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New Prisoner series, Wentworth, begins shoot next week as cast revealed

Wentworth, the new drama based on iconic Australian TV series Prisoner, starts production in Melbourne next week.

The 10-part series will be filmed on a purpose-built women’s prison, the Wentworth Detention Centre, where inmates and corrections staff will be forced to forge unlikely friendships to survive on the inside.

The cast includes Danielle Cormack (Underbelly Razor, Rake) as Wentworth’s latest arrival, suburban wife and mum Bea Smith; Nicole Da Silva (Rush, East West 101) as Gen Y lesbian Franky Doyle; Celia Ireland (Laid, All Saints) as earthy Liz Birdsworth; and Shareena Clanton as young Aboriginal woman Doreen Anderson.

Catherine McClements (Rush, Water Rats) and Kate Atkinson (Offspring, Rush) play Governor Meg Jackson and her deputy Vera Bennett. Aaron Jeffery (Underbelly Badness, McLeod’s Daughters) and Robbie Magasiva (Shortland Street) are corrections officers Matthew “Fletch” Fletcher and Will Jackson. Leeanna Walsman (Underbelly Badness) plays progressive and crusading lawyer Erica Davidson.

Most of the Wentworth characters also appeared in the original Prisoner series which included Val Lehman as Bea Smith, Carol Burns as Franky Doyle, Sheila Florence as Lizzie Birdsworth and Colette Mann as Doreen Anderson.

Kris McQuade (Killing Time, The Circuit) plays a new character in Wentworth: crime matriarch Jacs Holt.

Foxtel executive director of television Brian Walsh said: “Wentworth will be bold Australian storytelling with this remarkable group of actors portraying the rivalries, power struggles and heartbreak of prison life in a drama tailor-made for the subscription television audience.”

The FremantleMedia Australia production will employ in excess of 300 cast and crew during the four-month shoot.

The series will premiere on Foxtel’s SoHo channel in 2013.


The new cast of Wentworth.

  1. I think it’s good all the old warders and prisoners are caming back I hope bea is top dog the what a shame the freak wont bea thir I think her and vinegar tits would of got along

  2. I would agree with Byron but find it strange that Meg Jackson is The Governor as at the the start of prisoner she was a humble officer!

  3. looking forward to the new Prisoner version hope its good as the old I still watch Prisoner on Foxtel love the show brings back memories. My grandmother never missed an episode when on air in the 70’s

  4. I really think it stupid why fix what was not broken why remake it wish people would stop writing about the crap in the world why cant they tell storys about good no sounder are kids are so messed up

  5. dear sir
    are they going show new wentworth on channel 5
    i love prisoner cell block h was hit tv show in
    england on itv on late at night
    i am watching old episodes on http://www.youtube.com again
    will network 10 show on channel 5 at end 2013
    your david jerome

  6. Unless I am mistaken wasnt Lizzie suppose to be in her 70s as that is how old she was in the original series of Prisoner? In Wentworth, again, unless I am mistaken, the woman playing her is only forty six. It might have been better to make her the new Meg Morris. I did catch some episodes esp the one where an officer was accidently killed and blood was all over the floor and thats when I changed the station. We already have too many series based on similar activities. Never the less, I hope the show does well, but I dont think it can ever match the famous Prisoner. Sorry….

  7. I don’t know if I really like this but only time will tell, but so far no.
    None of the characters match as they have all been changed around, I mean Erica Davidson as a lawyer? I mean really? They should have kept the characters in the same rolls as before plus a black Doreen no sorry doesn’t work,they should also of at least tried to get characters that looked like the originals or made them look a little like them

  8. Joan ferguson should definitely come back. In the last run she finally got caught robbing a bank. In this run, she should do the same robery and get away with it. Also they should bring back crime boss Lionel fellows.

  9. All they had to do was invent diffrent character names and diffrent backstories.

    Hey I would even of called it Wenworth 30 Years On….

    To associate the same names with the orginal Imho..is pure idiotic

  10. I’m glad Joan ferguson is being revived for season 2. They should also reintroduced crime boss Lionel fellowes. He was only in the show briefly a couple of times but he had key parts in major story lines.

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