On the Outside

Inside Soap, Issue 132, 6 August 1999

The ladies of Prisoner reunite and celebrate their freedom.

Some 20 years after the first episode was broadcast in Australia, the women of Prisoner: Cell Block H are back together. Gathered in a photographer's studio in Sydney for our exclusive photo shoot, former castmates Judith McGrath (Colleen Powell), Val Lehman (Bea Smith), Colette Mann (Doreen Burns) and Betty Bobbitt (Judy Bryant) are gossiping and catching up on old times.

Each have taken different paths since leaving the legendary prison drama.

Judith McGrath has continued to be a well known TV face since Prisoner. She currently stars in the hit Aussie medical drama All Saints, and also took a lead role in A Country Practice for three years, although younger viewers will remember her better in the Aussie kids' drama Round The Twist.

Val Lehman quit as Wentworth's top dog Bea Smith back in 1983, and moved to the UK for a time. She still acts occasionally, most recently in a guest role in Blue Heelers, but now devotes most of her time to antiques - both running her own shop and presenting a regular slot on a TV chat show.

Colette Mann, on the other hand, has become an even bigger TV star than when she captured viewers' hearts as the child - like Doreen Bums. Now a presenter on Good Morning Australia, Aussie TV's equivalent of This Morning, Colette is a household name to millions. She did make a brief return to the world of soap, however, when she spent six weeks standing in for fellow ex-Prisoner star Caroline Gillmer as Cheryl Stark on Neighbours back in 1996.

Betty Bobbitt stepped out of the limelight for many years after filming her final Prisoner scenes and retumed to her native US to concentrate on theatre work. Betty returned to Australia this year with the prestigious Melboume Theatre Company's production of Born Yesterday.

Despite the water which has passed under the bridge, the bond forged between the women during the long, gruelling days on Prisoner still shines through. The last word, however, goes to the make-up artist on today's shoot, Maggie Kolve, who also worked on the programme .'On Prisoner they were always professional and always a lot of fun,"' she says, "They still are."

Picture by Gina Milicia (ginam@netspace.net.au), Whitehouse Photography, Melbourne