Prisoner stars to reunite for a good cause
Exclusive: Former Prisoner stars will reunite to raise funds for HIV awareness, including Betty Bobbitt who tells TV Tonight she's never been to any fan events yet.
- Published by David Knox
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EXCLUSIVE: Former cast members of Prisoner will reunite in November to raise funds for HIV awareness.
Stars will gather at a St. Kilda venue on 11.11.11 to meet with fans of the iconic Aussie soap and raise funds for non-profit group Audacious Dreaming. The night will also feature the film ‘A Fairytale Life’ featuring Glenda Linscott (“Rita Connors”).
In attendance will be Aussie actresses including Peta Toppano (“Karen Travers”), Maggie Millar (“Marie Winter”), Margot Knight (“Sharon Gilmour”), Lesley Baker (“Monica Ferguson”), and Annie Phelan (“Myra Desmond”).
Also attending are Janet Andrewartha (“Reb Keane”), Debra Lawrance (“Daphne Graham”), Lois Collinder (“Lurch”), Kirsty Adams (“Officer Anne Yates”), Louise Le Nay (“Sandy Edwards”), Jentah Sobott (“Mouse”), Jacqui Gordon (“Suzi Driscoll”) with more names expected to be confirmed.
For Betty Bobbitt, who played ‘Judy Bryant’ from 1979-1984, it will be a rare opportunity to meet up with fans. Bobbitt has recently written a book about her time on the show, From the Outside, as she explained to TV Tonight.
“I’ve never gone to the reunions. I was going to go to one but I was sick and couldn’t go. So they probably think ‘Bobbitt’s going to do them so we won’t ask her,'” she laughs.
“I loved working in the show. I made friends with all the cast members and had a good time.
“To me it was a happy experience. It gave me unbelievable money I never thought I would have. I bought a house while I was doing it.”
The Philadelphian-born actress was lured to Australia by US peformer Jonathan Daly, who cast her in his 1960s variety show, Daly at Night, filmed at Channel Seven’s Teletheatre in Fitzroy.
“I was appearing as Agnes Gooch in Auntie Mame and he thought I was funny so he said ‘Come to Australia and appear on my show as a comic,'” she said.
“I got Frank Thring to do Macbeth with me, and I did it in a Southern accent with a lot of fake blood.
“It went live to air, but now nobody has anything of it. I saw a Channel Seven history special and it wasn’t even mentioned.”
Prior to Prisoner there were ensemble roles with the Melbourne Theatre Company, plus Tikki & John’s famed theatre restaurant, allowing her to do everything from vaudeville to Shakespeare.
But it was as lesbian Judy Bryant that she would become best known. She lived 40k from the Nunawading studio and didn’t drive, so there were long taxi rides. On top of the long days she was a single parent of two boys.
“It was an amazing journey, but Elspeth (Ballantyne) was the same as a single parent, Val Lehman had three children, so we were all actors with a beautiful gig that paid us well and it was amazing.
“Towards the end I was keen to do something else. Enough already playing the same character. I’d been an actor all my life and I wanted to play someone else. I loved the cast but the ones I had been most bonded to had left,” she says.
“So the last year I was a little bit restless, but I still enjoyed it.
“When I finished I went straight into a play at the MTC. In ’86 I went back to the States to connect with my brother. When I came back I went straight into Nunsense on tour, which I later directed with June Bronhill.”
Unlike many of her colleagues who feared type-casting, Bobbitt didn’t feel the need to shun her Prisoner days. But it’s only recently that she re-connected with fans via Facebook, including in the UK.
“I didn’t believe that this show we did in the early 80s was still popular. It’s only been in the last year that people have contacted me.
“Then I realised the following and it was amazing. I’m not very keen on being a star and all of that stuff. You want to pay me money for my autograph? Shutup!”
Earlier this year 111 Hits began rerunning Prisoner each weeknight at 6:30pm and the show is pulling a good following for Foxtel. TEN even toyed with the idea of reviving the genre with a new take on a prison-inspired series.
Bobbitt’s book, which is sold as either a paperback or EBook on her own website, focusses on her years at Wentworth Detention Centre. Prisoner may have been considered a sensationalist soap at the time, but it broke ground for women on television.
“In 1979 to be talking about lesbianism was amazing,” she explains.
“Almost every actor at the MTC would get a gig in it. But there was a time before that, and I open my book by talking about, when stuck-up theatre actors in those days would say ‘I’d never prostitute myself with a role in a soap.’ And they meant it until they were offered a role.”
Now semi-retired but still keen for a few acting stints, Bobbitt is continually recognised in public, especially when people hear her US accent.
“It’s nice to know that people are still interested in me.”
For more details on the Prisoner event in Melbourne on 11.11.11 email [email protected]
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23 Responses
I really lOved the show. My manna used to love the show and so do I. I just can’t get enough of the show. Everytime I come home from work I always put it on. I even tape it because it is on 111 hits. I will be going to the reunion on 11/11/11 in st. Kilts thanks 111 hits for brining it back cheers biggest fan jason
Hey why wasn’t Jude Kuring invited, aren’t her episodes coming up now on Foxtel? An absolute legend of the show, never seen anyone or should that be anything like it.
Peta Toppano doesn’t reside in Melbourne either David, but she is attending. It looks like Val’s been snubbed, she should be the first person invited. If it wasn’t for Bea Smith, people wouldn’t remember Prisoner.
Emma I think looks can be deceiving. There is no indication that Val has been snubbed, just as there is nothing to indicate whether she sent an apology or what Peta’s movements are in early November and whether it coincided with her current plans. Such is the passion for the show I guess conspiracy theories will thrive regardless.
@ Patrick, I was also suprised Val Lehman’s name wasn’t there. Friends of mine once asked for her autograph, but she wouldn’t give it to them unless they paid for it.
Val doesn’t reside in Melbourne, but there are still more names to be confirmed.
Yes, Ten is missing a big opportunity here by not picking up Inside Out. With their ratings so dire, I can’t see why they wouldn’t ocmmission a short run of this new ‘Prisoner” inspired series and if it is a success, show two episodes a week. If shows like Dallas, Hawaii Five-O and Charlie’s Angels can come back, why not an Oz classic?
We all Love Prisoner and any publicity to see our beloved cast and crew is welcome. Now we need to get Prisoner shown again in the UK and USA. Have fun people and follow the swarm. Check out the Prisoner fan page on face book
facebook.com/pages/Prisoner-Cell-Block-H-fan-page/193956107312724#!/
@ brett I totally agree, the reruns of Prisoner on foxtel have made it in the top 50 shows for the week which is not bad for a 30 year old show considering the 1000+ shows being screened on foxtel.
The management at Ch 10 are obviously not reading this or they don’t care what the people want when they are instead going ahead with Reef Doctors which is just going to be another in a long list of their drama flops.
I also agree it should be put on Eleven. To put it in perspective Prisoner has gotton upto 62K on foxtel which can only be accessed by 30% of the population and with dozens of channels as competition whereas something on Eleven like The Office was only managing around the 85K mark which can be accessed by 80% of the population and with much fewer channels as competition. Now you do the maths. If that isn’t enough proof then I don’t know what is.
Surely Prisoner would even rate better than their Friday night offerings of Hawaii 5-0 repeats resulting in Ten getting smashed by the ABC and coming awfully close to being beaten by the digital channels which has been going on for so long now on Friday and Saturday nights.
Surely it’s time to put Australia’s most successful drama back on free to air and give the people what they want, not only for those who remember it but also for a new generation of viewers.
Where’s Val Lehman’s name? It wouldn’t be a reunion without Bea Smith would it?
is there a promo in this for 111 Hits? 11.11.11 all those ones!!!
Are the idiots running the asylum at Ten reading this they should, clearly the audience still has a yearning for the inmates at wentworth first Ten announces there bringing back the young doctors then nothing then prisoner is to be remade and suprise nothing but low and behold its a knockout and the boring young talent time get revived wat a joke Ten has become with that murdoch person at the helm and yes kirsty adams is or was known as kirsty childs and was the wife of cop shops Peter Adams just goes to show wat ten r missing out on if the reruns on 111 r pulling in solid ratings why doesn’t eleven show this iconic show in its original mon/tues timeslot !
What a Fantastic cause.
You should all be congratulated.
Thanks for the great article David.
I wonder if actress Margot Knight is bettered remembered by fans as “Sharon Gilmour” or “Terri Malone”.
Yes Betty was joking about Margot’s two lesbian roles. She said lucky Judy wasn’t still there or she mighty have killed her.
Brilliant cause
I’ve ordered her book, loving the way the introduction of Judy Bryant has added such a human dimension to Prisoner currently showing on HITS 111
Absolutely love this show – for such a low budget, simply out together production, the script-writing and dynamic acting really packed plenty of punches!
Is Kirsty Adams, the wife of the late actor Peter Adams who also played Willy Slocumbe? later in the series? She was known as Kirsty Childs then, I think. A very good actress.
Wow, Another reunion? Love the show though
Thanks for the heads up David. It would also be interesting if you could do an interview and find out the reasons why the new prison themed drama didn’t go ahead as planned as there were many people looking forward to it.
For a network that has had close to 20 years of lowly rating failed dramas, it just seems extraordinary that the Prisoner remake idea was canned when it was the best idea they’ve had in years and would have had a guaranteed following from the outset due to the original.
thanks for the info David i am hoping to attend just emailed for info this will be the third prisoner event i have attended
Judy Bryant was a legend, the tough lesbian with a heart of gold, whose character made up one of the 4 major inmate characters of the show and who played a big part in making the show into what it is. Just watching the reruns on Foxtel and I’m not surprised it still has a huge following, if only they could make a drama like that now.
Just a little worried about going to the event David, I mean being surrounded by such tough women like Marie Winter, Monica Ferguson, Myra Desmond, Reb Keane, Sandy Edwards, Sharon Gilmore and “Lurch” it just doesn’t sound like a safe place to be ha ha
Great article and iv with Betty Bobbitt. She was one of my favourite actors from the series, and a lovely lady whom i met at a stage door in 1984, she was absolutely delightful and humble. ‘Judy Bryant’ was such a seminal figure in Australian tv, as she mentions, lesbians were hardly front and centre on screen. Number 96′ and ‘The Box’ had used sexuality in a sensationalist & not necessaril a progressive way, somehow ‘Judy’, despite her initial heaviness towards the other prisoners, developed into a truly compassionate and fully fleshed human being. Betty’s wonderful face and ability to engender a connection with viewers helped. Re watching the series as an adult gives me greater appreciation of its pioneer status.