Feel like you’ve been missing out for the past five years while all of your Foxtel-subscribing friends have been gossiping about Wentworth?
Well, now is your chance to see what they’ve been talking about. As season six finally gets a premiere date, the hit drama is also coming to the ABC, starting from the very beginning.
A reimagining of the Aussie classic Prisoner, Foxtel’s drama, Wentworth, takes place inside a women’s prison.
There, sex, drugs and violence are part of everyday life. Plus, the battle to be the prison’s top dog is so brutal, there will be casualties.
Here, TV WEEK gives you the lowdown on some of the inmates in the Wentworth Correctional Centre.
Franky Doyle (Nicole Da Silva)
Before Franky was an inmate, she was a contestant on a reality TV show. On the show, she violently attacked the host when he verbally abused her. She still gets fan mail from the public.
“She’s a semi-celebrity,” Nicole, 36, explains to TV WEEK. Franky is the prison’s top dog – the jailbird at the apex of the institution’s pecking order – when Wentworth begins. Through a mixture of charm and extreme force, she’s built up a gang of loyal followers inside.
“Violence is a big part of who she is,” Nicole says. “It’s part of how she communicates with the world.”
In season one, Franky is involved with fellow inmate Kim (Ra Chapman). But she soon forms a relationship with another character, much to fans’ delight.
Bea Smith (Danielle Cormack)
The series opens with Bea in the back of a prison van. She committed a crime after being a victim of domestic abuse.
“She stayed in that relationship for many, many years,” Danielle Cormack, 47, says of Bea’s marriage to her violent husband. “And they have a daughter together.”
When she arrives at Wentworth, Bea is in shock. She wants to contact her daughter, Debbie (Georgia Flood), and is afraid to get involved with anything going on inside the prison.
But fellow inmate Jacs harasses her. And Franky soon forces her to participate in her drug-smuggling operation.
“Bea has to decide whether to stand up for herself,” Danielle explains.
Jacs Holt (Kris McQuade)
The ever-steely Jacs has all the makings of a top dog.
“She’s from a criminal family,” Kris, 66, says. “She’s the matriarch.”
When the series begins, Jacs has been in isolation. Franky put her there and then took control. Out of isolation, she wants revenge.
“Jacs says to Franky, ‘Your time’s up. I’m coming to get you,'” Kris reveals.
Liz Birdsworth (Celia Ireland)
One of the more mature inmates, Liz is a prison peer worker. She tries to help Bea settle when she arrives.
“She’s the go-between for the guards, the governor and inmates,” Celia Ireland, 51, says.
Liz, who married into a wealthy farming family, was drunk when she caused the tragedy that saw her locked up.
“She was intimidated by her husband’s family, and she just drank heavily,” Celia adds. “She’s much more together in prison than she was before.”
Doreen Anderson (Shareena Clanton)
Before the accident that saw her sent her to prison, Doreen was a party girl.
“She always had drugs and was high,” Shareena Clanton, 27, explains. “The correctional system is a good thing – it’s taught her to be straight.”
When we meet Doreen, with her is a baby girl, Kaiya (Tanika Fry). Bea offends Doreen when she says prison is no place for a child. But it doesn’t take long for Bea to be proven right.
Behind bars, Doreen becomes close friends with Liz. She is also one of Franky’s most loyal followers.
“People underestimate her, thinking she’s naive or stupid,” Shareena says. “She just took the wrong path.”
Wentworth starts from season one on Thursday 12 April at 8.50pm on ABC.
