Seasons & episodes

Erica tries to talk the prisoners out of the Rec Room, and tells them Jock is finished in the prison service. Vera cuts the power, and they spend an uncomfortable night in the dark. Next morning, they give up the protest. Noeline comes to visit Leanne and she asks her to pass on a message to the press that they're staging a demo in the garden. Predictably, Noeline can't be trusted and tells Vera. The women are confined to the building as a result. Another scheme has to be thought up, and this time it's violent. Judy, Margo and Lizzie take Erica and Meg hostage in the Governor's office with a garden fork. The other women ambush Vera in the Laundry, strip her and tie her up. When Jim finds her, the women are gone, and heading for the roof with her keys. Margo and Lizzie are left in charge of Meg and Erica, but Lizzie gets drunk on Erica's booze.

Everyone at the prison is stunned by Leanne's death, bringing a sudden halt to the demo. The police go to Noeline's work to tell her the news, only to find she's been pinching money from the workers since she started there. She gets six months and arrives back in Wentworth - neither prisoners nor officers are pleased to see her. Noeline warns that she blames Bea for her daughter's death, but Judy tries to take the blame. She assumes the role of Noeline's protector, perhaps as a way to allieviate her guilt over Leanne's death. Lizzie is offered forty grand in compensation. Soon after, Marcia tells Lizzie that Josie needs an operation on her leg, but it will cost too much money. Paul, Bea and Doreen's fears grow that Marcia is a fraud, out to get Lizzie's compo. Kerry's behaviour grows more erratic, and Paul warns that if she and David continue seeing each other, she will end up back in jail.

Thinking she has killed David, Kerry flees from the gallery and disappears. David is very much alive, but Paul has no luck tracking her down, and has to report her. Meanwhile, Kerry seeks out Helen's help, gets hold of some pills, swigs them down with booze, and passes out. David finds her, but instead of getting help, he steals some of her paintings. Paul does some detective work to find out if Marcia is a fraud. Lizzie tells Marcia she's going to use her compo to pay for Josie's operation, but Bea gets a message out threatening her. Marcia realises the gig is up, and they take off. Now with proof, Paul has to tell Lizzie that Marcia is not her daughter; later she confides in Bea that she knew all along. Noeline flaunts Judy's backing in Bea's face, and gets up everyone's noses. Erica tries to warn Judy to keep away from Noeline, to no avail. Noeline feeds Jude a sob story about needing money for her family, and Judy hints at where she'll find Margo's stash from her book.

Helen finds Kerry out cold but alive, and calls Paul to get help. Paul recommends Kerry go to a sanitorium for treatment, rather than back to jail. Meanwhile David, thinking she is dead, tries to buy a painting Kerry gave to Doreen. Paul and Erica con David into handing over a large sum of money for it, then announce Kerry is still alive. Marcia turns up at Wentworth to tell Lizzie the truth, that her real name is Ellen and she knew the real Marcia, who died some years ago. Lizzie tells them that as far as she is concerned, they are her family now, and she's giving them the cash for the op anyway. Meg moves into a new flat, and meets her neighbour, young mother Gail Summers, who is struggling to cope with her screaming children. Noeline, the only one with buyup after the riot, sells fags to the other women at extortionate prices. She manages to break into the storeroom to steal supplies, and gets Judy to keep watch.

The women embark on a ridiculous attempt to cover up Noeline's absence until they can unlock her from the store room in the morning. This also includes a fake food poisoning bout as a diversion while Judy retrieves her. Bea wants to know why Judy is helping Noeline, and she says she was going to take the money herself as she is planning to escape. Noeline lags on the women's fake poisoning to Erica and the screws carry out a search. Meanwhile, Judy uses Noeline to lead her to Margo's money, but Margo catches Judy out. Meg gets involved with Gail's problems, to Vera's disgust. She suspects that Gail's husband Tim is beating the children. Later one of the kids, Jason, ends up in hospital, and Meg tells the doctor she thinks Tim is abusive. Factory owner Andrew Reynolds approaches Erica about a work release programme at his factory. Predictably, Vera argues against the scheme, but Erica is keen and tours the factory.

The work release is to go ahead, to the women's delight. The party of women who are to go initially includes Bea, Doreen and Judy but not, to her annoyance, Lizzie. Judy suspects Margo's money may be in the kitchen, but when Noeline goes there to hunt for it, she ends up getting thrown in the skip by Margo and her heavies. Vera and Jim find her, and think she was trying to escape. She loses her buyup. Noeline's horse wins and Margo has to pay her out a lot of cash. Vera is suspicious that Lizzie still has cigarettes, and Noeline suggests she and Doreen have been pinching from the store room. She has planted items in their cell, and they are found by the screws in a cell search. Bea is furious at Noeline and thumps her, before grassing her into Erica. Bea and Noeline are both sent to the pound, and Bea taken off the work release. Meg seeks Paul's advice about Gail Summers.

The work release programme gets underway, with Erica warning dire consequences for anyone who screws it up. The women meet sleazy foreman Vince Talbot, and cool-as-a-cucumber accountant Kay White. Doreen suspects Judy is going to take the chance to escape from the factory. Meanwhile, Kay seems to have the gambling bug and gets involved with Margo's book, while Andrew Reynolds shows a more than professional interest in Erica. Gail arrives in Wentworth on remand, and is advised not to tell the women why she's really inside. She gets a visit from Tim, who informs her he is divorcing her and has been granted custody of the kids. She ends up telling Lizzie and Doreen the truth about her crime, who are horrified. Noeline gets word that her younger kids are to be put into a home, and she decides to smuggle her race winnings out to delay this.

There's trouble at the factory involving the delivery drivers, and Doreen is keen to get Kevin the delivery contract when she hears it's up for tender. She needs to find out the lowest bid so Kev can beat it. However, Noeline overhears all this. The other women torment Gail for abusing her children, until Judy intervenes and sticks up for her. Noeline manipulates her into trusting her, despite Judy's warnings that Noeline is trouble. Noeline suggests that the screws will protect Gail if she lags on Doreen about the contract. When her cell is trashed, that's exactly what she does. The women wonder who the lagger is - Noeline or Gail? Meanwhile, Doreen's troubles get even worse when Vince Talbot traps her in the store cupboard and rapes her. Erica seems to be softening towards Andrew Reynolds. Noeline is given a chance to go to work at the factory. Tony Reid is released from the prison farm, but finds it hard to readjust to his old life.

Doreen struggles to cope after being raped by Vince, and desperately tries to get taken off the work release scheme, but Erica twigs something's going on and refuses to let her, even after she trashes a cell and attacks Noeline. She confides in Judy about what happened, and she promises to look out for her. Erica's relationship with Andrew Reynolds develops until he admits to her he is married. Noeline is allowed to go on work release; Bea gets out of the pound and is told that if she stays away from Gail she may get to go too. Margo is having trouble covering her bets thanks to Kay's gambling bug. Tony struggles to find a job, and Meg suggests he use a false name to get employment.

At the factory, Noeline complains that her machine doesn't work, but Vince is more interested in Doreen. Meg is suprised to see letters in the mail for both Judy and Bea. Judy volunteers to go to the store room when Vince has his eye on Doreen and she uses the opportunity to issue a warning that she knows what he's up to and she isn't afraid of anything he can do to her. Bea and the other women torment Gail in the laundry, but Lizzie is beginning to have sympathy for her. Kay tries to put off paying her debts to Margo, and shrugs off Margo's threats, asking her which of the two of them is more likely to believed. Gail asks Paul to find out who is looking after her children. Vince wants to know what Doreen has told Judy and warns her to keep quiet in future. Meg tells Paul there is a letter for Judy from her sister saying their father is ill and he wants her to go and see him. Bea also gets a letter - from Ken.

Erica tells Meg and Vera that the doctors think Judy's heart condition was brought on by electrical interference from the driers. Meg passes on the information in Judy's letter about her father and Erica is displeased not to have been told before. Bea warns all the women, including Doreen, not to mess up the work release program. Gail is reduced to tears by the women's taunts. Erica finds out that Meg hasn't told her that she's Gail's next door neighbour and says she wants all information on prisoners to be passed to her directly in future. Still in her policewoman's uniform, Judy phones an ex-lover, and she is invited to stay there while her husband is away on business for a few days. Vera goes straight to Gail and tells her that the children have been put in a home. Meg is appalled by the spitefulness of it and tells Vera so.

Kay promises to keep Vera occupied to give Noeline time to get the bolt of cloth out of the tea room window . Andrew follows Kay's tip-off and is waiting outside to catch Noeline's brother collecting the cloth. When Vera hears of the incident, she immediately cancels the scheme and takes the women back to Wentworth. Pauline gives Judy the last $100 she needs for the passport but the Weasel has heard about Judy's escape on the radio and works out he can ask double his price for a "urgent" job. Erica reprimands Vera for exceeding her authority by cancelling the work release without asking Erica's permission first. Bea sees Margo and Mouse waiting to see the Governor and finds out that it was Noeline's fault the scheme was cancelled. Noeline tries to put the blame on Kay, saying she was already stealing material from the factory and involved her in the scheme. Erica doesn't believe her and sends Noeline to solitary.

Judy is brought back to Wentworth (and claims sarcastically to Jim that she's Doris Day) charged with escaping, assault on a policewoman, stealing police property (the uniform, which she is still wearing) and impersonating a police officer. Jim and Vera notice she is also carrying a large amount of money that the police have not noticed, so Jim logs it in as Judy's own property even though Judy admits she got it through extortion. Judy at first refuses to go into the solitary cell, but Jim manages to persuade her. As she sits in the cell her profile undergoes some unusual video effect . Next morning, Erica sees Judy and offers to help, but Judy tells her it's too late as she should have done something earlier to fix Jock Stewart. Bea makes herself known to Andrew Reynolds and Vince on her first day at the factory. Andrew offers Bea a private deal to put to the other women: they will be paid an extra 10 dollars a week each for making non-Government clothing on the side.

Erica phones Andrew to let him know she won't let him take advantage of her or the women, though she does not cancel the project entirely. Doreen wonders why Lizzie has sweets instead of fags in her buyup. Captain Barton asks Bea what she thinks of the idea of a birthday party for Lizzie: Bea suggests that they keep it quiet and make it a surprise party. Jim clashes with Erica when he assumes the factory project has been cancelled. Hazel Crowe takes Andrew out onto the fire escape to discuss the issue of the prison workers: she lays down a list of conditions and threatens a strike knowing he can't afford to risk it. Meg takes Lizzie out of the laundry at Bea's request so she doesn't find out about the arrangements for the party. Jim finds Lizzie moping in her cell alone: their conversation prompts Lizzie to a flashback to Edie's death, but she looks up to find she's addressing her sob story to empty air as Jim has walked away.

Andrew accuses Kay of stealing and fiddling the books. When she offers to pay him back with her gambling winnings, he declines and asks her what would have happened if she had lost. Vince stops Kay leaving the office and Andrew phones the police. Erica tells Vera and Jim that the scheme is over, but the newspaper article reporting Kay White's arrest next morning gives Vera further excuse to spread insinuations about Erica. After the women have also seen the paper, Bea assumes that Kay should be blamed for the end of the work release, and Doreen wonders if Noeline might have been right after all to claim that she was framed by Kay. The new social worker, Agnes Forster, arrives for her first day at work in a battered old car, which she parks in Erica's space and then leaves Erica with a heavy kit bag to carry inside for her. Ted Douglas is already waiting for Erica to discuss Vera's report.

Jim and Vera catch Kay trying to force Margo to taste her food. Margo vows she'll get back at Kay. Erica admits to Meg that she had been lying about her relationship with Andrew, but declares she knew nothing at all about the fraud. Jim reports the incident with Margo and warns Erica that the women will go to any lengths to pay Kay back for losing the factory work project. Doreen is off her food. Judy defends Kay, pointing out that she helped her escape by getting a dress from the factory. Vera wants to know how Kay can possibly owe Margo money when she's been in isolation the whole time. Judy overhears Vera pressuring Kay and tells Kay that for her own sake she should stay in solitary as long as she can. When Meg announces that the women have been given permission to have a barbecue, Bea seems keen for Kay to attend and tells Judy she should make it up to Kay on behalf of all the women. Vera takes Kay to see Agnes, but she's already gone home.

Erica tells the women they will all lose seven day's remission as punishment for the attack on Vince. Bea agrees with Margo that it must have been Kay who lagged on them. Judy suggests that the best way to get back at Kay might be to undermine her claim to be cured of her gambling addiction. Bea tells Margo she is going to give Kay credit and takes a collection to give her the funds to do so. Lizzie calls Agnes a lazy bitch when she finds she hasn't done anything about her application to visit Josie in hospital. Margo and Judy try to tempt Kay into laying a bet by discussing forthcoming races in front of her, but she claims not be interested. Erica promises Lizzie she will arrange for her to visit Josie. Vera finds Agnes slumped across her desk in her office and raises the alarm, but when Jim goes to check on her he find she has only fallen asleep.

Kevin thinks he is the father of Doreen's baby and is delighted with the news. Meanwhile Bea is advising Doreen to go to Erica if Agnes won't help her arrange the abortion. Erica asks Agnes why she's allowed Doreen a second visit from Kevin and tries to push her into coming up with some ideas to justify her salary. Kevin meets Doreen in the garden: though she hedges at first, she eventually admits that Kevin is not the father of her baby and tells Kevin and Meg that Vince raped her. Kevin insists that she must report it to the police. Kay places a bet with Margo using some money she'd hidden away for emergencies. Doreen tells Bea that Agnes had passed on information about her pregnancy, and Bea approves of Kevin's decision to go the police. Erica has to calm Kevin down, and later at dinner with Meg she admits that she feels personally responsible for Doreen's plight.

Kevin realises that Doreen intended to let him think the baby was his, and he is equally appalled at the thought that she let someone else have sex with her to try to get him a job. Kay tries to make peace with Margo as she hopes not to be returning after her trial. Doreen plans to escape in order to be able to talk to Kevin again, and Judy offers to go with her to look after her. Bea asks Meg to put in a word in support of Doreen getting day release, but Erica tells Meg she won't be able to get approval in time. Kay realises that Judy is not intending to return after her escape, as she has told Bea she would. Lizzie's singing makes the officers leave the shower block to give the women time to finalise the escape plan. Kay offers to give her clothes to be adapted as a disguise, and Bea insists that both Doreen and Judy have to be back by 4 o'clock. Erica tries to persuade Kevin not to give up on Doreen and invites him to talk to Doreen in her office at half past twelve.

Bea blames herself for not noticing anything wrong with Doreen. Meg tells Lizzie that her visit to see Josie has been arranged, but Bea is suspicious that something must be wrong as permission was granted unusually quickly. Judy tells Margo to get lost when she comes to Kay wanting her to place a bet. Ted comes to see Erica, and she repeats her demand that Agnes must go, and threatens to withdraw her from working contact with the prisoners. Ellen comes to collect Lizzie and tells her that the doctors are giving Josie tests for bone marrow disease. A conversation with Jim convinces Agnes she must resign and she phones Erica to tell her so. Jim goes straight to Erica's office accusing her of victimising Agnes, not realising that Ted Douglas is in the office too. Jim is later summoned to see Ted in Erica's office and told he can no longer be considered for the Governorship of Barnhurst after his outburst against Erica.

Vera takes Kay to her cell and gives her five minutes to make her bed. Doreen and Lizzie compare the size of their bank balances. Margo holds onto Linda's "commission", as she's obviously not tough enough to be an effective bookie's runner and hasn't made very much. Vera comes back to check on Kay's hospital corners and makes her start all over again, but she is distracted by the sound of Bea threatening one of the background prisoners in the corridor outside for trying to bring drugs in. Vera drops a hint to Kay that she should spy on Bea and find out what's going on. Bea objects when Vera brings Kay to the laundry to work, but Vera assigns Doreen to look after her. Linda wants her money from Margo immediately as she's got a visitor and Bea makes Margo pay up. Linda's visitors are her son Danny and his aunt Sheila, who seems to be giving the kid a hard time: Linda passes Danny the money. Kay reports to Vera that she'd tried to provoke a fight with Bea and she'd backed off.

Bea barricades Kay's cell door to ensure that they can have a "private chat". When Kay denies having any drugs, Bea punches her on the nose, followed by an extended grapple on the floor. The fight is broken up by Vera and Meg. Kay's cell is searched but nothing is found. Meg is surprised when Kay asks to go straight back to the women. Bea won't give Erica the full details of Kay's drug dealing, so Erica sends her to solitary to await the VJ. After getting patched up by the sister , Kay walks back into the rec room, bruised but unbowed. Lizzie finds out from Kay what has happened to Bea, but after that no-one speaks to her. Hazel follows her out of the rec room wanting to buy drugs, but Kay says she needs cash to set up a deal and asks Hazel to place a bet for her with Margo, who earlier refused to deal with Margo directly.

Vera tells Tracey that covering up for her friend isn't going to do her any good, and drops dark hints about what Bea might do to her, but Tracey continues to protest her innocence. Jim remembers Danny mentioning that he sometimes stayed with a friend and is determined to find the boy, but Meg warns him to be careful. Kay tries to tempt Phyllis to place a bet with her rather than with Margo by offering double the usual pay out to her first five punters. Vera puts Kay to work in the rec room where Tracey is writing a letter to her father, hoping that Kay will be able to get Tracey to reveal her contacts. Kay has her own agenda: she starts off frightening Tracey with what could happen to her and hints that if Tracey can get money in, she will be able to buy protection for both of them. Tracey's father Bob Morris arrives to visit her, but Vera wants to keep him in reception until she has phoned Inspector Grace to get his permission.

Judy finds Tracey crying in her cell and tries to comfort her. Tracey asks her to talk to Bea and explain that she was set up. She also tells Judy about the threats sent in via Kath. Lizzie and Judy plot to stop Kay taking over as top dog and decide to undermine her gambling racket. Linda tells them she's only working for Kay because she needs the money, but also partly because she's scared of her. Vera gets a threatening phone call while she is on night duty telling her to lay off Tracey. Jim gives Danny a key to get back into his flat after school. Vera tries to prove she isn't scared by the threats by continuing to persecute Tracey. Doreen throws a jealous tantrum when she overhears Judy and Lizzie expressing concern about Tracey. Vera brushes off Meg's opinion that she should tell the police about the threat, and says she suspects that Tracey's father was behind it. Doreen attacks Officer Maguire for following her around .