EPISODE 596Broadcast on Carlton/LWT Thursday 06 August 1998 23:40; Channel 5 Saturday 11 March 2000 04:40. The new governor meets the women, and a CB radio is found in the prison. Meanwhile, Joan exacts a terrible revenge on the Bikies.![]() Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Eve ~ Lynda Stoner Jessie ~ Pat Evison Nancy ~ Julia Blake Rita ~ Glenda Linscott Julie ~ Jackie Woodburne Lou ~ Louise Siversen Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Barbie ~ Jayne Healey Bob ~ Peter Adams Ettie ~ Lois Ramsay Mervin ~ Ernie Bourne Alice ~ Lois Collinder Steve Ryan ~ Peter Hayes Roach ~ Linda Hartley Bongo ~ Shane Connors Mandy ~ Lucinda Cowden ![]() Pat Slattery ~ Dorothy Cutts Snake O'Neill ~ Paul Smyth Mongoose Reilly ~ Michael Neaylon Slasher ~ Slasher SOD Officer No 1 ~ Matthew Barker SOD Officer No 2 ~ Mal Billings Off. Radcliffe ~ Marion Dimmick UNCREDITEDTwo bin menThe two bikers credited for this episode don't speak until the start of the following one. | Julie and Jessie ignore Lou's reminder of her order that Lexie is to be sent to Coventry. Eve sucks up to Lou by implying that if the new Governor proves to be a problem, she can always get rid of him just as she did with the previous one. Ann advises one of Ettie's girls called Mandy on sexual harassment from her boss at work. Bongo arrives and asks for her help with Roach: she agrees to come to Roach's room to talk to her. Jessie tries to make friends with Nancy after she was rude to her at breakfast. Bob addresses the women for the first time as their new Governor: he immediately takes away their TV and radios, saying that if they want privileges they will have to earn them: this puts Lou on the spot as top dog as she has to win back the lost ground. Ann walks in on Roach and Bongo in bed, as Bongo has planned: he gets out of bed to show Ann the family jewels and says he hopes she isn't embarrassed. Unfazed, Ann comments that she has learnt not to let "little things" upset her. Jessie finds out where Steve will be later in the morning and sends Lexie after him to try to seduce him, but he turns her down. Lexie returns to the kitchen and tells Jessie that she thinks Steve is a "pillow biter". Bob calls in the Special Operations Division for a cell search as he finds Meg's previous procedure for a cell search incomprehensible, questioning in particular her decision to call the search off as soon as the "razor blade" (scalpel?) was found in Rita's cell. Lexie is caught trying to get pregnant with one of the garbage men in the cab of his truck. Meg is in trouble with Bob for allowing a prisoner to be left unsupervised with people from the outside: as he points out, the garbage men could have passed Lexie drugs or weapons. Eve says she'll sweet-talk Bob, but instead she lags on Lou and claims David forced her to have sex with him. After listening sympathetically to her, Bob tells he realises she's quite an actress, but unfortunately for her, he doesn't believe a single word she says. Joyce visits Wentworth and runs into Eve coming back from the Governor's office. Bob finds Joyce talking to the women in the laundry and tells her off for being in the prison out of uniform. Ann asks Meg to contact Dan Moulton so she can visit him to talk about Bongo. All the women are locked in the rec room while the cell search is in progress: the search turns up Rita's CB radio amongst other things, so all the women are body searched before they leave the rec room. Bob announces that security is to be tightened up, and officers are to carry truncheons. New cell allocations are announced: Lexie is sharing with Lou. Julie appeals to the Governor in person to be allowed to stay with Lexie, but he turns her down flat. Meg phones Joan at home and tells her the result of the cell search: it is obvious to both of them that Rita's possession of a CB radio makes it possible for Rita to have ordered the attack on Joan after all. Nevertheless, Meg warns Joan that she can't expect any support from the new Governor if she goes after Rita for revenge. Joan replies that she has "other things to do" and sure enough, she follows the Conquerors to their hideout, pours petrol on their bikes and torches the shed ![]() Most tactless comment in this episode has to be Lou to Joyce: "Bonzer wig! Expensive?" Mark Caffery comments "Jackie Woodburne and Pepe Trevor try to hide their amusement throughout Governor Moran's opening speech to the women as Trevor misjudges a jump onto the chair in the recroom at the beginning of the scene!" |
EPISODE 597Broadcast on Carlton/LWT Thursday 13 August 1998 23:40; Channel 5 Sunday 12 March 2000 04:45. Police fear bikie unrest, and Lou becomes the new top dog at Wentworth. A woman's body is found in a plastic bag - could it be Nora?![]() Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Eve ~ Lynda Stoner Jessie ~ Pat Evison Nancy ~ Julia Blake Julie ~ Jackie Woodburne Lou ~ Louise Siversen Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Bob ~ Peter Adams Ettie ~ Lois Ramsay Alice ~ Lois Collinder Steve ~ Peter Hayes Dan Moulton ~ Sean Scully Sam Page ~ Bruce Crowl News Reporter ~ Petar Tollich Pat Slattery ~ Dorothy Cutts Roach ~ Linda Hartley Bongo ~ Shane Connors Mandy ~ Lucinda Cowden Newsreader (V/O) ~ Jennifer Keyte Slasher ~ Slasher Off. Radcliffe ~ Marion Dimmick Off. Ward ~ Jacqui Jackson Liz Spencer ~ Kerry Clapton ![]() UNCREDITEDTwo bikers - probably the "Snake O'Neill" and "Mongoose Reilly" credited for (596). | The Conquerors declare war ![]() ![]() ![]() The killer's note |
EPISODE 598Broadcast on Carlton/LWT Thursday 20 August 1998 23:40; Channel 5 Saturday 18 March 2000 04:40. Lexie's escape plan is foiled, the hunger strike is in full swing, and Rita is sentenced to 3 years' gaol.![]() Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Eve ~ Lynda Stoner Jessie ~ Pat Evison Nancy ~ Julia Blake Rita ~ Glenda Linscott Julie ~ Jackie Woodburne Lou ~ Louise Siversen Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Barbie ~ Jayne Healey Bob ~ Peter Adams Ettie ~ Lois Ramsay Mervin ~ Ernie Bourne Alice ~ Lois Collinder Steve ~ Peter Hayes Dan ~ Sean Scully Pat Slattery ~ Dorothy Cutts Max Purvis ~ Tony Mac ![]() Fay Donelly ~ Maud Clark Wendy Stone ~ Vivien Davies ![]() Off. Hagen ~ Christine Andrew UNCREDITEDPocco the dog ~ Pocco![]() | Lexie and Julie bump into Joan on their way to the laundry, but pretend they need to go the toilet so Joan leaves them alone. Joan challenges Lou about her failure to warn her about Rita having the CB radio. Lou tells her she didn't know herself until the officers found it, and passes on some information she thinks Joan won't know. Joan however just scoffs at the news that Lexie is pregnant. Lexie gets into the air conditioning duct in the laundry ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The magazine containing Steve's centrefold seems to be called "Body Play". A large part of the responsibility of allowing Lexie's escape must be down to Bob "Mr Security" Moran for leaving his office unlocked. |
The original run in the Carlton/LWT region in the UK ended with episode (598) in August 1998: a curiously unsatisfying place to stop.
Thanks are due to Mark C ("chicken") for spotting and reporting in Digest 1211 on two brief but significant cuts in the version shown on Channel 5, compared to the versions seen previously in the ITV regions. Both cuts seem to have been made with Victorian ideas of "decency" in mind. This hardly squares with Channel 5's notoriety for showing soft porn in the small hours, but it can't be ruled out that they originated the cuts... unless the same cuts have been seen in any other broadcast...?
[*1] Twenty seconds were cut from the end of the scene where Lexie steals a pink tracksuit from a washing line and puts it on. The start of the cut coincides with the moment where Pepe Trevor takes off her skirt and exposes her knickers and pallid legs, and takes with it the dialogue in italics: "Makes you feel like a trip into town. You can go and see Mabel: she's pretty good. We've come this far together, eh? Come here, boy, come here. [Probably improvised by Pepe Trevor as Pocco seems about to wander out of shot!] Hey, we might even be able to get some brekkie. I could eat the leg off a rag doll. Come on boy, come on."
[*2] When Alice gets her first look at Steve's centrefold, the shot of it over Alice's shoulder was deftly cut out along with one of her lines (in italics); "Oh bloody hell. It's him! Hey Chuck come and get an eyeful of this. It's him! It's Steve, naked as the day he was born" (though in fact we can see it's someone else naked as the day he was born, with Steve's head rather unconvincingly stuck on top).I suppose it is too much of a coincidence that both cuts have spared us the sight of exposed flesh. Whatever censorship process was in place wasn't working at the highest level of efficiency as the shot of Steve's centrefold
EPISODE 599Broadcast on Channel 5 Sunday 19 March 2000 04:45 Lexie spots the headlines "Madman murders prison escapee", and the phantom lagger strikes again.![]() Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Eve ~ Lynda Stoner Jessie ~ Pat Evison Nancy ~ Julia Blake Rita ~ Glenda Linscott Julie ~ Jackie Woodburne Lou ~ Louise Siversen Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Bob ~ Peter Adams Ettie ~ Lois Ramsay Alice ~ Lois Collinder Mervin ~ Bruce Crowl Steve ~ Peter Hayes Dan ~ Sean Scully Fay Donnelly ~ Maud Clark Janet Williams ~ Christine Earle ![]() Pat Slattery ~ Dorothy Cutts Policeman ~ Geoff Staples UNCREDITEDMabel Morgan ~ Val Jellay | Lexie wakes up after a night sleeping rough in a wood to find her new canine friend is still by her side. She decides to call "him" (though observant Digest contributors spotted that the dog is female...) by the name "Pocco" after a pet rabbit she once had. Bob catches Rita in the laundry still sitting astride the dryer and is sympathetic about her loss but firmly tells her to get down and go back to her cell. Rita is disgusted that he still wants her to be searched before she leaves the laundry, and asks what she could possibly have stolen. Alice shows the photo of Steve around. Most of the women are too busy speculating on what Steve's strategically placed knee really conceals, but the eagle eyed Eve notes that he is described as a medical student and wonders what he is doing working as a handyman. Rita rejects Nancy's attempt to mother her and get her to talk about Slasher's death. Alice sees Steve doing a bit of DIY in the shower block and stages a faint in front of him. He dashes away hastily, claiming he can't respond to Alice's overtures because he wants to keep hold of his job (and his dinner, I guess). Lexie finds out about Nora from a newsstand ("MANIAC MURDERS ESCAPEE - FURTHER THREATS" ![]() ![]() Lou makes up for lost time by reading a book called "Logic puzzles" Eve gives Lou only five strike breakers' names: "Connors, Egbert, Windom, Simpson (?), Spencer" Lynda Stoner fluffs a line by calling Joan "Mrs" Ferguson. |
With this episode, the copyright date at the end of the final credits belatedly and briefly changes to 1985 - even though we are now well into the original 1986 season, which started with (589). As there was supposed to be a six month gap between the making of episodes and their transmission, the copyright date ought to have been 1985 since about (547)...
EPISODE 600Broadcast on Channel 5 Saturday 25 March 2000 04:40. Julie is badly beaten in the kitchen and Eve's murder is to be made to look like suicide.![]() Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Eve ~ Lynda Stoner Jessie ~ Pat Evison Nancy ~ Julia Blake Rita ~ Glenda Linscott Julie ~ Jackie Woodburne Lou ~ Louise Siversen Lexie ~ Pepe Trevor Barbie ~ Jayne Healey Bob ~ Peter Adams Ettie ~ Lois Ramsay Mervin ~ Ernie Bourne Alice ~ Lois Collinder Steve ~ Peter Hayes Wendy Stone ~ Vivean Davies Fay Donnelly ~ Maud Clark Mabel ~ Val Jellay Delores ~ Samantha Bews ![]() Mitzy ~ Jane Menz ![]() Off. Radcliffe ~ Marion Dimmick Driver No 1 ~ Charles McCracken Driver No 2 ~ Steve Gunn Gate Guard Bob ~ David Bickerstaff ![]() The scene of Eve's hanging was cut on its first showing in some ITV regions. Channel 5 showed a longer version of this crucial scene. | After Alice passes on the information to her about the true identity of the Phantom Lagger, Lou checks the details of Lexie's escape with Julie then decides to punish Eve and those breaking the hunger strike. Meg phones in sick and Bob tells her not to come in for the evening shift. Joyce shows Bob the newspaper headline about Lexie's escape ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Story Editor: Bevan Lee
Script Editor: Ian Smith & Alister Webb (596); Kit Oldfield (597); Alister Webb (598); Kit Oldfield & Ian Smith (599); Kit Oldfield (600)
Storyliners: Bevan Lee, Tony McDonald, John Coulter, Kelly Bermingham
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