |
EPISODE 332Broadcast on Channel 5 Saturday 08 August 1998 04:40 Margo is ostracised by the women. The inquest into Alan's death begins. Sara leaves the Halfway 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 Geoff ~ Danny Adcock Det. Sgt Farmer ~ Simon Chilvers Mr Jeffries ~ Syd Conabere Nola ~ Carole Skinner Hazel ~ Belinda Davey Jerry ~ Peter Harvey-Wright  Mr Douglas ~ Ian Smith Det. Gilbert ~ Ian Cuming  Barrister ~ Colin Vancao  Coroner ~ Alan Rowe  Clerk ~ Malcolm Fuller-Darby  | Chrissie is amazed by Bea's apparent forgiveness of Margo, but she only thinks that no-one should get extra time for an accident - and that includes them. Bea says she hopes Judy gets them a good solicitor. Colleen hears that the women are to go back to Wentworth the following day. Geoff advises her not to report what she heard Val say, but then immediately contradicts himself, leaving Colleen to make up her own mind. The inquest into Alan's death begins. Bea sees Jerry Steel, a solicitor from Legal Aid. She gives him information about the second fire, but refuses to name Margo as the person who started it. Sara tells the inquest about the suicide pact, but the opposing barrister accuses her of murdering Alan to prevent him testifying against her over the possession charge. Sara replies that Alan was originally charged as well, but his father used his influence to have the charge dropped, but she is unable to support the allegation and has to withdraw it. DS Farmer helps Bea's solicitor make up for Bea's refusal to co-operate by letting him see the papers on the case: he leaves them on his desk and goes out "to make a coffee". Colleen goes to dinner with Geoff again and they make a token attempt to discuss work: when the conversation turns to more personal matters, she refuses to commit herself to seeing him again, though she is obviously tempted. Judy confronts Mr Jeffries outside court about his wife's suicide, which Sara didn't feel able to mention. She asks him if he now trying to ruin a third person's life. When the court resumes he gives evidence that Alan was depressed about his mother's death and admits his share of responsibility for both deaths. A verdict of death by misadventure is brought in and the charges against Sara are dropped. Jerry asks Bea to confirm what he's learnt from the police file about Barbara and why she would have been found in The Governor's office. In return, he tells her about the illegally stored turps, which he intends to use as the basis of a new line of defence. Judy refuses to lend Hazel money, fearing that she will only spend it on drink. Lizzie gets some marked cards from the men and involves Maxine in setting up a poker game to win some money to buy booze from the men. Lizzie deals and Maxine clears out the other women. The women are told they are going back to Wentworth that afternoon. Bea tells the women to lay off Margo, as she now has information to suggest that it wasn't entirely her fault. Val is released and thanks Colleen for keeping quiet, remarking that she'd made lots of mistakes in her life and reminding Colleen how lucky she is to have a family and a happy home life. Colleen tells Geoff she can't have dinner with him again as she values her family too much to lose them over an affair. Maxine and Lizzie sneak off to have a quick drink  but Margo follows and exposes them to the other women. Bea makes them share the booze around. sees them Hazel finds Jean's money when she searches her half of the room, so she packs up hastily and leaves the halfway house. Mr Douglas turns up at Woodridge and demands to see Chrissie and Bea immediately. Jean complains to Judy that Hazel has stolen her moeny but refuses to involve the police. Lizzie tells the women to fill their hot water bottles with the leftover booze so they can smuggle it back to Wentworth. Jerry embarrasses Ted Douglas into reducing the charges against Bea and Chrissie by threatening to bring the whole story out in court. |
EPISODE 333Broadcast on Channel 5 Sunday 09 August 1998 04:40 The women return to Wentworth and Erica invites Judy to an opening party at the prison.CREDITSMeg ~ Elspeth BallantyneJudy ~ Betty Bobbitt Lizzie ~ Sheila Florance 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 Jean ~ Carole Skinner Jerry ~ Peter Harvey-Wright Mr. Douglas ~ Ian Smith Det. Cons. Crosby ~ Jeffrey Hodgson  Ellen ~ Dawn Klingberg Customer ~ Iain Murton Shop Assistant ~ Louise Siversen  Colleen's cell allocation gives a handy list of H block inmates, though some don't seem to square with the people we see... In the official statement read by Ted Douglas, Mouse and Barbara acquire the middle names "Reylene" and "Louise", neither of which were used at their inductions in earlier episodes. | The women are taken back to Wentworth  . Jean is on the warpath about Hazel stealing her money, but Judy can't persuade her to report it to the police. The women find out there are some changes at Wentworth: the rec room is completely bare apart from a few chairs and tables, but apparently other parts of the prison, such as the laundry, are hardly damaged at all. Bea impresses on Chrissie that they musn't tell anyone about their "deal" with the police and the Department. Colleen tells the women about their new cell allocation and Erica announces that because the food truck hasn't been able to make a delivery, the women's first meal will be sandwiches. She does however give permission for the women to have a small welcome back party if they manage to finish their work early. Meg passes on Bea's idea to give Judy money from the women's wages so she can buy a few things to brighten up the rec room. Maxine improvises a pack of cards, but they are useless as they are made from paper and the faces can be seen through the backs when they are held up to the light. Bea is a bit worried when the grog starts to make the women a bit boisterous so she asks Paddy to start a scuffle as an excuse to have the women sent back to their cells earlier than usual. There they continue boozing and reminiscing about the old times: Lizzie tells Maxine about spending her compensation on helping her grandaughter get an operation, and tries to impress on Maxine not to lose contact with her family. Next morning the women are all hung over. Erica gives Colleen a rocket about her mistake over the turps and is not pleased not to have been told about the deal with Bea and Chrissie. Jean steals a camera from a shop while the assistant's back is turned, then takes a woman's handbag from her car while she's across the road in a launderette. Judy brings in soft drinks for the welcome back party as Jerry Steel arrives to negotiate with Ted Douglas over the fine detail of the deal. When Ted Douglas tries to stall, he suggests that if Ted can't make a decision without hearing from the Minister, he should phone the Minster's office and ask him. Bea and Chrissie are called to the Governor's office as Ted Douglas passes on the Minster's orders: Barbara and Mouse are to be blamed for the fire, Bea is only to be charged with the assault on Joan, and Chrissie with criminal damage. Bea accepts these terms sadly, and tells the women they should make the party a wake for Mouse and Barbara. Colleen offers her resignation but Erica won't accept it. Jean pays up and is packing to leave the halfway house when the police arrive to interview Hazel after money she'd put down as a down payment on a flat turns out to have been stolen in an armed robbery in Queensland. When the police search Hazel's room, Jean is found in possession of stolen credit cards. The welcome back party is going with a swing thanks to the booze added to some of the soft drinks bottles. Bea makes an emotional speech in memory of Barbara and Mouse. As the women's spirits are starting to lift again, they are abruptly squashed  when Joan returns to work, striding determinedly into the rec room, looking even more sinister than ever in a hospital issue neck brace  . |
EPISODE 334Broadcast on Channel 5 Tuesday 11 August 1998 04:40 Joan discovers the illicit drink which she reports to Erica.CREDITSMeg ~ Elspeth BallantyneJudy ~ Betty Bobbitt Lizzie ~ Sheila Florance 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 Jean ~ Carole Skinner Jerry ~ Peter Harvey-Wright Det. Cons. Crosby ~ Jeffrey Hodgson Visiting Justice ~ Lloyd Cunnington Heather ~ Julie Hilton  Desk Sergeant ~ Peter Black  Radio Announcer ~ Rob Maynard | Joan offers to join in the women's celebrations, for as she points out, "we've been through a lot together". Bea comments that she wishes she'd killed Joan when she had the chance, but Bea reminds her she's speaking to the person who saved her life. Bea spits in Joan's face: Joan merely wipes it away and proposes a toast to eveyone's "future", but insists on taking Lizzie's drink to do it. Having tasted it  , she announces that "the party's over" and stubs a cigarette out in the special cake Paddy has just wheeled in on a trolley  . Jean hedges when the police demand to know how to contact the "friend" whose credit card she has "borrowed". When she is left alone guarded by a single officer in her room upstairs, she waits until his back is turned then knocks him out and tries to sneak down the stairs, but she is stopped and arrested. Joan reports the illicit grog to Erica who goes to the rec room to tell the women that all privileges are suspended indefinitely. Bea has to control her reaction when Joan makes a point of going to her cell to remove the kettle. Joan overhears the secretary Heather taking a call about the VJ's hearing next day and promises to pass the date on to Bea and Chrissie so they can inform their solicitor. Jean is charged, but once again refuses to be fingerprinted, as she hasn't been convicted. Meg remarks that she can't understand how the women got hold of it: Joan suggests that the obvious person to suspect would be Judy, as she brough the soft drinks bottles in. Judy is puzzled when Erica phones her at the halfway house with a frosty request for Judy to come to see her next day. She takes in a radio for the women, but Meg tells her that they're unlikely to be allowed to have it as they've lost all priveleges. From Judy's obvious surprise, Meg concludes that Judy knew nothing about the booze, so while Judy is being interviewed, Meg goes to the laundry and invites the women to confess to save Judy's parole. Erica is outraged by Judy's insistence that the bottles must have been tampered with inside the prison, but Lizzie saves the day by owning up to smuggling the booze in. Lizzie loses her priveleges for a month, but is more upset that she was forced to lag on the men from Woodridge. Jean arrives at Wentworth: Joan eyes her suspiciously as if she recognises her  , but she's only noted Jean's obvious wig, which she demands is removed and handed over. Colleen complains to Erica that Joan has come back to work too soon and is frankly surprised to see her back at work at all. Erica points out that Colleen was a party to the deal with Bea and Chrissie which effectively rules out any further investigation into Joan's conduct before and during the fire. She adds that it was Colleen who supervised the transfer and allowed the grog in: by comparison Joan has a clean record and is regarded as exemplary by the Department. Joan "remembers" to tell Chrissie and Bea about the VJ's hearing when it is too late for them to phone their solicitor. Meg backs up Joan's claim that they have no right to phone calls even on legal matters, but points out that their solicitor does have the right to be informed of the hearing, even if not by them. Joan claims that she was just about to do that and will phone him at home. The VJ arrives: Meg has called Bea's solicitor anonymously to make sure he turns up. Bea's charge is heard first: her solicitor enters a plea of not guilty, even though Bea has admitted responsibility in a statement to the police. His argument is that Bea acted in self-defence. Meg makes snide remarks to Meg about her concern for the women's welfare and points out that it stops short of helping Bea by giving evidence about Joan. The VJ dismisses the evidence about the diaries, as no-one can corroborate their existence, and there is no independent witness of any misconduct on Joan's part. Meg interrupts the hearing and puts forward her view of Joan's behaviour and attitudes. Consequently, Bea is given an extra two years, but concurrently with her present sentence. Joan challenges Meg with having a strange view of "solidarity", but Meg tells her not to waste time threatening her, and instead to resign before she's kicked out.~ ~ ~ The ages read out on the radio for Barbara (23) and Mouse (19) are rather implausible... When Bea's solicitor "signs in", it is clearly into a standard desk appointment diary: it has the month NOVEMBER visible at the top The uncredited uniformed poilceman at the station looks remarkably unmoved in Nola's presence The flashbacks during Bea's hearing include this brief high angled shot |
EPISODE 335Broadcast on Channel 5 Wednesday 12 August 1998 04:40 There is a hint of discomfort among the officers with Meg at the centre of it. Judy's sister arrives from America.CREDITSMeg ~ Elspeth BallantyneJudy ~ Betty Bobbitt Lizzie ~ Sheila Florance 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 Jean ~ Carole Skinner Hazel ~ Belinda Davey Det. Sgt. Tanner ~ Peter Paulsen  Frances ~ Barbara Ramsay  Detective Constable ~ Jeffrey Hodgson Ellen ~ Dawn Klingberg Nola's mugshot replaces Judy's in the opening credits. Perhaps they belatedly realised that Judy stopped being a prisoner well before her mugshot was included! | Chrissie gets three months and Margo claims the credit for making Meg give evidence. Colleen dismisses Meg's assumption that Joan will now be investigated: he was only giving Bea and Chrissie the benefit of the doubt and although he will be maing a report, it isn't likely to implicate Joan. Joan is champing at the bit to have more rules enforced and gives as an example the "no communication" rule, where officers only speak to prisoners to give orders. Colleen picks up on Joan's casual remark "if I were Deputy Governor" and reminds her bluntly that she isn't, and so Joan will just have to take orders from her. Margo doesn't believe Jean's claim that it is her first time inside. Erica tells the officers that a new points system will be introduced as an incentive for good behaviour: each woman will get one point a day for good behaviour, but will lose five points if put on a charge. When the women earn 1,000 points, for instance, they could have a television: Erica claims the whole prison could earn this many points in under three weeks (which implies that there are round about 46 prisoners in total ?!). Joan suggests the officers could take off one point for minor infringements of rules. Colleen is keen to rub Meg's nose in it for siding with the women, so picks up Joan's suggestion that the no communication rule should be enforced. Erica is in "tough" mode, so she agrees to the suggestion. When the women hear about the scheme, they are stolidly unimpressed, even when Erica offers to start them off at 200 points. As they aren't suitably grateful, she withdraws the offer and tells them they will start at zero. Bea cynically comments that this shows the whole point of the scheme is to make a gesture of giving them something only so there is something to be taken away again. Colleen and Meg eat lunch in silence, until Colleen tries to break the ice and Meg responds by listing the subjects they can no longer talk about, sarcastically suggesting that Colleen talks about her family. Colleen says that all isn't rosy on that front either, and the reason she's keen to avoid trouble is thats he's worried about the financial implications if Patrick loses his job, as seems likely to happen. Bea tries to get Nola to talk about herself, but Nola says she only wants to be left alone until she's released. Erica senses Meg's contempt for the points scheme when she asks her to draw up the charts. Bea hints to Meg that it was Margo who threw the Molotov cocktail and that the police know it. When Erica is informed, she refuses to re-open the case. Meg grudgingly explains the points charts to the women and tells them there's no point changing it as a duplicate count will be kept in the Governor's office. Bea makes a mildly critical remark and Joan takes a point off. Jean is a bit worried when Margo remarks that her fingerprints will be put on the police computer and when she asks whether it covers other states, Margo expansively claims it covers "the rest of the world" (as if!). Meg tries to convince Erica that the women's knowledge of a coverup and Margo getting away with starting the fire will not do any good for their credibility. Erica still refuses to have the investigation re-opened and suggests they will just have to deal with it in their own way. Consequently. Margo is taken out of the dining room in front of the other women  to be taken somewhere unspecified ... possibly solitary? [But wherever it is, it's the last we see of Margo until episode (442)] Hazel phones Judy from a police station, having been arrested for passing stolen money. The women use some of their points to buy the use of ball and net to play volleyball. DS Tanner gets Hazel to sign a statement while she's still drunk, without getting legal advice and even though he has a description of the bank robber faxed from Western Australia that doesn't fit her. He sends the constable out of the room and adds a sentence to the signed statement to make it a confession to the bank job. Joan orders Lizzie to take off her cardigan as it's not part of the regulation uniform. Judy is surprised when her sister Frances arrives at the halfway house on a visit from the States.~ ~ ~ When Meg and Colleen are discussing involvement with prisoners, there are name checks for Susie Driscoll, Carol Lewis, Hannah Simpson, Sandy Edwards and Myra Desmond. The names on the points charts on the rec room noticeboard bear little resemblance to the known inmates of H block. Although the lower chart |
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