ACTORSCHARACTERSSTARTEPISODES

EPISODE 178

Sandra is recaptured and placed in solitary. Judy is looked after by Georgie.

First broadcast ... 1981 (Melbourne)
Broadcast on Channel 5 Monday 29 December 1997 23:35
DVD release: volume 12 disc 1 (AUS)
Duration: 00:46:23



Meg ~ Elspeth Ballantyne
Judy ~ Betty Bobbitt
Lizzie ~ Sheila Florance
Erica ~ Patsy King
Bea ~ Val Lehman
Jim ~ Gerard Maguire
Doreen ~ Colette Mann
Vera ~ Fiona Spence
Evelyn ~ Julia Blake
David ~ Serge Lazareff
Georgie ~ Tracey Mann
Sandra ~ Candy Raymond
Dr Granger ~ Peter Regan
Sister Haines ~ Liddy Holloway
Phyllis ~ Reylene Pearce

  • Written by Barbara Ramsay
  • Directed by Mike Murphy
  • I have corrected the credit for Sister "Hainer" since it seems to be an obvious mistake

    Sandra is persuaded to come back inside. Evelyn seems worried that her medicine isn't working on Meg. Sandra is told she could be charged with attempting to escape: Erica tells her she will he sent to solitary (with an aside to Jim that the male officers will now have to bed down in the interview room) and warns her against an escalating cycle of ever more serious charges that could make her stay in Wentworth permanent. Doreen overhears that Meg is getting worse and recovers what's left of the medicine from Evelyn's cell and flushes it away in the shower block. Georgie checks up on Judy, but is told to look after Bea, who seems to be in a much worse condition. Erica suggests to Dr Granger that the epidemic may be non-bacterial as the antibiotics seem to be having little effect. Evelyn points out to Lizzie that Meg seems much better, and indeed she comes out of her coma. When Vera accompanies the delivery of meals to Sandra in solitary, she loses no time in reminding her that she's a prisoner just like any other, and by refusing to say where the meal was prepared she manages to trick Sandra into refusing to eat it. Meg doesn't remember being given Evelyn's medicine, but Evelyn points out to Dr Herbert that she refused to take the antibiotics herself and she is better. He nevertheless refuses to let her treat the other women unless her remedy is analysed. Doreen is relieved to see that Meg is better when she delivers the meals to the infirmary, but when Meg asks if the remedy has been tried on anyone else, Doreen is forced to confess that she has got rid of the rest of it. Evelyn promises to make more from ingredients in the prison garden. Vera wonders why she isn't infected as she'd shared a cell with Meg, but Jim assures her they must both be immune. When Vera visits Meg in sickbay, Meg tells her she thinks it was Evelyn's remedy that cured her. Doreen tells Georgie about Evelyn's remedy, and Georgie rushes off to put pressure on Evelyn to make some more of it for Judy. Evelyn gets permission from Erica to gather ingredients from the garden, after Dr Herbert has privately convinced her this would be a perfect opportunity to confiscate the brew to test it. Georgie and Doreen help Evelyn gather the ingredients from the garden, but Dr Herbert intervenes in the kitchen and takes the medicine away, though enough has been hidden away to treat Judy. Next morning, the women catch Vera in the shower block: Doreen remarks that she hasn't got anything they haven't already seen. This is echoed (to Vera's obvious discomfort) as Jim offers the same judgement in the staff room on the claims of alternative medicine. Lizzie and Doreen try to put pressure on Meg to persuade Erica to use Evelyn's remedies - using as evidence that Bea is still sick on just Dr Herbert's antibiotics. Dr Granger gets back the lab results, which show that the main effective ingredient in the herbal remedies is a purgative, so he gives something similar to Bea. He also asks Erica to have Evelyn's cell searched, as he suspects she may have something else hidden there. Judy thanks Georgie for helping her and gives her a kiss, which makes Georgie lash out at Judy, and unfortunately for her Jim witnesses this. Dr Granger tells Erica he's sent off Evelyn's mixtures for tests because he suspects she only knew the correct remedy because she was responsible for poisoning the sufferers in the first place.

    ***


    Script Editor: Patrick Amer
    Storyliners: Dave Worthington, Alastair Sharp


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