EPISODE 526Broadcast on Meridian Tuesday 18th November 1997 23:40; Channel 5 Saturday 10 July 1999 04:40. Lou's plan against Jan fails. Dennis discovers he is suspected of murder. Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Judy ~ Betty Bobbitt Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Myra ~ Anne Phelan Dennis ~ Nigel Bradshaw Marlene ~ Genevieve Lemon Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Sheila ~ Colleen Hewett Janice ~ Jenny Ludlam Ettie ~ Lois Ramsay Matt ~ Peter Bensley Geoff ~ Les Dayman Frank ~ Trevor Kent Lou ~ Louise Siversen Anita ~ Diane Craig  Alice ~ Lois Collinder Mervin ~ Ernie Bourne Andrew Fry ~ Howard Bell Shane Munroe ~ Robert Summers Det. Insp. Grace ~ Terry Gill Det Andrews ~ Peter Sinclair  [L]Det Smythe ~ Mal Billings [R]Cinema Manager ~ David Bergin  Cashier ~ Lisa Green  Young girl ~ Nadine Garner  Yobbo ~ Tibor Gyapjas  Drunken Hero ~ Keith Kay  [R]Drunken Mate ~ Ric Hurst [L] | ... but when she can't, Joan realises something is wrong, and makes Lou eat the soup herself to prove it hasn't been tampered with. Dennis suggests that Joan must have got someone at Blackmoor to heavy Reb. Joyce wistfully makes an allusion to "Norm" to let us know they are no longer together. Myra tells Alice she'll give her another chance so long as she stays away from Lou. Joan stands over Lou gloating as she pukes up her guts. Dennis stops his car in the pouring rain to give a young girl hitchhiker a lift. Lexie enlists Alice to take part in a poker school with the other blocks during exercise period. Joyce gives tap dancing classes for the women ("shuffle, hop, spring, brush, step, step"). Ettie goes to the cinema and is confused by the choice in a two screen complex. Sheila sings "Pixie's song", once more, with feeling. Frank is rebuffed when he asks Myra to take part in his deals. While helping to decorate her new flat, Dennis asks Meg to hold his ladder then gives her a kiss. Meg suggests they should go on being friends and see what happens. Joan finds Joyce practising her tap routine, but keeps quiet about her own dancing prowess [to be revealed in episode (604)]. Sheila gives Judy her guitar to look after until she gets back. Meg is called to the cinema after Ettie leaves noisily complaining about sex and nudity in the films. Joyce finds Mervin putting in extra practice in the kitchen, but Joyce delicately implies there is not much need to know how to do a souffle in a prison. Meg arrives home to find that Ettie has invited two drunks back to her house on the grounds that they are war heroes. Ettie proudly shows Meg the newspaper headline about her: "PRISONER PAID $250million TO KEEP QUIET"  . Ann refuses to take the blame for the Department's mistakes, but talking tough to the creepy Mr Fry only seems to activate his gonads. Joan calls Dennis and Meg a bunch of sanctimonious hypocrites for trying to get rid of her. Mervin offers to do the cake for Marlene's wedding. Lexie persuades Marlene to play a joke on Mervin by putting liver salts in the sugar bowl. Anita Selby arrives as a new prisoner on a six week sentence. She asks to share with Lou when she hears that she's a hard case, saying her job is to help people like that. Mervin tells the women he's put the kitchen sugar bowl on Mrs Reynolds tray and dashes off, but is too late to prevent a fizzy accident  . Lou meets her new cell mate and sneers at her when she finds her Bible. Mervin proves he's an OK bloke by taking the blame for the liver salts incident. Joan tells the women that Sheila got probation and isn't coming back. Myra remembers who Anita is, but agrees to keep her identity secret. Dennis is taken in for questioning after the hitchhiker he gave a lift to is found murdered. Frank molests Anita and rips open her blouse, revealing a crucifix  : when he sneers at her for being a "religious crank", she replies that she's a nun. Shane runs away from the Taylors again and seeks refuge with Joan: she turns him away. Inspector Grace tells Dennis he looks a strong suspect on the (highly circumstantial?) evidence that the series of six (!) murders started one week after Dennis arrived back in Melbourne on March 12th coupled with his own admission that he had given the last victim a lift in his car.
I vote this episode among the Top Ten Worst Ever - apart from the classic "I'm a nun" scene. The manager claims that his cinema only shows "first run" films - and indeed both "Top Secret!" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" date from 1984. Perhaps this was a real cinema? Ettie tries to butter up Meg by cooking breakfast |
EPISODE 527Broadcast on Meridian Tuesday 25th November 1997 23:40; Channel 5 Sunday 11 July 1999 04:45. The wedding dresses arrive. Lou slaps Anita. Alice and Lexie pour alcohol into Janice.Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Judy ~ Betty Bobbitt Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Myra ~ Anne Phelan Dennis ~ Nigel Bradshaw Marlene ~ Genevieve Lemon Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Janice ~ Jenny Ludlam Ettie ~ Lois Ramsay Lou ~ Louise Siversen Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Matt ~ Peter Bensley Geoff ~ Les Dayman Frank ~ Trevor Kent Anita ~ Diane Craig Bob Taylor ~ Trevor Donovan Marnie Taylor ~ Joy Dunstan Shane Munroe ~ Robert Summers Mrs Warren ~ Eve Godly Alice ~ Lois Collinder Constable ~ Peter Howard  Plain Clothes Policeman ~ Bill Fozz  Kid No 1 ~ Nicholas Brennan  or  Kid No 2 ~ Scott Hailes Kid No 3 ~ Tim Nelson Kid No 4 ~ Cameron Kermaghan Peter ~ Colin Vancao  Cafe Owner ~ Luigi Cengarle  Taxi Driver ~ Jack Mobbs  | Anita comes back to the laundry in distress. Myra explains to Anita that they can't lag on Frank, but they will sort Frank out their own way. Dennis fails to turn up for work, and Meg has to do a double shift to cover for an absent Officer Brown. Joan goes to see the Taylors, and tells them she sent Shane away: she explains she hasn't been in touch because her father died. Meanwhile, Shane is hanging around the deserted funfair [cue clips from episode (468)]. Myra tells the women she's promised the Governor that Jan will come to no harm, so they will send her to Coventry and no more. Frank returns to the rec room and makes a comment about Anita being a nun, so Anita explains that she is in prison for refusing to pay a fine imposed after her arrest at a nuclear disarmament rally. Dennis tells Meg he is under suspicion of murder and his car has been impounded for forensic tests. The police start the search for Shane and Joan gives them the information about what he was wearing and where he might have gone. Geoff teases Frank that he couldn't go ahead with his attack on Anita because he's Irish and afraid of going to hell. Anita finds her Bible ripped to shreds by Lou. Shane goes to a snack bar and is saved from a group of kids by a kind stranger, who takes him home and shows him some "artistic" photos... Shane tries to leave and has to throw a pan of boiling milk in his face to escape. Joan and the Taylors go to search the place where Shane was taken fishing with the Major. Meg is woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of Ettie putting up the Xmas decorations  : she knows it isn't the right time of year but wanted one of her own. After being given an expensive watch and hearing that Ettie had given a couple ten thousand for a "heart operation", Meg decides to take charge of Ettie's finances. Shane is found. Jan gets out of the infirmary and is ignored by the women. Joan visits Shane in hospital, and says goodbye to him. Dennis intends to show Inspector Grace the work rosters as his alibi. Joan is sceptical about the wedding and reminds the staff what happened at the fete. Anita offers to talk to Joan to help her with her grief, but is rebuffed. Inspector Grace won't accept the rosters as proof, as they don't actually rule him of out committing any of the murders. Lexie and Alice are making money on their poker schools in other blocks. Alice seeks Lexie's support to put pressure on Myra to do something more practical about Jan. Despite Myra's warning, Anita goes to sit at Jan's table in the dining room and tastes her food for her as she is still scared about being poisoned by Lou. Myra refuses Alice's demand that she bashes Jan. Dennis is followed home by the police. Mrs Warren brings the dresses for the wedding, but Joan refuses to let her see Marlene trying them on. Alice is disgusted with Myra's refusal to do anything against Jan and gets Lexie to help her. Dennis asks the driver who's following him to give him a lift to work. Lou slaps Anita twice and taunts her to hit her back, and is unsettled when she refuses. Alice and Lexie force Jan to drink grain alcohol.
Thanks to Leo and Louise, who both pointed out that the Get Well Soon card from Tracey The shot of Judy playing the pianola |
EPISODE 528Broadcast on Meridian Tuesday 2nd December 1997 23:40; Channel 5 Saturday 17 July 1999 04:40. Joan cuts off Lexie's hair after an argument. Dennis is charged with murder, and Ettie tells Ann she doesn't want to go to a retirement village.Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Judy ~ Betty Bobbitt Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Myra ~ Anne Phelan Dennis ~ Nigel Bradshaw Marlene ~ Genevieve Lemon Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Anita ~ Diane Craig Janice ~ Jenny Ludlam Ettie ~ Lois Ramsay Matt ~ Peter Bensley Geoff ~ Les Dayman Frank ~ Trevor Kent Lou ~ Louise Siversen Alice ~ Lois Collinder Dr Stanton ~ Howard Priddle  Salesman ~ Paul Makin  Det. Insp. Grace ~ Terry Gill Det Andrews ~ Peter Sinclair Det Mullins ~ Roger Nolan  | Marlene is too big for the wedding dresses and splits the seam of the first one she tries on. Ettie misunderstands and starts to pack for her move, assuming Meg is coming with her. Anita wants to check on Jan, but the women hear a horrible scream and find Jan climbing the walls with her hands bleeding from being scraped on the brickwork. As the women discuss who could have done such a cruel thing, Lexie shows too much anxiety and Alice's complaint that Myra wasn't doing enough to punish a lagger leads her to admit their guilt. Anita tells them she's worked with alcoholics and knows what will happen to Jan, though it must have been in the middle of the nineteenth century from the "treatment" she describes. Marlene asks Anita how to get forgiveness for the accident she caused: she suggests that Marlene writes a letter to the parents of the man who died. Myra and Geoff choose an odd location (the toilet block) to discuss their future after Geoff is released. Lou manages to provoke Anita to raise a hand to strike her by implying that as she's a nun she must be a lesbian. Dennis helps Meg with the proper packing for her move. Marlene dreams of her wedding dress  falling apart  and when she wakes up shrieking it makes her resolve to lose weight. Myra mends the real torn wedding dress in the laundry, but sews a denim piece into it by mistake. Meg sends for some brochures about retirement villages as a strong hint to Ettie. Joan finds Lexie counting her gambling take, and takes her to the Governor. She loses buyup for two weeks. Lexie makes a slightly unwise remark about Joan's father, which makes Joan slam her into a wall  and tell her she's going to regret saying it. Lou points out a piece in the paper about Anita saying she has "divided Church opinion": Anita blames the stupidity of the men who run the Church. Meg is pestered by a vacuum cleaner salesman booked by Ettie. When she finds out Jan is in hospital, Ettie asks if she can visit. Anita sermonises further about nuclear weapons. Marlene offers to let Lexie have her buyup as she's on a diet. After snapping at her earlier for even asking, Joan gives Anita her nuclear disarmament pamphlets as an excuse to hover around until Anita senses she wants to talk about her personal problems. Ettie is upset to see Jan under restraint and sedated and offers to pay for treatment for her in a private sanatorium. The police find damning forensic evidence in Dennis' car, including some smudged fingerprints  that look like the second victim's. Lexie goes to recover some scissors from her cell, but when she answers Joan back, she uses them to cut off her locks  after washing off her makeup. Ettie visits Ann to ask for permission to return the rest of the money and come back to live in Wentworth. The women are suspicious of Lexie's claim that she cut her own hair as she wanted a change of image. Marlene reads Anita the letter she has written to the parents of the man whose death she caused. Ann makes Dennis take leave as his work is suffering. Inspector Grace arrives at Wentworth to see Dennis and tells him he is to be charged with murder.
Anita appears to be reading "The Elephant Man" in the rec room. |
EPISODE 529Broadcast on Meridian Tuesday 09 December 1997 23:40; Channel 5 Sunday 18 July 1999 04:45. Anita tells Myra that she can't bear to contemplate life outside her order. A defiant Dennis protests his innocence in front of an angry mob, but later cries in Meg's arms when he reveals his beating.Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Judy ~ Betty Bobbitt Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Myra ~ Anne Phelan Dennis ~ Nigel Bradshaw Marlene ~ Genevieve Lemon Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Anita ~ Diane Craig Lou ~ Louise Siversen Alice ~ Lois Collinder Matt ~ Peter Bensley Geoff ~ Les Dayman Frank ~ Trevor Kent Det Insp Grace ~ Terry Gill Mother Mary Helen Sexton ~ Carmel Millhouse  Rex Doyle ~ Kirk Alexander  Detective ~ Gerard Matte Desk Officer ~ Bob Halsall  Uniformed Policeman No 1 ~ Steve Hutchinson  [L]Uniformed Policeman No 2 ~ Ian Cuming [R]Neighbour ~ Ron Little  Newsman ~ Ian Gilbert  Woman No 1 ~ Rosemary Barnes  Woman No 2 ~ Irene Hewitt Man ~ Malcolm Sim  (?)Elderly Gent ~ James Clarke Youth ~ Jeff Kovski Bartender ~ Rob Constable  Customer ~ Neville Stonehouse  | Marlene decides to skip dinner after using the scales her mother brought in for her. Joan appears to believe in Dennis's guilt, and even Joyce is dubious that Inspector Grace would have charged Dennis without some evidence (but of course that is exactly what he has done). Inspector Grace puts pressure on Dennis to confess and shows him a pair of tights that were found stuffed down the back seat of his car. [Incidentally, the writers never bother to attempt any explanation of how they got there, or whose tights they are...] Ann is concerned that the Department seem to be more worried about their image than the welfare of their staff: she asks Meg to take Dennis some civilian clothes so he doesn't have to appear in court in uniform. Myra makes Alice give her buyup back to the women to share amongst themselves. Dennis is fingerprinted, has his mugshot done  and is locked up in a police cell. Meg has to tell Ettie she isn't going back to Wentworth and will have to start looking to the future. Dennis' solicitor appears to think that it's his job to prove that Dennis is innocent and is very doubtful that he can do so. Lexie remembers Myra's orders and refuses to share her buyup with Alice. Meg agrees to stand bail for Dennis and his solicitor thinks he might be able to argue that Dennis should not be sent to prison on remand due to his occupation. Marlene breaks her diet by munching on a few goodies from Lexie's locker. Anita's Mother Superior visits her (with a silent nun in tow - possibly her bodyguard?) and tells her she has written to the Pope to have her expelled from the order for her political activities and also because she is suspected of having an affair with a male peace worker. Ann orders the papers censored and the television removed so they don't find out about Dennis, and that none of the women are to be allowed telephone calls. Dennis is bailed out, but Ann tells him he is suspended from duty. Myra is down on Lexie for not paying up her debts. While Joyce is on the phone, Lexie takes a uncensored newspaper from the bin in the staff room  and also solves her cash flow problem by stealing Joyce's purse from her bag. Myra asks Joan if Dennis has been charged with the murder, and she can't even be bothered to ask them how they found out and sneers that he'll be too busy to be coming back to work. Ann decides to tell them women about Dennis, but Joan delights in pointing out that the women already know. Dennis is harassed by reporters  and neighbours and when someone throws a brick through his window he goes out to confront the mob outside his flat. Anita tells Myra she can't just give up her vocation and carry on her anti-nuclear campaigning, as it is the most important thing for her. Marlene comes over all religious under Anita's influence. Dennis is recognised by a customer in a bar: the barman asks him to leave. Lexie catches Marlene thieving her biscuits in the middle of the night. Dennis seeks refuge with Meg after the customers in the bar beat him up.
This episode was the subject of a memorable review by Nancy Banks-Smith in the Guardian on its showing on Carlton in 1996. |
EPISODE 530Broadcast on Meridian Tuesday 16 December 1997 23:40: Channel 5 Saturday 24 July 1999 04:40. Myra decides that she had better get to the kitchen and warn Merv about the diet. Ettie says goodbye to Meg but decides to stay at the retirement village. Joan is left unconscious after Frank attacks her.Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Judy ~ Betty Bobbitt Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Myra ~ Anne Phelan Dennis ~ Nigel Bradshaw Marlene ~ Genevieve Lemon Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Anita ~ Diane Craig Ettie ~ Lois Ramsay Lou ~ Louise Siversen Matt ~ Peter Bensley Geoff ~ Les Dayman Frank ~ Trevor Kent Det Insp Grace ~ Terry Gill Detective ~ Mal Billings  Officer Hagen ~ Christine Andrew Joe Walters ~ John Quinn  Mr Askin ~ Telford Jackson Mrs Helen Earl ~ Marnie Randall  Sadie Grimshaw ~ Helen Jacoby  Harry Wilson ~ Max Davidson  UNCREDITEDOfficer Ward ~ Jacqui Jackson | Dennis feels a little better after a night at Meg's and from Meg's shifty reaction when Ettie asks him if he slept well on the couch, it seems there may have been a bit of physical "consolation" going on. Myra decides to tease Marlene into sticking with her diet and later sends her off to do the laundry pickup for a bit of exercise. Inspector Grace arrests Dennis for another murder committed last night. Ann agrees to arrange some lighting in Geoff's cell to help him with his studies but tell him he may be released before his exams as parole hearings will be heard at the end of the week. Joan asks the women if they have seen her purse, though she is quite careful to point out she isn't accusing anyone. Meg takes Ettie to see a retirement village and is introduced to Sadie. Myra suspects Lexie of stealing Joyce's purse. Anita assures Marlene she doesn't have to promise to "obey" at her marriage service if she doesn't want to. Dennis is told he's in the clear when the time of death of the latest victim is established: he was in court at the time. This also gets him off the hook for the other murders, but he isn't very impressed by Inspector Grace's grudging apology. Myra lets Lexie know she suspects her. Anita gets a visit from Joe, a fellow peace worker: he asks her what would be so wrong if they had been having an affair. Ann advises Dennis to take a holiday, but he is keen to return to work as soon as possible. Ettie moves into the retirement village with Sadie to see whether she likes it. In a clever little touch, "Pixie's song" is also playing quietly in the background at Meg's house, and continues without a break as the scene changes to the laundry. Judy hears "Shelly" Brady singing "Pixie's Song" ("whatever that means" as the DJ comments) on the radio in the laundry, and rings the station to complain and get the name of the recording company. Myra makes Lexie return Joyce's purse. Ann suggests that Judy should find out if Sheila is deliberately trying to defraud her or not, and gives her permission to phone the record company as well. Joan puts Frank on a charge in the dining room, then adds another for insubordination. The women arrange for Joyce to find her purse stuffed in the pocket of the billiard table. Meg, Dennis and Ettie hold a celebration dinner party. Myra gets permission to give Marlene an impromptu "Turkish bath" in the shower block. Geoff tells Myra about his parole. Lou teases Anita about her "boyfriend". Frank letches after Lexie but suggests he would get back at Joan for her in return for sex with Lexie. As she admits she isn't very interested in sex anyway, she lets Frank have his way. Ann tells Judy that "Shelly" claims to have written the song in Wentworth, so Judy wants to contact her lawyer. Ettie gives Meg another watch as a thank you present. Judy's solicitor Mr Askin tries to explain how hard it will be to prove her authorship, but he advises her not to proceed or risk losing thousands of dollars. She tells him to go ahead with it no matter how much it costs her. Frank traps Joan in the library  , knocks her out and topples a heavy bookcase onto her.
Jacko seems to have been given a lovely honey blonde tint. During the scene between Frank and Geoff in the dining room, someone can be heard sneezing very loudly. |
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