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EntertainmentPrisoner Biography

Australian soap opera set in the Wentworth Detention Centre, a fictional womens prison. The series, produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation, aired on Network Ten for 692 episodes between 27 February 1979 and 11 December 1986. In the United States and United Kingdom it was known as Prisoner: Cell Block H, with the same title and Caged Women in Canada. The shows themes, often radical for the time, included feminism, homosexuality and social reform. Prisoner began in early 1979 with the advertising slogan, "If you think prison is hell for a man, imagine what its like for a woman". The series examined how women dealt with incarceration and separation from their families, and the common phenomenon of released inmates re-offending. Within the prison, major themes were interpersonal relationships, power struggles, friendships and rivalries. The prisoners became a surrogate family, with "Queen" Bea Smith (Val Lehman) and Jeanette "Mum" Brookes central mother figures. Several lesbian characters, including prisoners Franky Doyle (Carol Burns) and Judy Bryant (Betty Bobbitt) and officer Joan "the Freak" Ferguson (Maggie Kirkpatrick), appeared on the show. Link to Wikipedia biography Read less