EPISODE 536Broadcast on Meridian Tuesday 10 March 1998 23:40; Channel 5 Saturday 14 August 1999 04:40. Anita confesses to Joan and bids farewell to a hostile counterpart. Merv thinks his luck is in but discovers that Joyce is horribly confused. Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Myra ~ Anne Phelan Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Dennis ~ Nigel Bradshaw Anita ~ Diane Craig Lou ~ Louise Siversen Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Alice ~ Lois Collinder Mervin ~ Ernie Bourne Ruth ~ Mary Murphy Tammy ~ Gloria Ajenstat Nursing Sister ~ Sarah Ryan  Ruth and Tammy seem to be credited purely for a bit of wordless mucking around in the kitchen. | Lexie tells Myra the women are waiting to see what she will do about Anita for lagging. No-one can get in contact with Joan, and Ann suggests they try phoning the hospitals. Anita talks to the women through the laundry gate before her release: she pleads with them to understand her motives, but Myra tells her they can't forgive her and points out the hypocrisy of allowing the Church to pay her bail. Joan comes round after the operation and refuses to see Ann or anyone else from the Department. Joyce is pre-occupied with her own problems with Norm and confesses to Meg she is bored with him. Dennis lets Myra know he is disgusted with her for using Joan's illness against her: Myra replies she would do the same again any time. To start off the flood of flashbacks, Myra tells Lexie about Meg, who she knew when she was inside before the start of the series. Myra mentions Franky Doyle coming along after she left, leading to a flashback to the riot and Bill Jackson's murder (3) and a scene of Meg at home after the murder (4). Anita visits Joan in hospital and Joan tells her she can't see her getting her job back. Anita asks Joan that if she does return to Wenwtorth she should try to help the women. In the rec room the women reminisce: Lou mentions Vera and her nickname given to her by Franky - though the clip from (1) seems to contradict that, as Franky maliciously says the nickname was Bea's idea. Alice and Lou lead the reminiscences which take in further clips of Joan's body search on Paddy Lawson (323), Jock Stewart telling Judy exactly how he killed Sharon (119), Judy's final revenge on Jock (258). Joyce has to tell Mervin she can't stay for supper. The reminiscences continue with Franky wrecking the rec room and shouting to Doreen from solitary (1), Karen teaching Franky to read (12), Franky's death (20), Lizzie getting drunk on Joan's miniatures (288?), the pantomime and the escape (165), Lizzie collecting for the Salvation Army (111), Bea burning Lyn's hand in the press (1), Bea visiting Debbie's grave and shooting her husband (2), Bea explaining to Maxine why she bashed her (351), Bea's final confrontation with Joan and her final scene (400). Myra tells the women she went to see Bea few times in Barnhurst and she asked about all of them - even Lou Kelly. All this is to mark the end of an era: Ann is told there has been a riot and a fire at Barnhurst and prisoners are being transferred to other prisons. When Meg asks if anyone was hurt, Ann tells her that Vera is in hospital and Bea has died in the fire trying to stop the riot.
Thanks to Leo for pointing out I had Jock "Murray" originally... (whoops) and identifying the episode number for one of the flashbacks. Myra says that Bill Jackson was the "prison shrink" - maybe this is the source of one of Terry Bourke's mistakes? Myra also says that Franky and Doreen tried to hold up a bank, but in fact it was a hardware store. Lou and Alice appear to have been in Wentworth much longer than we realise: Lou even claims to have helped dig the escape tunnel. |
EPISODE 537Broadcast on Meridian Tuesday 17 March 1998 23:45; Channel 5 Sunday 15 August 1999 04:40. Ann enforces a security clampdown, Myra and Lou clash over top-dog position, and an immediate cell-search is announced.Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Myra ~ Anne Phelan Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Dennis ~ Nigel Bradshaw Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Lou ~ Louise Siversen Willie ~ Kirsty Child  May ~ Billie Hammerberg  Daphne ~ Debra Lawrence  Nora ~ Sonja Tallis  Julie ~ Jackie Woodburne  Mervin ~ Ernie Bourne Alice ~ Lois Collinder Andrew Fry ~ Howard Bell Pat Slattery ~ Dorothy Cutts Kath Deakin ~ Michele Sargent Barnhurst Officer ~ Lorraine Kindler  Nurse 1 ~ Gaytana Adorna  Nurse 2 ~ Christine Lucas  The actual credit for Dennis is Nigel "Breadshaw" (thanks, Leo). | Myra and Lexie are both missing their cellmates. Ann leaves a note for Joan at the hospital to let her know about her reinstatement when Joan still refuses to see her. Lou warns the women not to count on Myra to save them from Joan when she returns and admits she is angling for top dog. Eight women arrive transferred from Barnhurst. Five of them are lodged in H block:- Willie (Wilhelmina) Beecham, May Collins, Nora Flynn, Julie Egbert and Daphne Graham. Ann corrects Meg sharply when she hopes Myra can sort them out. The newcomers promptly establish their characters: May and Willie bicker like an old married couple, Julie's shyness and the laugh that suggested her nickname "Chook". The women ignore Myra in the laundry and Lou tells Myra the women want a change of top dog. Ann addresses the new arrivals  and warns them not to flaunt their buyup as the others in H block have lost theirs. Willie and May are disappointed not to be sharing, and persuade Joyce to change the allocation. Julie is put to share with Lexie and finds her so overpowering she can hardly speak. Meg tells Dennis that might have to watch Nora as she had escaped recently and been on the run for 3 months. She is suspected of trying to kill a baby in the maternity wing of Barnhurst. Andrew Fry visits Joan in hospital to tell her she is to be reinstated, but she won't accept immediately and tells him she'll think about it. May tells the women in the rec room that Bea is dead. Nora is sharing a cell with Myra: she tells Myra she is in prison for killing three hitchhikers and has already served 23 years since she was 19 (though she also says 18). Ann imposes tighter security and tells the officers they are to put anyone on report if they are out of their allocated areas without an excuse. Myra stands up to Lou when she bullies Julie. May tells Ann about Daphne's "moods", and suggests she be allowed to work in the garden. May puts her weight behind Myra after seeing how she stuck up for Julie. Lou finds Daphne talking to her plants. Willie bursts into tears when Daphne talks about the plants which did not survive the fire, especially Fanny her philodendron. May announces in public that she isn't challenging Myra for top dog position. Mervin confesses he has loved Joyce "ever since that first night when you caught me practicing my souffles". Lou torments Daphne by throwing her plants on the floor. The women see a TV report on the arrest of Ruth Ballinger at the airport. Julie hastily hides a maths textbook she's reading  when Lexie comes into their cell. Joyce tells Meg she's decided to move out for a while to get away from living with Norm. Ann tells off Officer Slattery for letting the women leave the dining room without a cutlery count and calls for a random cell search.
The Barnhurst women sent to other blocks are "Jane Coulter, Nancy Groob and Fay Osicka". One of the paintings in the staff room has been changed. |
EPISODE 538Broadcast on Meridian Tuesday 24 March 1998 23:40 Ann continues to throw her weight around and make things tough for the new inmates and staff, Myra and Lou continue to struggle for top-dog position and a new arrival at Wentworth proves impressive.Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Myra ~ Anne Phelan Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Dennis ~ Nigel Bradshaw Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Lou ~ Louise Siversen Willie ~ Kirsty Child Ruth ~ Lindy Davies May ~ Billie Hammerberg Daphne ~ Debra Lawrence Nora ~ Sonja Tallis Julie ~ Jackie Woodburne Kath ~ Michele Sargent Mervin ~ Ernie Bourne Andrew Fry ~ Howard Bell Pat Slattery ~ Dorothy Cutts Federal Cop No. 1 ~ Scott Lucy  Federal Cop No. 2 ~ Chris Hallam  Di Hagen ~ Christine Andrew Wentworth Mother ~ Estee Naylor  Barnhurst Officer ~ Andrea Swift  Barnhurst Mother ~ Lyn-Marie Smith  Sister Vaughan ~ Peggy Rush  Dr Leary ~ Paul Wentford Tracy ~ Hollie Woeller Sister ~ Lily Steiner  Nurse ~ Glenda Walsh  Nurse ~ Jessica Norton  | Ann supervises the cell search and tells Joyce to confiscate a couple of items from Willie's pile of junk. Joan is eager to leave the hospital but the doctor insists she will have to stay there for two weeks. Ann shows the officers a collection of potentially dangerous items recovered in the search  and warns them to follow procedures in future. The women speculate about the search: Lou says it means the Governor has "dumped" Myra. A mother in maternity panics when Nora picks up her baby, saying that she's heard Nora killed a baby at Barnhurst. Ann forbids Nora from working in the maternity wing, but doesn't punish her otherwise. Officer Slattery leads the whingeing about the staffing levels being inadequate to enforce the security clampdown, but no-one supports her. Joan meets a little girl called Tracey in hospital (who looks like she could be Shane's little sister  ), and reassures her about her operation. Lexie is humilated when Julie easily beats her at cards (at blackjack, I think) to the accompaniment of Western saloon style steel guitar music. Andrew Fry tells Ann he's given Joan a stern lecture and she will return to duty as soon as the doctors clear her. However, he has really come to Wentworth to discuss Ruth Ballinger: he insists she must be given special treatment, as the Federal police will be questioning her to get information on her husband's drug empire. Nora has a flashback to the incident in Barnhurst, and how she took the blame when trying to stop another prisoner Josie killing her own baby. Joan stays with Tracy while she is prepared for her operation. Daphne gets agitated when May and Willie have a bickering session and runs out of the rec room: May hopes she's not getting into one of her "states". Ruth arrives  with the Federal police, and entrusts her mink and jewellery to Joyce. May shows Daphne the scars on her arms from her previous attempts to harm herself. Ann asks the officers for ideas for activities for the women and Dennis suggests he could run a general knowledge quiz as he did in borstal. Nora grabs Lou by the throat when Lou taunts her, rather undermining her argument that her murders were a long time in the past. Daphne steals a thermometer from the infirmary when she is examined by the nurse. Julie is the first to meet Ruth when she is sent on a laundry pickup and after finding out some of names of the other women she gets Julie to tell her she is inside for five years for stealing money to help her mother. When she returns to see how Tracey got on, Joan is told the little girl did not survive her operation. Ruth is unhappy with her accommodation and demands a larger cell, a double bed and new furniture. When Ann objects, Ruth suggests she should contact the Federal police. Daphne cuts her arms with the broken thermometer, but Julie finds her in time and goes to fetch Nora. Joan discharges herself early from hospital, telling the doctor she has seen the proof that you can die as easily in hospital as at home. Lou is scornful of the classes offered when she reads the notice in the rec room. [She must have developed psychic powers as she can tell who is giving the classes, though the notice - which gets its own closeup  - merely gives a list of the subjects] Ruth holds court in the rec room, though Myra is stolidly unimpressed. Lou works out there will be a cell search for the missing thermometer and later in the dining room she distracts Joyce during the cutlery count while Kath steals a knife. Sister Vaughan reports the thermometer missing, followed by Dennis reporting the theft of the knife. Joyce tells Mervin she wasn't offended by his declaration of love, and gives him a flustered kiss  . During the cell search, the knife is found in Myra's mattress: she is sent to solitary for 24 hours.
The percentage of the worldwide drugs trade supposedly controlled by Arnold Ballinger has dropped from 95% in the last episode to a not much less absurd 80% here. The backgrounder inducted as Mary Vaughan is called "Jill" |
EPISODE 539Broadcast on Meridian Tuesday 31 March 1998 23:40 Ruth sees a way of using the women's friendship to her advantage and is given the go-ahead from her lawyer to turn informer on selected criminals. Anne tries to help Daphne, who sinks further into depression and hurts herself.Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Dennis ~ Nigel Bradshaw Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Lou ~ Louise Siversen Willie ~ Kirsty Child Ruth ~ Lindy Davies May ~ Billie Hammerberg Daphne ~ Debra Lawrance Ettie ~ Lois Ramsay Nora ~ Sonja Tallis Julie ~ Jackie Woodburne Alice ~ Lois Collinder Andrew Fry ~ Howard Bell Pat Slattery ~ Dorothy Cutts George Costello ~ Peter Stratford  Sadie Grimshaw ~ Helene Jacoby Delivery Man No 1 ~ Michael Brooks  Delivery Man No 2 ~ Terry Brittingham Lexie is removed from the mugshot credits, Myra and Lou shift up one and Nora is tagged on the end. | After seeing her cocky attitude in the rec room, Lexie and Nora suspect Lou of framing Myra: Nora says she saw Lou and Kath in the corridor outside Myra's cells. Alice tells Lou she'll support her if she's going for top dog. Lexie sees the state of Ruth's cell and offers to help her clean it up. When Ruth offers her a lipstick as a gift, Lexie is suspicious, so suggests Ruth should cut cards with Lexie for it. Ruth takes the cards from her and shuffles them herself, then draws the higher card. Willie weeps over a soap on TV (see below). May tells Lou she won't back her as top dog as she knows she set Myra up. Julie explains to Lexie that she beat her at cards by memorising the cards played and working out what was left in the deck. She then amazes Lexie with her detailed recall of Arnold Ballinger's profits. Lou offers to help Ruth if someone is planning to stage an escape and gets a smack across the face when she pushes it too far by being familiar about her husband. May and Willie find their cell wrecked when they return from their morning shower. Ruth employs Daphne to clean her cell, and then tries to bribe Dennis to help her out occasionally. Ann arrives in reception to find it piled high with boxes of stuff for Ruth. Joan returns to work. May is annoyed at having her wool unravelled and bashes Lou to make her tidy it up. Ann lets Joan know she isn't pleased to see her back and warns her not to bend the rules for her own benefit. Nora feels faint in the laundry. Andrew Fry refuses Ann's suggestion that Joan should be transferred to Barnhurst. Ruth demands a private phone in her cell: Ann turns her down. Joan takes a tour round the building and introduces herself to the new prisoners in the laundry. While the women are distracted, Daphne sneaks over to the press and burns her hand. Ann tells Daphne she won't punish her but she must see a psychiatrist. The women get a postcard from Ettie. A newspaper headline about Ballinger claims he has "dumped" his wife  . Daphne is allowed to work in the garden every day, as Ann suspects that she may be affected by being cooped up all day. Joan catches Lexie in Ruth's cell: Ruth covers for her by claiming she had already given permission to Lexie to help herself to nail polish, and casually hands a bottle to Joan saying it is "her colour" - it is bright green. Nora leaves the dining room early, but Joan won't let her take food out for later. Meg visits the retirement village and Ettie tells her about the changes at Wentworth since she left. Ruth puts a brave face on her husband's apparent desertion when she sees Willie ostentatiously reading the paper right in front of her. Sadie thinks Ettie is silly for not telling Meg she is having second thoughts about life on the outside. May forces Julie to overcome her fears by taking out the laundry truck on her own, but Dennis startles her when she runs into him in a corridor. Joyce tells Meg she's left Norm, and asks Meg if she can stay at her place overnight. Ruth sees George Costello, a lawyer sent by her husband: he tells her Arnold wants her to stay in Wentworth and pass on minor information to the police to keep them happy. Sadie is appalled by Ettie's latest scheme: she has decided to commit a crime to get back in Wentworth.
The backgrounder called Jill in the last episode is called "Brodie" at mail call. Meg tells Ettie they have had nine (not eight) prisoners from Barnhurst. The dialogue from the soap "Yesterday, today and tomorrow" that Willie watches on TV is a cruel parody:
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EPISODE 540Broadcast on Meridian Tuesday 07 April 1998 23:40; Channel 5 Saturday 28 August 1999 04:40. Nora announces to the women that she is pregnant. Ettie, still homesick for the security of prison life, thinks of another plan to get back into WentworthMeg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Myra ~ Anne Phelan Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Dennis ~ Nigel Bradshaw Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Lou ~ Louise Siversen Willie ~ Kirsty Child Ruth ~ Lindy Davies May ~ Billie Hammerberg Pippa ~ Christine Harris Daphne ~ Debra Lawrance Jenny ~ Jenny Lovell Ettie ~ Lois Ramsay Nora ~ Sonja Tallis Julie ~ Jackie Woodburne Mervin ~ Ernie Bourne Alice ~ Lois Collinder Kath ~ Michele Sargent Terri Malone ~ Margot Knight  Fed. Sup. No. 1 ~ Scott Lucey Fed. Sup. No. 2 ~ Chris Hallam  Sadie ~ Helene Jacoby Manager ~ Brian Worth Plumber ~ John Adams  Police Sgt ~ Peter Black  Billy ~ Rick Ireland  Sally ~ Melanie Boxshall Michele Sargent is credited as "Cath" | Daphne finds a geranium in the garden and is about to dig it up to take it indoors when Lou tries to put her off by telling her about the bodies supposedly buried in the garden. When Daphne turns round she sees that Lou has crushed the geranium underfoot. Ettie decides to rob a bank, but sees an opportunity closer to home when a plumber working at the flats leaves his radio playing and his van door wide open. Ettie makes a big show of stealing it but no-one takes her seriously. Willie and May find another geranium and give it to Daphne to cheer her up. Joan ironically tells Myra of the lessons of patience and forgiveness she learnt from Anita: this is to indicate that she won't be looking for vengeance immediately, but will make Myra wait. Sadie inadvertently gives Ettie the idea of confessing to a crime committed by someone else. Myra is back with the women. Julie scores the highest in Dennis' general knowledge quiz, but keeps quiet about it. Sadie and Ettie scan the newspapers and find a case of a woman cashing forged pension cheques. There is even a photo, which looks a bit like Ettie (perhaps because it is of Lois Ramsay as a younger woman?  ) - except the woman has red hair. Sadie points out that can soon be fixed. Nora sets Myra straight about the child murder accusation: she was trying to stop the mother killing her own child and that later on she did go through with it when Nora wasn't there to stop her. She also tells Myra about her time on the run, saying she had to get out before it was "too late", but refuses to elaborate further. Ann's daughter Pippa comes home  , and announces that she is having an affair with a married man. As she predicts, Ann does not approve at all. Nora has morning sickness. As a joke, Lexie ices a cake with a pink heart and the words "Mervin luvs Joyce"  but he isn't amused. The Federal Police tell Ann she must give Ruth the private phone in her cell, but it will be tapped anyway in case she gives away any information. Ruth questions Daphne and finds out from her who is the officer most likely to accept a bribe - Joan's name is mentioned, of course. Meg decides to go on her own to the trial of her rapist's accomplice. Joyce is appalled to find out from Mervin that the women know about them and refuses his invitation to dinner. Ettie disguises herself with one of Sadie's wigs  and goes to a police station to confess to the crime she picked out of the newspaper. Joan visits Lou in her cell to threaten her, but Lou proudly points out her "backup" (those old reliables Alice and Kath). Ann tells Ruth she will get her phone but it will be locked and only she can use it. Ruth counters with a further list of ridiculous demands. Nora faints in the laundry. The police sergeant shows Ettie the door when he realises she's making it all up. Officer Terri Malone is transferred from maternity: Joan covers for her when she makes a mistake signing visitors out and is about to forge the visitors' book. Jenny Hartley visits Pippa, but she rushes off quickly as she's left her invalid grandmother alone at home. The women are impressed by Ruth's telephone. Nora announces she's pregnant. While she is dejectedly feeding the seagulls, Ettie has her handbag snatched by two punks, but she easily manages to overpower them singlehanded. She decides to use these incompetent thieves in a plan to get back inside. As a way of thanking her for covering up her mistake, Terri asks Joan for a drink to plot revenge on Lou and Myra. |
Story Editor: Coral Drouyn
Script Editor: Kit Oldfield (538)-(540)
Storyliners: Coral Drouyn, Neil Luxmoore, Tony McDonald, John Coulter
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