EPISODE 676Broadcast on Westcountry Thursday 4th September 1997 23:45; Channel 5 Saturday 23 December 2000 04:45. Rita is back, and Joan is out to break her hold over the women. A television crew arrives to expose the cover-ups at Wentworth. Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Rita ~ Glenda Linscott Alice ~ Lois Collinder Kath ~ Kate Hood Merle ~ Rosanne Hull-Brown Rodney ~ Philip Hyde Delia ~ Desiree Smith Spider ~ Taya Straton Lisa ~ Terrie Waddell Spike ~ Victoria Rowland Brumby ~ Sheryl Munks Vicki ~ Rebecca Dines Philip Clayton ~ Doug Bowles  Cameraman ~ Craig Delahoy | Joan calls Rodney to her office first thing the following morning and asks him to bring the three escapees from solitary, but to make sure they arrive for muster late. Kath tells Spider and Vicki to leave Merle alone. Joan puts Rita's friends on a charge for being late to muster, but does not punish Rita herself, arguing that she is not required for work and therefore not needed at muster. Phil Clayton, the reporter from "City Probe", comes to see Meg. Rita fails to provoke Joan into giving her a charge and realises that her friends are getting her charges. Brumby is not discouraged by the failure of the escap attempt and is already planning another. Alice sneaks off to speak to Rita to make it clear to her that she won't be influenced by Joan's tactics. Rodney catches her and reports it to Joan, asking permission to put her back in solitary, which Joan denies. The food at dinner is disgusting: Rita leaves the dining room having set Spider up to complain about it after she has gone. Kath is put under pressure and asks to see Joan to pass on the women's complaints. When Phil Clayton says he can't proceed without hard evidence, Meg agrees to go on TV to repeat her allegations. Spider gets some eggs from the kitchen and Alice cooks them in the press. Joan orders Kath to speed up her attempt to get the women against Rita, but she demands educational help for Merle in return. Phil Clayton cons the Minister into letting him film inside the prison. The Minister phones Joan to tell her that a TV crew are coming to film inside Wentworth and says she has to reopen the shop so it can be filmed. Merle catches six mice. Joan tells Kath to select a few prisoners to be interviewed and keep it quiet from the others. Lisa overhears Rodney and Joan talking but doesn't get the details so Spider and Spike are assigned to find out what's happening. Spike rigs up a device to listen to the staff room through the air conditioning, and finds out why they have all been set on to clean the prison. Rodney locks potential trouble-makers in the laundry: Brumby and Spider compete to pick the locks. Kath and Merle are interviewed and give a sanitised view of the situation. Phil asks to speak to Rita and Joan refuses, but the women have escaped from the laundry and are filmed at the security gate  . Joan confiscates the video tape, but the camera-man has already removed the real tape and hidden it on the bookshelves. All the women except Rita are locked in their cells. Phil phones Lisa posing as her solicitor (as she's the one who's shortly to go to trial) to ask her to find the tape and smuggle it out. Joan tells Rodeny that while the women are locked up, the TV, pool table and all the books are to be taken from the rec room as a punsihment. |
EPISODE 678Broadcast on Westcountry Thursday 11th September 1997 23:40; Channel 5 Saturday 30 December 2000 04:20. Ann Reynolds' return and Joan's fall from grace lead to celebrations. Brumby begins another escape attempt.Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Joan ~ Maggie Kirkpatrick Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Rita ~ Glenda Linscott Alice ~ Lois Collinder Kath ~ Kate Hood Merle ~ Rosanne Hull-Brown Rodney ~ Philip Hyde Marty ~ Michael Winchester Delia ~ Desiree Smith Spider ~ Taya Straton Lisa ~ Terrie Waddell Spike ~ Victoria Rowland Brumby ~ Sheryl Munks Vicki ~ Rebecca Dines Mervin ~ Ernie Bourne Gate Guard Bob ~ David Bickerstaff Trucker Driver ~ Bob Mitchelson Joyce does not appear in this episode Note this view from the Governor's window | Rodney smarms up to Meg and Marty, and Joan walks into the staff room just in time to hear him declare he's no friend of hers. Rodney sticks to his guns and tells Joan he won't help her get back on top. Lisa expects to be freed after her trial and says she might look up Rodney and see if she can dig up any dirt on him. Ann sees Joan in her office, and Joan lets Ann know what she thinks of her ("you shouldn't be in that chair - you're a welfare worker") and informs her she's taking leave of absence to look for another job. Joan decides to do muster all all: Rita stirs it by asking to see the Governor to congratulate her on getting her job back and the women start up a chant of "We want Renno". Marty tells Spike he will look into her case. Rita sees Ann as the new top dog and tells Ann she set Kath up, so Kath is reinstated as trusty as the shop is to be reopened. Spider tries to do a deal with Joan, asking to play the same role as Kath did, but she is turned down. Brumby decides on another escape attempt while security is lax and with help from Spike she takes the laundry skip from Alice. Alice swallows Spike's suggestion that it was Spider who took the skip and is just confronting her when Rodney catches her without the skip and takes her back to the laundry. Rita goes looking for the skip. Brumby takes some clothes from one of the lockers in the staff room and when Marty catches her coming out of the staff room, she takes the opportunity to tell him to leave Spike alone. Rita flushes Spider's head down the loo despite her protestations of innocence. Brumby gives the clothes to Spike and asks her Joan decides to go home without finishing her shift  . Kath tries to persuade the women that they need the teacher as much as Merle. Lisa says goodbye to the women before going to trial. Brumby takes the garbage out and gets changed in the grounds. Marty comes to see Spike and the kicthen and notices that Brumby is missing: he stops her just outside the gate, unconvincingly "disguised" as Joyce (sack that gate guard!)  . Ann tells Rita that the women can decide on their own (non-violent) punishment for Brumby. Rodney refuses to help Kath to get any contraband and tells her Joan has left so she can't look for any help there either. The women hold a trial: Brumby and Spike are sent to Coventry for two weeks. Rita sticks her own head down the toilet for falsely accusing Spider. Vicki and Spider knock Brumby out and drop a comic on the floor to implicate Merle. Ann accepts Kath's suggestion that Merle was set up and tells the women she expects the culprits to own up. Kath overhears Vicki and Spider plotting to set up Merle as culprit in another bashing. |
EPISODE 679Broadcast on Westcountry Monday 15th September 1997 23:40; Channel 5 Sunday 31 December 2000 04:10. Brumby's bashers are revealed and punished. Marty places himself in great danger as he tries to help Spike.Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Rita ~ Glenda Linscott Alice ~ Lois Collinder Kath ~ Kate Hood Merle ~ Rosanne Hull-Brown Rodney ~ Philip Hyde Marty ~ Michael Winchester Delia ~ Desiree Smith Spider ~ Taya Straton Lisa ~ Terrie Waddell Spike ~ Victoria Rowland Brumby ~ Sheryl Munks Vicki ~ Rebecca Dines Harry Grosvenor ~ Mike Bishop Martha Quinn ~ Julie Du Rieu  Alison Mills ~ Fiona Corke Barman ~ Dean Nicols  Tony Anderson ~ Steve Lane  UNCREDITEDThe two thugs beating up Marty | Kath, Alice and Rita confront Spider: she admits that she attacked Brumby but will not own up. Ann plans to knock down a wall as part of one of her reform projects which will begin to be built that same day. Brumby won't promise Spike that she won't try to escape again, but only to play along and tell Rita she won't try to escape. Kath is annoyed by Rita's decision to give Merle a round the clock bodyguard. Spider and Vicki agree to own up to bashing Brumby and Ann decides on a new punishment: they are assigned to act as her servants for a day. Spider is forced into the torture of reading Brumby a trashy romance. In revenge when she is asked to make a cup of tea for Spike, Spider tries to stir it by telling Brumby that Spike was at University. When she asks Rita for advice, she tells Spike she's a snob. Ann sits down to eat with the women, but they are too surprised to talk to her. Spider makes Brumby's bed with an evil grin on her face. Alice reacts predictably to the news that workmen will be in the prison: Rita has to warn her not to leave Merle alone while she wanders off looking for blokes. Rita tells Kath she will have to come up with some contraband quickly or she'll have to find someone else who will. Spider blackmails Rodney to make sure he won't help Kath. Marty asks Spike who he should try to contact: she suggests he should try to find a woman called Christine Dutton, who can give her an alibi as she was with her on the night of the murder. Alice takes Merle with her to see the men, and meets Harry  , one of the male prisoners doing building work in another block. Kath begs Rodney to bring in goods for her but he refuses. Merle finds Kath in tears and promises she will look after her, without really understanding what the problem is. Spike makes it up with Brumby. Marty has no luck tracing Christine Dutton. Alice talks to Harry again and finds out they come from the same part of the country, but Meg catches them. Lisa (who was found guilty but let off with a bond) follows Rodney from work and into a bar, where a woman called Alison Mills approaches him because she recognizes him  from an amateur dramatic performance of "Night must fall". Marty arrives at the same bar, and prevents Lisa following Rodney out, ignoring all the rules about association to buy her a drink. He asks for her help with Spike's case, but she refuses to get involved. Kath enlists Merle's help in tracking down Spider's stash, since she was foolish enough to brag about it. Marty is roughed up outside the bar to stop him investigating further. |
EPISODE 680Broadcast on Westcountry Thursday 18th September 1997 23:45; Channel 5 Saturday 06 January 2001 04:40. Marty's attempts to help Spike spell danger for Lisa. Kath finds Spider's contraband, but Rita could die as a consequence.Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne Ann ~ Gerda Nicolson Joyce ~ Joy Westmore Rita ~ Glenda Linscott Alice ~ Lois Collinder Kath ~ Kate Hood Merle ~ Rosanne Hull-Brown Marty ~ Michael Winchester Spider ~ Taya Straton Lisa ~ Terrie Waddell Spike ~ Victoria Rowland Brumby ~ Sheryl Munks Vicki ~ Rebecca Dines Harry Grosvenor ~ Mike Bishop Judd ~ Stuart Conran Ron Willis ~ David Ravenswood  Rev Zach Ward ~ Laurie Dobson  Telecom Man ~ Malcolm Sim  Bernie ~ Michelle O'Grady  UNCREDITEDRon Willis' other goon (the one with Judd)Fashion note: was there some sort of gangster chic trend to wear shirts with the collar splayed wide open and flat across the lapels? Both Judd | Lisa helps Marty back inside the bar, and Meg arrives and finds them together. Merle is enjoying having a bodyguard: Kath sets her on to watch a group of women she believes Spider may have sold contraband to. Kath follows Spider around, but gets no clues, apart from noticing mud on Spider's shoe. Spike tells Brumby she's had a phone call from Lisa pretending to be her mother to check out if Marty is genuine. Lisa and Marty investigate together and meet an University friend of Spike's called Bernie, who suggests they try to contact Ronnie Willis. Rita is moved back to share a cell with Alice. Two men arrive to take them to a meeting with Willis, who agrees to make enquiries about Christine Dutton. As soon as they leave, he asks his associate Judd to find out why Lisa and Marty are asking questions. Inspired by Lisa's phone call, Spike writes to her mother. Rita hints to Kath she doesn't have much time left to come up with some contraband. Alice goes with Brumby to the Sunday service to meet Harry: Spider follows and sits behind her, to Alice's disappointment. Meanwhile, Kath and Merle are in the grounds  looking for Spider's stash, when Merle's mouse goes missing. When she and Kath look for him, Merle finds a plastic bag under a hut, which contains Spider's contraband. Spider glues Alice to her seat and Alice rips the seat out of her jeans getting up. Meg asks Spike to try to persuade Marty to give up his investigation, but Spider says she can't pass up her chance of freedom. Rita cheers Alice up by passing on a note from Harry that she got from a woman in A block. Spider gets suspicious when Kath starts taking orders and Vicki comments that she's had no parcels or visits. After confirming that her stash is missing, Spider tells Vicki that some of the liqueur chocolates have been adulterated with rat poison as a precaution against theft (and because she can't stand creme de menthe). Vicki and Spider see Alice buy some of the liqueurs from Kath. Spike and Merle talk to the priest about their respective problems. Judd gives Ronnie Willis the background on Marty and Lisa and their connection to Wentworth: Judd suggests they give them "the same we gave Christine Dutton", but Ronnie Willis says they should keep that as a last resort. Ann announces a pay phone will be available for the women on a trial basis. Rita grabs Alice's chocolates and pretends to juggle with them but eats them instead. Vicki thinks they should tell someone but Spider points out they could get rid of Rita and Kath in one go. The women phone Lisa and she passes on the gossip that Rodney has a girlfriend. Merle gets Brumby to help her use the phone to talk to Tommy. As the women start to squabble about the new phone, Rita starts to feel ill and collapses in the rec room  . |
Story Editor: Bevan Lee
Script Editor: Quincey McQuade (676)-(677); Neil Luxmoore (678)-(679); Morgan Smith (680)
Storyliners: Tony McDonald, John Coulter, Bob Greenberg
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