Actors' Books Section

STAGESTRUCK, Val Jellay
This is the autobiography of Val Jellay, who appeared in Prisoner as several different characters - probably most memorable as Mabel, the friend of Jessie Wyndham. She was also the wife of the late Maurie Fields. This book is quite an interesting look at their life in showbiz, and although the more recent television stuff is only passed over briefly, Prisoner is mentioned.

RECOLLECTIONS AT PLAY: A LIFE IN AUSTRALIAN THEATRE, John Sumner - buy this at Amazon.co.uk
An autobiography of someone heavily involved in Australian theatre. This book has lots of mentions of the early Prisoner stars - those with a mainly theatrical background - especially people like Alan Hopgood, Gerda Nicolson, Elspeth Ballantyne, Joy Westmore etc and lots of cast pictures from those times. Well worth a read if you're interested in the theatrical careers of the actors and actresses.

IT'S A JOKE JOYCE: AUSTRALIA'S FUNNY WOMEN, Wendy Harmer
A collection of small biographies and snippets about Australian comediennes from the 1950s to the 1980s. Among those included are Val Jellay, Jane Clifton, Janet Andrewartha and Maryanne Fahey.

AUSTRALIAN THEATRE, Graeme Blundell - buy this at Amazon.co.uk
A collection of anecdotes on theatre in Australia.

Those Prisoner actors are a talented lot though. They even write stuff themselves: Our dear old cuddly dwarf Alan Hopgood (Wally Wallace) is actually a very well known and respected playright and has had several plays published, including: And here comes Bucknuckle and And the Big Men Fly.

NEIGHBOURS, THE PLAYSCRIPTS - Alan Hopgood
At the other end of the scale (!) he's also written scripts for Neighbours and this book is available. It's really for schools, but it's got quite a good family tree at the start of it showing the links between the families.