Production started this week on season four of Foxtel and FremantleMedia Australia’s drama Wentworth.
The cast and crew are settling in to a new location and studio in Melbourne’s western suburbs to shoot the 12 episode season.
Wentworth’s S4 cast includes Danielle Cormack (Bea Smith), Pamela Rabe (Joan Ferguson), Kate Atkinson (Vera Bennett), Nicole da Silva (Franky Doyle), Celia Ireland (Liz Birdsworth), Shareena Clanton (Doreen Anderson), Katrina Milosevic (Sue “Boomer” Jenkins), Robbie Magasiva (Will Jackson), Socratis Otto (Maxine Conway), Tammy MacIntosh (Kaz Proctor), and Libby Tanner (Bridget Westfall).
As the story resumes, Bea and her cell-block mates are returning to Wentworth after the fire and rebuilding of H Block to find a new dynamic in play with a new contender for Top Dog. On the outside, Franky is trying hard to be a productive member of society. As always, no-one should underestimate “the Freak”.
Wentworth is a FremantleMedia Australia production for Foxtel with FremantleMedia Australia director of drama Jo Porter and Foxtel’s Head of Drama Penny Win as executive producers.
Pino Amenta is series producer for season four. The directors are Kevin Carlin, Steve Jodrell, Jet Wilkinson, Adrian Russell Wills and Catherine Millar.
The writers are John Ridley, Pete McTighe, Michael Lucas, Sam Winston and Marcia Gardner, who is both script editor and writer.
Porter said season four would see Wentworth prison rise again from the ashes of the closing hour of season three.
"We all love the new location and the subtle changes introduced by Pino Amenta and the Art Department," she said.
“The writing team lead by Marcia Gardner has once again concocted a fantastic story arc for the series which will see new and old characters forced to decide what is and isn’t worth fighting for. While thematically, notions of love and obsession will underpin the season as the power base of Wentworth is redefined."
Win said the amazing cast and crew had raised the bar each season and with season four Wentworth would become Foxtel’s longest running Australian drama series.
“All of us at Foxtel and FremantleMedia Australia are very proud of Wentworth’s achievements in garnering both passionate fans and critical acclaim at home on Foxtel’s SoHo channel and around the world,” she said.
Wentworth is distributed by FremantleMedia International and has been sold to 87 countries. Season three launched in the UK on Channel 5 last month and starts in New Zealand on TV2 on August 24.