Characters / Wentworth

Prisoners

Bea

Bea Smith

"You don't run this prison. I do."

Played by: Danielle Cormack
Seasons: 1-4

Bea is the main protagonist of Wentworth, initially sent to the prison on remand for several charges, including GBH and attempted murder. Whilst adjusting to prison life, Bea makes both friends and enemies, and her worst mistake is angering then-Top Dog Jacs Holt. Bea soon finds herself in a fight for her life.

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• Action Girl: Quickly becomes one of these, even managing to get into a fight against Boomer and walk away without a bruise, and eventually winning a fight against Franky to become Top Dog.
• Affectionate Nickname: Franky almost always calls her 'Red'.
• Alpha Bitch: Can be seen as one at times, especially once she's become Top Dog.
• Anti-Hero: Of sorts. She's a good person but she can be pretty damn scary and manipulative when she wants to be. Plus she's killed a load of people by the end of the third season.
• Badass Boast: Gives out several throughout the series. The first one is probably the best, though, when she stands up to Jacs in the cafeteria. "So, please, make your own tea!"
• Batman Gambit: Near enough everything she does in season two, and at least half of what she does in season three.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Has several facial scars as of season three.
• Berserk Button: As with the other inmates, she refuses to lag (though she nearly dobs Franky in to Ferguson in Failing Upwards) and despises child abuse. As of season three, she refuses to let any drugs of any kind enter her prison.
• Big Damn Heroes: Saving Franky from the fire in the season three finale.
• Boom, Headshot!: How she kills Brayden in the season two finale.
• Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Breaks up with Allie after she thinks she can't trust her, but they get back together.
• Broken Bird: Comes across this way very much in the first season.
• The Chains of Commanding: Franky makes the practice of feuding for the position of Top Dog - and subsequently maintaining it - look easy and enjoyable. It's neither.
• The Chessmaster: Of season two, where she manipulates near enough everyone, culminating in her escaping, killing Brayden and returning to prison as its new, official Top Dog.
• Dating Catwoman: Has an affair with Allie, a member of rival Kaz's group.
• Deadpan Snarker: Has her moments, but moreso when she's in 'Top Dog' mode.
• Death Glare: Is very good at giving these.
• The Dragon: Joan thinks Bea is under her control during season two. How wrong she is.
• Dope Slap: Gives one to Franky after the latter taunts her over failing to protect both Debbie and Harry.
• Driven to Suicide: Attempts it after learning of her daughter's death. It fails.
  • succeeds in the season four finale, to ensure Ferguson's downfall.
• Driven to Villainy: Possibly. YMMV.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: As aforementioned, she's a good person with her family and friends' best interests at heart, but don't forget what she's capable of and who she's willing to sacrifice to achieve her goals. Liz, Joan, Franky and Jodie all learned this the hard way.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Nearly happens in the season three finale when she re-enters the burning prison to save Franky. They both survive.
  • In the season four finale, she stabs herself in the stomach to frame Ferguson.
• Impairment Shot: After her drink is spiked by Ferguson in season 4 prior to her murder attempt and the effects begin to take hold.
• Ironic Echo: "If you rule through chaos, you reap what you sow." Joan originally said this to Bea after Bea's stabbing, and Bea echoes these words to Joan after Joan causes the prison fire.
• Killed Off for Real: Stabs herself to death, with assistance from Ferguson.
• The Leader: In season three after being The Lancer for the first two seasons.
• Manipulative Bastard
• Mama Bear: To both her daughter and the other women.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Realizes she's gone too far after bringing Doreen and her baby into her fued with Ferguson.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: On the receiving end in season one (from Simmo) and on the giving end in season two (to Franky and Lucy).
• Oh, Crap!: When she becomes the prime suspect in Meg Jackson's murder, and again when Jacs threatens Debbie.
• Precision F-Strike: Of a different variety. "Freak."
• Prison Riot: Reluctantly part of one in the very first episode. She later organises one at the start of season three.
• Prisons Are Gymnasiums: Often seen working out either alone or alongside Maxine.
• Self-Harm: The stress of living in Wentworth - alongside the prospect of spending the rest of her life there - drives Bea to this by Season 4.
• Sympathetic Murderer: No one will claim she was wrong to kill Jacs and Brayden Holt. Even if she had killed her husband, the same would apply.
• Taking You with Me: A variation of. Bea stabs herself multiple times using Ferguson's hand to ensure Ferguson is framed for her death and will not be exonerated.
• The Hero Dies: during the finale of season 4.
• Thanatos Gambit: in the last five minutes of the season four finale, she stabs herself in the stomach multiple times to make sure and frames Ferguson, to ensure she's charged with something after Ferguson kills the main witness in her trial.
• Took a Level in Badass: Though she stood up for herself quickly in the first season, she was more willing to keep her head down and play more of a role as The Lancer. Season two sees her in a more active and assertive role in her goal of killing Brayden Holt, culminating in her beating up Franky and becoming Top Dog.
• What the Hell, Hero?: She uses a lot of people to get what she wants and is frequently called out on it. The prime example is ruining Liz's parole and getting her sent back to prison just so Bea could kill Brayden.

Franky

Francesca "Franky" Doyle

"You ain't missing us, are ya?"

Played by: Nicole da Silva

Seasons: 1-6 (regular cast) 7 (guest appearance)

Franky is a hotheaded yet lovable lesbian who was sentenced to seven years at Wentworth for assaulting a Jerkass TV presenter on-air. In season one, she is battling Jacs Holt for the position of Top Dog, a position which she has gained by season two. Despite her high aggression and hormones, Franky is an intelligent woman who studies Law in her spare time. That is, unless she's flirting with female members of the staff...

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• Action Girl: Possibly even more-so than Bea!
• Alpha Bitch: Of season two, especially toward Bea, who she is convinced wants to replace her as Top Dog.
• And Starring: Nicole da Silva gets this honour in season six.
• Anti-Villain: Both this and an Anti-Hero. She's wily, impulsive and focused on survival, but underneath it all she's a vulnerable woman in need of help and love. See below.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Is still gorgeous even with all her scars.
• Beta Bitch: As of season three. Until she's paroled.
• Big Damn Heroes: Saving Sophie from being gang-raped by Lucy's crew with a simple staff.
• Broken Bird: Due to both Parental Neglect and Abusive Parents, Franky had a very tough upbringing and still bears both literal and metaphorical scars to date.
• Butch Lesbian: Averted. She may be scary and dominant, but she's quite petite and feminine, very unlike the original Franky Doyle in Prisoner: Cell Block H.
• Code of Honour: Is frequently seen quoting the unofficial inmate rules, such as "She's a fucking lagger; she knew the rules!" or "You know the rules, it's just gotta be me and [Bea]."
• Cool Big Sis: Her younger half-sister absolutely adores her.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Ties in with her Broken Bird qualities.
• Deadpan Snarker: Probably the snarkiest character in the series.
• Demoted to Dragon: When Bea takes over as top dog.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Looks like it happens in Bea's arms during the season three finale. It doesn't.
• Disney Death: In the season three finale.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Even lampshaded by Doreen in the first episode.
• Dope Slap: To Kim after Kim tries to get Bridget in trouble for flirting with Franky.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Subverted. For most of the third season, Franky is convinced she's going to die one way or another, only to be paroled, survive the great fire and be driven off into the sunset with and by Bridget. Though this only lasts for a season before she's thrown back in Wentworth.
  • Finally played straight in season 6. After weeks on the run from her escape, Franky manages to find the evidence at Iman Farah's hideout that prove her innocence in Mike Pennisi's murder, leading to her release and returning to life on the outside.
• Enemy Mine: Puts her issues with Bea aside so they can take down Ferguson together.
• Establishing Character Moment: We first meet her when she's having sex with fuck-buddy Kim Chang in Bea's assigned cell.
• Forbidden Fruit: For both Erica and Bridget.
• Foreshadowing: Subverted with her death in season three with quotes like "I'm gonna be leaving this place in a coffin." and "I'm never getting out of here alive."
  • Turns out the other foreshadowing proved true. "I wanna walk out those gates with this place a smoking pile of ashes. Then I wanna be picked up by a hot girl, in a hot car, and driven off into the sunset". After being paroled and surviving the prison fire, Franky is greeted by Bridget in a hot car, and the two share a passionate kiss before driving off into the sunset.
  • Allie notes in season 5 that one of Frankie's often spoken lines, "The only way I'm going to leave this place is in a box", is going to turn out to be true- she escapes Wentworth in a box, though very much alive!
• Friends with Benefits: Uses Jodie and Kim for this.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: The best example is when she saves Sophie from being gang-raped, only to get Sophie drunk in her cell with the possibility of having sex with her.
• Heroic BSoD: Knives Out when everyone is out to get her and the only way she can survive is being forced to have sex with Juicy Lucy.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Nearly happens in the season three finale when she helps Bea save baby Joshua, only to pass out from the fumes. They all survive.
• Hidden Depths: She's a lot more vulnerable and insecure than she seems, and can also be sweet and protective. Seasons 4 and 5 see her as a competent legal aide worker, and in the latter season she even pieces together her own frameup.
• Humiliation Conga: Inverted in season three. After being dethroned by Bea for Top Dog, she finds some footing running drugs through the kitchen, which is cut short when Bea ends the drug trade inside the prison and she's left without gear or steady contacts for money. In quick succession, she gets robbed by Lucy when trying to buy gear to appease Cindy-Lou, is forced to make a scene to get brief protection in the slot, is forced to have sex with the disgusting Lucy for protection, and manages to ward off Cindy-Lou's gang... Only to find out that Bea, who she was too proud to ask for help from, settled the matter in a couple of minutes.
• It's All About Me: Briefly gets this way after becoming Top Dog.
• The Lancer: Demoted to this for Bea after being a sort-of The Leader for the first two seasons.
• Lipstick Lesbian
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Gives one to Jacs but also receives one from Bea.
• Oh, Crap!: Several. When she's ambushed in Jac's cell, when Bea challenges her for the position of Top Dog, and when Bates tries to rape her in the garden shed.
• Prison Rape: Nearly suffers from this twice. First with Jacs's crew with a screwdriver, secondly with Bates during the garden project.
• Prison Riot: Instigates the first one but sits out of the second one.
• Prisons Are Gymnasiums: Frequently uses the gym to keep in shape / for Fanservice.
• Pun: "I don't eat sausage. I'm a vagitarian."
• Situational Sexuality: Averted; she is and always has been a lesbian, though her prison fuck-buddies tend to be this.
• Sympathetic Murderer: She was the one to kill Meg Jackson, albeit accidentally, and is willing to die when Will finds out.
• Tattooed Crook: Technically. We see her self-harming in Knives Out, and soon it's revealed she carved/inked a new tattoo on her arm.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Subverted. Her new status in season two sees a rise in her hostility and aggression, with several characters commenting on the change, but her pained reaction after Liz calls her out on it shows it's mostly a facade to maintain her position at the top.
• Villainous Breakdown: In season two when her bad deeds begin to catch up to her, particularly the death of Soo-Yun.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Has her darker moments, specifically bullying Bea for the first seasons, as well as letting Boomer get burned by Bea and turning Sophie against Liz.

Liz

Elizabeth "Liz" Birdsworth

"I'm looking after the girls."

Played by: Celia Ireland

Seasons: 1-7

Liz is the peer-worker at Wentworth, sentenced to eleven years for the manslaughter of her mother in-law. Liz is mainly seen as a mother figure to the other women, trying always to maintain peace and keep trouble to a minimum, making her a middle-man of sorts between the officers and prisoners. Despite her good intentions, Liz is a recovering alcoholic, and wherever temptation shows its ugly head, so does Liz's chaotic side.

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• The Alcoholic: Was this, and has occasional relapses whenever booze is brewing within the prison.
• Broken Bird: Qualifies due to her positive nature but troubled past.
• The Chessmaster: Of season one. She witnessed the murder of Meg Jackson and managed to frame Jacs for the murder by planting Meg's missing bracelet in Jac's cell. In doing so, she protected the real killer: Franky.
• Code of Honour: Nearly every time an inmate is brought inside the prison, Liz is there to give them the run-down of how it works and what not to do if they want to survive.
  • "You see that panic button over there? Don't ever press it."
  • Part of Liz's character development in season two consists of her trying to decide whether to keep quiet about all of Franky's wrong-doings to please the women, or to alert the authorities by breaking the inmates' own code of honour. She chooses to lag.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Though it's unclear why she dropped into alcoholism in the first place, it is clear how out of control Liz becomes once drunk. The reason she ended up inside Wentworth in the first place is because she drunkenly mowed down her mother in-law, killing her.
• Deadpan Snarker: Has her moments.

  Officer: What's this? [holds up steak knife Liz stole to protect herself]

  Liz: It's a steak knife, love.

  Officer: What's it doing here?

  Liz, annoyed: Waiting for a steak.

• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: As pointed out to Bea in The Things We Do, Liz doesn't like a fuss being made about her.
• Driven to Suicide: As her dementia begins to take a toll on her in season 6, Liz begins to lose the will to live. Kaz is able to talk her out of it.
• Dying as Yourself: Her wish when she develops dementia, and it's heartbreakingly carried out by Boomer in the season 7 finale.
• Gory Discretion Shot: We don't actually see her being bashed by Boomer, though we do see the aftermath.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Doreen.
• And I Must Scream: As of the Season 7 finale, Liz suffers from "locked-in syndrome."
• Insistent Terminology: Politely but firmly corrects anyone who calls her "Elizabeth," a name she dislikes.
• Jerkass: Can become this when intoxicated, such as being racist to Doreen and insulting everyone from Boomer to Franky.
• Mama Bear: Fiercely protective of her children, especially after her daughter is also sentenced and imprisoned in Wentworth. Liz is also a mother figure to most of the inmates and therefore can be quite protective of them too e.g. Doreen and Bea.
• Never Mess with Granny: When she's briefly paroled, she's a victim of harassment and theft from one of the other parolees, however she quickly learns her lesson and pulls a knife on him the next time he comes knocking, threatening to castrate him should he ever bother her again. In a more motherly example, she saves her drunken daughter from being raped by charging into the would-be rapist, yelling at him and escorting her daughter to the nearest taxi.
  • Also, having the guts to lag on the other prisoners to the governor and later admitting it to Franky, who was Top Dog at the time and threatening to kill anyone who was lagging.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: On the receiving end of one from Boomer after her release from Protection.
• OnlySaneWoman: Comes across this way when she isn't drunk. Sadly averted in season six when she develops early-onset dementia.
• Prison Riot: Averted. She sits out of both riots. Though in the first one, she is the one and only witness to Meg Jackson's murder.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Does not hesitate to dish these out to whoever she thinks is in need of one, even all three Top Dogs! Especially Franky after the death of Soo-Yun and Bea after Bea ruins Liz's parole.
• Scatterbrained Senior: Played for Drama as Liz slowly starts to grow more and more forgetful, only to discover she has early onset dementia.
• Shown Their Work: Alcohol abuse is a substantial risk factor for dementia, with which Liz is diagnosed in season 6.
• The Smart Guy: Of the main group. Though Bea is a manipulator, Liz is always there for general advice and mothering.
• Stepford Smiler: Sort of. She would rather bury her problems and ignore her children whilst she's in prison and put on a happy front. But when her daughter Sophie is also sent to prison, Liz has no choice but to face her demons.
• Sympathetic Murderer: She accidentally / drunkenly killed her mother in-law.

Boomer

Susan "Boomer" Jenkins

"They call me Boomer because I am always coming back."

Played by: Katrina Milosevic

Seasons: 1 (recurring cast) 2-end (main cast)

• Ambiguously Bi: Played with. Boomer always insists she's straight, and she had a boyfriend to back this claim up, however she briefly tries to kiss Maxine during a heated conversation with the latter. May have been Played for Laughs though.
• Big Damn Heroes: Saving Franky from Jacs. Twice.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: The big to Franky's little. They generally stick to the usual dynamic, and Boomer remains loyal in Season 3 well after most of Franky's crew has abandoned her, but even she won't be taken for granted. When Boomer abandons her after "Failing Up," Franky's reduced to prostituting herself to guarantee her own safety, a clear sign that she's hit rock bottom.
• Berserk Button: Making fun of her domestic problems, as Bea finds out in Jail Birds.
• Babies Ever After: Hopes for this with Maxine.
• Bodyguard Betrayal: After Franky fails to come to her aid in "Failing Upwards," Boomer flat-out refuses to defend her from their Filipina clients; Franky only avoids getting shanked by whoring herself out for protection.
• Breakout Character: She barely spoke in season 1 and was clearly just there because she looked the part of a tough enforcer. In later seasons, she's as developed and nuanced as any character on the show and is often identified as a fan favourite. Speaking more strictly objectively, actress Katrina Milosevic went from recurring in season 1 to opening-credits status from season 2 onward, suggesting that the character had become more important than first planned.
• The Brute: Whilst Franky is top dog.
• The Dragon: For Franky.
  • Dragon Ascendant: Sort of. She turns her back on Franky in season three to socialise with the other women. By the time she and Franky make up, Franky has been granted parole.
• Dying Truce: Of a sort. Once Boomer finds out that Liz is diagnosed with early-onset dementia, their relationship - which could charitably be described as strained - becomes close and loving again. Liz even easily forgives Boomer for disclosing her condition to the wider prison population.
• Field Promotion: It's never explicitly referred to in these terms, but Liz's death in the season 7 finale left an opening at peer worker, which Boomer fills in season 8.
• Hidden Depths: Season five shows that she's a talented welder.
• Mark of Shame: Has her hands burned by Bea's steam-press for bashing Liz.
• Mercy Kill: When Liz has a massive stroke in the waning moments of season 7 and is sent, catatonic, to the psych unit to be "as comfortable as possible," Booms smothers her with a pillow. It's a callback to an earlier conversation in which Liz asked for Boomer's help to end her life so she would not have to suffer.
• Mommy Issues: Season 7 reveals she has lots of (justified) issues with her mum, as the latter joins the cast.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Even the officers tend to address her as Boomer if the situation is a friendly one (Will does call her "Sue" once in season one, when she's little more than an extra). The only prisoner who usually calls her by her given name is Sonia.
  • In the season 8 premiere "Resurrection," Vera calls her by the even more affectionate hypocorism "Booms" (commonly used by the prisoners), speaking volumes about the closeness they share after Boomer helped assist the birth of Vera's daughter.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives a heartbreaking one to Franky in Failing Upwards after Franky failed to save Boomer from the steam-press.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Bashing Liz in The Governor's Pleasure.
  • Her transphobic teasing of Reb in the season 8 premiere "Resurrection" comes across as seriously out-of-character for someone who got to know and love a trans person herself.

Doreen

"I may be in here but I still have rights."

Played by: Shareena Clanton

Seasons: 1-5

Doreen is a happy-go-lucky woman who, despite her tough background and sentencing, always tries to look on the bright side of things. Prior to her conviction, Doreen was a hardcore partier, acting recklessly even whilst heavily pregnant, leading to a tragic accident where she lost both her baby and freedom. Inside Wentworth, Doreen is a popular inmate and, like Liz, does her best to take care of the other women.

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• Big, Stupid Doodoo-Head: To Juicy Lucy after she insults Doreen and Nash: "Why don't you shut your mouth, you fat, ugly, old bull-dyke?!"
• Broken Bird: The first person to have a flashback episode (after Bea), and therefore the first revealed to be a tragic character.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After being separated from her boyfriend and son, she's paroled midway through season five and gets to reunite with both.
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Was this prior to incarceration, taking up drinking, drugs and driving, all at the same time and whilst pregnant, leading to a car crash and miscarriage.
• The Heart: Always tries to do what's right, and tries to convince Bea to do the same.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Liz. Jess tries this also. It doesn't work out.
• Idiot Ball: Puts bleach in Liz's booze to try to get her to stop drinking. Surely a reformed party girl like Doreen would have known better.
• The Lancer: The first few episodes imply she will be this for Bea, but it's quickly subverted. She ends up being more of The Heart.
• Mama Bear: For Kaiya. Again after the birth of her son, Joshua.
• Missing Mom: Worries that Joshua will forget her due to the months she has left to go in prison.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After realizing that Kaz's gang is going to put a hit on Nash.
• Nice Girl
• Non-Action Guy: One of the few prisoners to not really engage in any fighting.
• Put on a Bus: Gets paroled midway through season five and doesn't appear for the rest of the season.
• Replacement Goldfish: Ferguson is obsessed with her due to her resemblance to Jianna.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: With Nash.
• Token Minority: One of the few non-white members of the main cast alongside Kim and Will.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Makes an anxious remark about Nash to Kaz, who takes it upon herself to call her cronies to attack him in order to get Joshua back in prison with Doreen. Doreen is shocked when she hears what Kaz has done and rushes to warn Nash, who is forced to flee his home with Joshua in tow. Luckily, nothing bad happens to either of them, but the incident leads Nash's ex to kick him and Joshua out of the house, and Nash is forced to move farther away in order to work for his cousin and live with his parents — meaning Doreen will see even less of Joshua.
• Yandere: Is the victim of this for Ferguson, who seems to be deflecting her guilt over losing Jianna onto Doreen. At the end of season three, Ferguson starts to lose her mind and believes Doreen is Jianna.

Maxine

Maxine Conway

"I'm a woman, and I always have been."

Played by: Socratis Otto

Seasons: 2-5

Maxine is a male-to-female transgender woman sentenced to three years at Wentworth for stabbing her boyfriend. She had good reason, mind you. After finding her feet and standing up to the more judgmental officers/inmates, Maxine becomes an accepted member of the prison and frequently serves as both Bea's henchwoman and conscience.

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• Apologetic Attacker: Is upset and cries while attacking Bea on Franky's orders.
• Babies Ever After: Discussed with Boomer.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Maxine is like the less-murderous version of Jess: sweet and thoughtful with a nasty side.
• Bifauxnen: Socratis Otto, the man who plays Maxine, is a cis-male who makes a very attractive female whilst acting.
• Broken Bird: It's bad enough being the victim of transphobia both in and out of prison. But to have your own boyfriend turn against you when he said he'd stick by you? No wonder Maxine was so timid when she first arrived.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Inverted when Maxine removes her wig, trying to pass off as a man so she can escape prison. It fails.
• Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Zigzagged. Maxine's blonde bob turns out to be a wig (her real hair was cut short by her transphobic boyfriend) but it soon grows back.
• Lady Looks Like a Dude: Played straight with her attempted escape when she ditches the wig.
• The Lancer: To Boomer. And Jess, in a way.
• Mister Seahorse: Inverted. She froze some of her sperm pre-op just in case she one day wanted a baby.
• Nice Girl: A kind and caring inmate.
• Odd Friendship: With Boomer. They start off as casual rivals due to being the henches of Bea and Franky, but they soon develop a sweet friendship of their own. Exaggerated when the idea of having a baby together comes about.
• Precision F-Strike: Maxine doesn't swear too much, but when she does, it's duly noted.
• Put on a Bus: Leaves Wentworth early in season five for cancer treatment at another facility and doesn't appear for the rest of the season.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: Played with during her escape attempt.
• Took a Level in Badass: By season three, Maxine is still a kind and loyal person but has also evolved so she's as tough and frightening as the likes of Boomer.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Inverted. Maxine stabbed her boyfriend out of shock and self-defense when she woke up to him cutting her hair.

Kaz

Karen "Kaz" Proctor

"We are The Red Right Hand. Beware our righteous acts of retribution."

Played by: Tammy Macintosh

Seasons: 3 (recurring cast) 4-7 (main cast)

Kaz is a keen supporter of Bea Smith first introduced in season three, when Bea is leaving court and met by a crowd of supporters led by Kaz. She is later revealed to be the leader of a violent vigilante group called The Red Right Hand who fight crimes (specifically, violence against women) on Bea's behalf. Bea soon invites Kaz to visit her at Wentworth and their stories develop.

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• Alpha Bitch: Becomes Top Dog by default when Bea walks away from the position. Subverted during season five where she proves to be a somewhat ineffectual leader.
• Ax-Crazy: She's the misandrist leader of a vigilante group who commit crimes in the name of Bea Smith. Need we say more?
• Big Bad Wannabe: Immediately asserts herself as the major opposition to Bea, but it's clear that Ferguson is still the biggest threat in the fourth season.
• Death Glare: Gives a handful.
• Diabolus ex Machina: The third season finale is nice and happy... until Kaz shows up as a new inmate.
• Does Not Like Men: At all!
• Everyone Has Standards: When Ferguson plans Bea's murder, she says she can't kill a woman.
• Fire-Forged Friends: After Will saves her from drowning following a car accident that led to the vehicle being submerged, she changes her opinion of him quite drastically. Previously sure he was the biggest risk to the women of Wentworth, the two come to enjoy a terse but nonetheless close and trusting alliance.
• Freudian Excuse: Her father sexually abused her and killed her horse.
  • Tragic Bigot
• Heel–Face Turn: After the Ferguson debacle, she's a lot less rough around the edges by the end of season four, and she and Bea end on an amicable note.
  • After hounding Will for a long time, he saves her life in Belly of the Beast and she softens up to him, even working together to deal with the secret drug running
• Heel Realization: In season 7, in her seassions with Dr Miller. Kaz comes to the painful realization that by killing Sonia and nearly killing Marie, the latter of which was devastating emotionally to Allie, someone she cares about (and while this goes unsaid at the time, the former also emotionally hurt someone she cares about, Boomer), she's become someone who hurts women. She's become everything she once fought against. It's this realization, and the realization of what an awful road it's led her down, that leads the Governor to reinstate her from the slot back to General Population after bombing Marie's cell.
  • A more subtle one happens closer to the beginning of her arc. When she overhears Maxine's visit with Gary and how rude Gary is to her, Kaz tries to empathize and seems genuinely regretful that (as Maxine correctly points out) she and her gang had been just as awful to her recently.
• Knight Templar: Her dedication to womens' rights is admirable. Her methods are somewhat less so.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Attempts to tell Bea that they're both victims. When Bea asserts that she's not a victim, Kaz agrees that victimhood is boring.
• Oh, Crap!: Has a truly epic one when her Kangaroo Court accidentally turns into a lynch mob. To be brutally honest, it was hard to see it turning out any other way.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Even more so than Boomer. Other than her first couple of appearances, when she writes Bea and later visits her (before she's incarcerated herself), nobody ever calls her Karen. It's even evident during the episode where she visits, as Fletch looks for the name "Kaz Proctor" on the list of approved visitors rather than "Karen Proctor."
• Paper Tiger: After spending tons of time harassing Will and trying to get him fired (including knocking him unconscious and humiliating him), she's separated from her cronies in Belly of the Beast and proves to be much more frightened and shaky when confronted by an angry Will alone.
• Playing the Victim Card: Was genuinely a victim at one point, but now uses her position to use the victimization of others as an excuse for an outlet for her own anger. Pretty much nothing happens to her in Wentworth without acting like the victim, even as she tells Bea "fuck being the victim."
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Refuses to see Maxine as a woman, though eventually Maxine grants mercy on a lagging inmate and is treated harshly by her ex-boyfriend, at which point she changes Kaz's view.
• Unflinching Walk: After setting off an explosive in Marie's cell and locking her in there, Kaz walks off without looking back as the home-made bomb goes off behind her.

Allie

Allie Novak

"I always thought you'd do your own dirty work."

Played by: Kate Jenkinson

Seasons: 4-end

• Addled Addict: Turns back to drugs after Bea breaks up with her, and it's not pretty. Thankfully, Bea helps her detox by the end of the episode.
• Best Served Cold: After failing to kill Ferguson in the season five premiere in a violent and direct attack, she gets her revenge for Bea in the finale by arranging for Ferguson to be buried alive in a slow, dark, lonely death.
• Big Damn Heroes: Shooting Marie in the knee to prevent her from slitting Ruby's throat. Slightly less heroic when she blows Brody's head off a moment later, as he was surrendering, but it's a nice bit of Shoot the Hostage Taker while we're at it.
• Character Development: Though she spends much of season four as little more than Bea's girlfriend, Bea's death in season five and focus on her narrative allows for a much deeper growth of character.
• The Chessmaster: After planning an escape with Franky for months, she apparently has cold feet at the last minute... Only for it to be revealed that she told Ferguson and had her trade places so that the latter would escape instead, only to have Will take the box and bury Ferguson alive in it. The icing on the cake is a sketch of Bea taped to the top of the coffin, letting it be the last thing Ferguson sees.
• Closet Key: Bea's never interested in women until her.
• Crusading Widow: Out for Ferguson's blood after Bea's death. She succeeds in working with Will to bury Ferguson alive.
• Disney Death: Appears to die at the same time as Bea, but is successfully resuscitated.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • When she becomes Top Dog in season 8 - together with a new trimmed, platinum blonde hairstyle comes a brutal administration of prison justice (forcibly amputating the finger of an offending inmate) that proves she is no longer the sweet and loving Allie we'd known for the previous four seasons. At least not entirely. Later, she remorselessly waterboards Marie, showing she might be a little too wrapped up in being Top Dog.
  • When she first appears in 8B permanently paralyzed following the stabbing at the end of season 8A, all of the above mentioned moment is wiped away and she does look like the old Allie again. Her hair is longer — about the length it was in previous seasons — and with some outgrowth of her natural brown colour it even looks like the golden blonde she'd had. It sets up her stepping down from being Top Dog.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: A kind, caring blonde.
• Honey Trap: Averted. Allie's feelings for Bea are genuine, but that doesn't stop a jealous Kaz from telling Bea that Allie was just bait in her assassination attempt.

* Left for Dead: In the season 8 finale, after being stabbed repeatedly by Judy. Given that we see her catch a glimpse of rival Lou, making her think it was Lou who attacked her, it's unlikely she actually is dead at this point.

• Lipstick Lesbian
• Noble Demon: Warns Bea about an impending attack on Will, knowing that the two aren't really romantically involved, and sits the actual attack out.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives a perfect one to Will when he mentions his plans to resign as Governor in 8.7 "Battle Lines."
• Satellite Love Interest: Has relatively few scenes that don't involve Bea. Until season five, when Bea is dead and she is able to grow more outside of being a love interest.
• Stupid Sexy Flanders: Is this to Bea from her first appearances, and her flirtations either intrigue or fluster Bea.
• Token Good Teammate: Appears early as the nicer and more reasonable member of Kaz's entourage.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Calls out Franky in Belly of the Beast for sabotaging a transport van, which ends up almost killing Kaz and Will.

Rita

Rita Connors

Played by: Leah Purcell

Seasons: 6-end

• Big Sister Instinct: Tries to keep it quiet at first, but definitely looks out for her kid sister Ruby. Comes back to bite her when protecting Ruby leads to her killing Zara Dragovich and getting no evidence against Marie Winter.
• The Dragon: Tries (and succeeds for a time) to gain this role with Marie.
• In Love with the Mark: Seems genuinely devastated when her biker boyfriend (someone she only met because of her deep cover assignment) breaks up with her after a visit. She freely says to Ruby later in her cell that she thinks of him as a good and decent man. The two reconcile in season 7, even after Rita confesses her big secret to him. They have plans to marry, only for Ray to be gunned down by a rival motorcycle gang as he arrives at the prison for the ceremony.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Rita delivers two across season 6, first to Kosta and her gang and later to Drago, culminating in Drago's death.
• Sympathetic Murderer: Ends up beating Drago to death, after Drago threatens Ruby's life during their fight.
• Taking the Heat: After Ruby bashes Spike in the showers, Rita accepts the blame for it and the painful consequences from Kaz.
• Undercover Cop Reveal: The sting ending to a mid season 6 episode, revealing she is trying to get dirt on Marie Winter. The other cops ultimately abandon her after Drago's death, as Rita has produced no evidence, having been too focused on protecting Ruby.

Ruby

Ruby Mitchell

Played by: Rarriwuy Hick

Seasons: 6-end

• Accidental Murder: Of Marie's son Danny.
• Boxing Lesson: Gives and receives several.
• Chapstick Lesbian: She's definitely not as girlie as Allie, but some of Wentworth's other lesbians would make her look feminine.
• The Dragon: Tries to be this for Marie. Doesn't hold the role for very long before her sister takes it.

Marie

Marie Winter

Played by: Susie Porter

Seasons: 6-8B

• Brains and Brawn: The Brains to Drago's brawn.
• Butt-Monkey: For most of season 8a. Nothing goes right for her, and officers and inmates alike absolutely revile her.
• Mama Bear: To a psychotic extent - when the doctor treating her braindead son Danny mistakenly refers to him by the wrong name, she beats him savagely, and this is the crime that lands her in Wentworth. She is driven by the quest to discover who killed Danny.
• Redemption Equals Death: Dies saving Ruby from a trap set by Lou intended to kill her. Later the core group remark that she "made good" after all the terrible things she'd done before, and when they'd still been very harsh to her, giving this a touch of Forgiveness Requires Death.
• Manipulative Bitch: Definitely shows shades of this, such as when she tries to push Liz towards suicide after Liz witnesses Drago bashing a suspected rat in their operation. Strangely crosses over into her Mama Bear tendencies, often giving her a strangely compassionate edge.

Zara

Zara "Drago" Dragovich

Played by: Natalia Novikova

Seasons: 6

• Brains and Brawn: The brawn to Marie's brains.
• The Big Guy: A brutish and powerful woman who works as Marie's second-in-command and muscle inside. She paralyses another inmate when she is (falsely) exposed as a rat.
• Known Only by Their Nickname: Always referred to as "Drago".
• Living Lie Detector: Drago is described as having an "acute bullshit meter" and instantly sees through Rita as an undercover cop.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Delivers one to inmate Cherry Li, after Rita's fellow cops pin the blame for leaked information on her, ultimately leaving her paralysed.
  • Later ends up on the receiving end of one, when Rita ends up beating her to death.

Kosta

Victoria "Vicky" Kosta

Played by: Artemis Ioannides

Seasons: 6-7

• Asshole Victim: Nobody much likes Kosta, least of all the main characters, but it's still a massive jolt when she's revealed as the person Brody shot dead in the final moments of episode 7.09.
• Fight Clubbing: Starts one up in season 6. Considering how many people knew about it, it's amazing it lasted as long as it did.
• Last-Name Basis: While the officers typically address inmates by surname, especially if giving them orders, even the inmates tend to call her Kosta.

Jacs

Jacqueline "Jacs" Holt

"They think it takes a strong woman to rise to the top in here but it doesn't. It takes a smart one."

Played by: Kris Mcquade

Seasons: 1

• Asshole Victim
• Ax-Crazy: Being the matriarch of a crime family will do that to you.
• Broken Bird: Nowhere near as much as the other women but she could still qualify.
• The Cameo: In the season two opening episode where Bea hallucinates her sitting in her old cell, still bleeding out from the stab wound.
• The Chessmaster: Of season one, manipulating anyone and everyone, from Bea and Toni to Will and Vera.
• Dying Smirk: Despite the brutality of her death, she dies smiling, having proved to Bea that she, just like Jacs, is a killer.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How she dies. Bea stabs her in the neck with a ballpoint pen, then yanks it out and watches Jacs bleed to death.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Tries this with Bea. Unfortunately for her, she's entirely correct.

Judy

Judy Bryant

Played by: Vivienne Awosoga

Seasons: 8-8B

• Back Stab: The shocking fate she inflicts on Allie in the season 8A finale.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: From her introduction and throughout the season, she seems to be on the side and in the crew of Allie and our main girls, and a sympathetic young woman to boot. This is shockingly turned on its head in the waning moments of season 8, when she savagely stabs Allie repeatedly in the showers, leaving her for dead. It's also revealed that the bashing she was responsible for earlier in the season was quite intentional, and perhaps most stunningly, that she ordered a (successful) hit on the United States Secretary of State.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: She's the only reason the bombing in the series finale is able to happen, despite her late attempts to call it off, and she dies in said bombing.
• Hollywood Hacking: Engages in some to locate Rita, at Ruby's behest.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Of Ann Reynolds. She pretends it to have been accidental at first, but it is later revealed to have been very much by design.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: It certainly takes a while, but her death in the series finale is the natural and arguably just end of her story.

Lou

Louise "Lou" Kelly

Played by: Kate Box

Seasons: 8A-end

• Big Bad: In a world of considerable Grey-and-Gray Morality, she's easily the least sympathetic character on the show. You might feel a little for her when her lover dies but ultimately the lack of inhibition she shows toward brutally killing anyone who steps in her way makes her look like an absolutely irredemable villain. Even Ferguson eventually develops softer edges, shown in pretty direct contrast to Lou's.
• Crusading Widow: Goes well and truly off the deep end after Reb's murder, plotting to bomb the prison and kill most if not all the officers (and probably a fair number of inmates as collateral damage).
• The Dreaded: When Lou returns to Wentworth, Boomer (one of the few prisoners who's been there long enough to remember her previous stint) all but pisses herself at the sight of her.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Of a sort. She's mentioned in dialog by Doreen in season 2 as an old top dog and current heavy of one of the other cell blocks, though she never physically appears then.
• Fingore: Chopping off fingers was Lou's trademark form of prison justice when she was Top Dog. She suffers this fate herself at the hands of new Top Dog Allie in the season 8 premiere, and seems to if anything give her grudging respect in the immediate aftermath.

Reb

Rebel "Reb" Keane

Played by: Zoey Terakes

Seasons: 8A-8B

• Morality Pet: Is this to Marie of all people. She's constantly advising him not to be too sucked into Lou's brutal world. Eventually he has to tell her that she's not his mother, nor he her son.
• Plot-Triggering Death: His murder sets off Lou's character arc for the final season.
• Rape as Backstory: Was raped repeatedly by a therapist at a conversion camp where he met Lou.
• Trans Equals Gay: As with his undeniable antecedent Maxine, this is convincingly subverted. A fellow prisoner calls him a lesbian for his relationship with Lou only for him to (understandably) outburst that he is a man who loves a woman, and is thus no lesbian.

Jess

Jessica "Jess" Warner

"I love kids!"

Played by: Georgia Chara

Seasons: 2-3

Jess is a nineteen-year-old offender sentenced to five years for assault. Her prison documents are classified due to a previous conviction; she was charged with infanticide but later released as another killer was supposedly found. Jess is very sweet and calm on the outside whilst very sly and smart on the inside, knowing exactly how to use people to achieve her ambiguous goals.

---

• Asshole Victim: At the hands of Ferguson.
• Ax-Crazy: Subtler than some villains, but still!
• The Baby Trap: Tries and fails with Fletch. Also acts as a decoy for Bea to steal his card and access the mail-room.
• Beware the Nice Ones
• Berserk Button: Coming between Jess and babies / the possibility of having babies a la Fletch's sperm or Doreen's fetus will bring out her vicious side, as Sky and Ferguson found out.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Really plays up her sweet and innocent exterior, hiding that she's a murderous psychopath.
• The Chessmaster: Seriously, she played everyone.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: A nonromantic variant regarding Doreen and her child.
• Cute and Psycho: Yes, very much.
• A Death in the Limelight: The season three finale is this, kind of. Jess gets a fair bit of screentime for the first half, interacting with a fair few characters, eventually revealing to the viewer why she's as nuts as she is. Even when she dies, she's frequently mentioned. Though it's safe to say practically no one in-universe will miss her much.
• Death Glare: Is more than capable of giving these when her mask slips.
• Diabolus ex Nihilo: The problem some viewers have with her.
• The Fake Cutie: Starts off seeming very sweet and innocent, hiding behind Maxine during fights and treating the other prisoners well, though Boomer comments that something seems off about her. Turns out she's right.
• Evil Versus Evil: Very briefly with Ferguson. It's enough to get her killed, however.
• Fire Keeps It Dead: Possibly why Ferguson sets her alight, as well as to remove all evidence.
• If I Can't Have You…: Zigzagged. It's clear she has a weird fixation on babies, yet she's very supportive and protective of pregnant Doreen, that is until Doreen gives birth and makes Liz the baby's alternate carer instead of Jess. Then Jess rushes off with the baby and attempts to smother it. It's unknown whether she intended to do this all along.
• Mama Bear: Regarding Doreen and her pregnancy/baby.
• Manipulative Bastard: As aforementioned, no one was aware of her true nature or motives. Not even Bea, who was aware of Jess's previous conviction, knew what Jess had planned for Doreen's baby. Although Liz does find out Jess was slipping her the booze all along.
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: As Boomer said: "You really are fucking creepy."
• Oh, Crap!: When she realizes Ferguson is going to kill her.
• Precision F-Strike: The normally-sweet Jess really loses it when Ferguson refuses to put her into Protection with Doreen. Jess's response? "You're a fucking bitch!"
• The Reveal: That she is indeed a child-killer, and that poor Madison didn't die from cot death after all...
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Whenever her mask slips, you can guarantee a "fuck" or "shit" will come out. It's even more jarring because of how softly-spoken she usually is!
• Stalker with a Crush: For Fletch, of sorts. She's only trying to get pregnant, and her seducing him was half an attempt at a baby trap and half so that Bea could steal Fletch's keycard.
• Token Evil Teammate: Follows Bea's orders without question (mostly), acting sane along the way whilst still secretly plotting.
• Would Hurt a Child: Zizgagged and eventually confirmed. To be exact, she'd kill a baby.
• Yandere: For Fletch again, though she's only really trying to use him to get pregnant.
  • And then for Doreen after Doreen has her baby, getting jealous and angry after Doreen dares talk to her sister about taking Joshua away from the prison.

Simmo

Simone "Simmo" Slater

"Her days as top dog are numbered."

Played by: Ally Fowler

Seasons: 1-2

• The Cameo: In the season three finale, as Ferguson hallucinates her ghost in the corridor.
• The Dragon: To Jacs in season one.
• Dragon Ascendant: Merged with Dragon Their Feet for season two, where Simmo returns to cause trouble for Top Dog Franky.
• Heel–Face Turn: Zigzagged. She starts out a threat to Bea and Franky, then sides with Bea following Debbie's death and further cements this when Jacs is killed. But at the same time, Simmo is still on good terms with the Holts, who instruct her to kill Bea. Simmo is genuinely stuck on what to do until she tries to kill herself, fails, then decides to kill Bea, only to be killed herself by Ferguson.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Helps Roz deliver one to Bea in episode seven. Simmo will later receive her own beating at the hands of Franky and Boomer in episode thirteen.
• Put on a Bus: Released off-screen...
  • The Bus Came Back: ...only to return in episode thirteen.
• Slain in Their Sleep: By Ferguson.
• The Starscream: Turns her back on Jacs when the "truth" comes out about Meg Jackson's murder.
• Villainous Friendship: With Jacs. For a while.

Kim

Kim "Kimmy" Chang

"I wanted to see you!"

Played by: Ra Chapman

Seasons: 1-4

---

• Addled Addict: The first episode of season four sees her try to climb out of Wentworth.
• Badass Boast: Subverted. When Franky interrogates her upon finding she's smuggling drugs and reminds her that Bea doesn't allow drugs in the prison, she boasts that "not everyone dances to her tune anymore." Franky looks properly aghast and disbelieving, and sure enough, when Bea eventually comes to confront Kim, the bystanders all wince.
• Bad Liar: Bea doesn't believe her for a second after she interrogates her about the return of drugs to the prison.
• The Dragon: Eventually becomes this to Tina after joining her group.
• Face–Heel Turn: Starts off as a fuckbuddy for Franky and is loyal to her gang. In season three, Franky ends things with her and she escalates from smuggling drugs against Bea's decree to trying to frame Franky and ruin her chances at parole.
• From Bad to Worse: Goes from being a minor ally to turning against Franky in season three, earning the antagonism of Bea. By season four, she's an unstable addict.
• Oh, Crap!: When she sees that her drugs have killed Cindy-Lou and that the whole prison will know about the drugs returning.
• Put on a Bus: Disappears at the start of season three due to being granted parole...
  • The Bus Came Back: Only to return for a cameo, and then properly returns in The Long Game.
• Satellite Love Interest: Starts off as little more than a bedwarmer for Franky, though she gets an expanded role in season three.
• Situational Sexuality: Is what Franky calls a "gate gay" as she has a boyfriend on the outside but willingly makes love to Franky behind bars.
  • Later subverted as Kim gets herself thrown back into prison just to be with Franky.
• The Dog Bites Back: Turns more antagonistic after being rejected by Franky. At first she's sympathetic (as she ruined her parole to be with Franky) but she quickly turns into a Yandere.
• Token Minority: One of the few non-white members of the main cast.
• Woman Scorned: Does not take to being dumped well, and even tries to frame Franky.
• Yandere: For Franky in season three.

Jodie

Jodie "Jodes" Spiteri

"I have the courage... I have the courage!"

Played by: Pia Miranda

Seasons: 3

• Break the Cutie: And how!
• Eye Scream: Courtesy of Joan's brainwashing and abuse.
• From Bad to Worse: Jodie is probably one of the unluckiest characters. In the space of eight episodes, she's framed for supplying drugs and thus receiving more time behind bars, then she's physically and psychologically tortured by Ferguson including severe scarring and Stockholm Syndrome, then she's manipulated into shivving Bea and taking the blame for it, then her case against Ferguson fails, which sends her into the psychiatric ward where Ferguson manipulates her into gouging her eye out. The poor girl can't catch a break!
• Madness Mantra: As she claws at her severely damaged eye.
• Put on a Bus: Never seen again, but is mentioned in the season 4 finale in Bea's And This Is for... speech to Ferguson as well as Franky's speech in season 5's penultimate episode.
• Sanity Slippage: After relentless torture at the hands of Ferguson, Jodie is admitted to the psychiatric ward.

Sophie

Sophie "Soph" Donaldson

"No matter what happened when I was a kid, I'm an adult now."

Played by: Edwina Samuels

Seasons: 2-3

• Bratty Teenage Daughter: She's clearly not prepared for prison life, and Bea has to reiterate a couple of times (harshly to Liz and gently to Sophie) that she needs to get her shit together. Somewhat justified when she tells Liz how much having an alcoholic for a mom hurt her in her childhood.
• Calling Parents by Their Name: Calls Liz by her first name, to the latter's chagrin.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Does this several times to Liz during her first several appearances.
• Drunk Driver: How she got to Wentworth. Drove while drunk without a license, killed a cyclist, and then drove off.
• Put on a Bus: She's gone in season four, and Liz mentions she was sent off to a prison farm.

Toni

Toni Goodes

"The smack fairy!"

Played by: Jada Alberts

Seasons: 1-2

• The Cameo: Returns for a brief scene in season two after leaving halfway through season one.
• Put on a Bus: Disappears after episode six, having been put into protection for lagging.
  • The Bus Came Back: For one episode in season two to help smuggle a pregnancy test in for Doreen.
• The Reveal: That Toni is Kaiya's mum instead of Doreen. See Wham Line below.
• Wham Line: "Stop acting like her bloody mum."

Lucy

Lucy "Juicy" Gambaro

"Finish what you start."

Played by: Sally-Anne Upton

Seasons: 3-6

• Boyish Short Hair
• Butch Lesbian
• Butt-Monkey: When she tries to get Vera to support her bid for Top Dog in exchange for getting rid of Ferguson, Vera laughs hysterically, saying she'd be the worst Top Dog ever.
• Evil Is Petty: Threatens to infect a pregnant Doreen with Hep-C, carrying the risk of giving it to her child, all because she's jealous that Doreen got a new mattress.
• Hated by All: Not even her mooks are too shaken when Ferguson cuts her tongue out and everyone celebrates it.
• Hate Sink: She's so thoroughly despised by the other inmates that when Joan cuts Lucy's tongue out, Joan is instantly made Top Dog by majority vote, despite the fact that most of the prison still hates Joan not only being the former Governor, but for murdering Bea.
• Humiliation Conga: After her injury.
• Idiot Ball: Hits Vera out of anger right as the latter is holding her in a wheelchair over some stairs. Unsurprisingly, she takes a tumble.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Is well within her rights via prison law to attack Allie for trying to steal from her, but Bea chases her off and threatens her anyway because she likes Allie.
• Laughably Evil: Despite being a rather depraved individual some aspects of her, such as her way with a hilariously obvious pick-up line, make her entertaining.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Gets this courtesy of Maxine and Bea after she threatens Doreen. She later gives one of her own to Sonia.
• Prison Rape: Attempts this on both Sophie and Tasha, and successfully does it with Ferguson.
• Staircase Tumble: Vera threatens her with this while she's in a wheelchair in order to get her to reveal that Lucy's the one who gave her the Hep-C in the riot. Vera's ultimately unable to go through with it, but Lucy hits her right as she's pulling her back, leading her to roll down the stairs anyway.
• Token Evil Teammate: Played a big role in freeing Bea during the second prison riot by holding Vera hostage. Also agrees to blame Ferguson for her injuries after her No-Holds-Barred Beatdown and staircase tumble, and gives Bea a shiv after she returns. However, she's also a rapist and threatened a pregnant Doreen over jealousy.
• Tongue Trauma: Ferguson cuts her tongue out in season five after setting her up to rape Iman.
• Would Hurt a Child: Would willingly infect the pregnant Doreen with Hep-C, knowing that her baby will contract it, too.

Sky

Sky Pierson

"I'm going to fly over that wall and leave this shithole!"

Played by: Kathryn Beck

Seasons: 2

• Addled Addict : She is frequently high, and the drugs seem to have affected her abilities.
• Flat Character: Has little characterization besides being high nearly all the time.
• The Ophelia: She has at least a little bit of this going on. Young, pretty, blonde, crazy and prone to pulling ridiculous stunts (because she's high off her ass) and generally a loyal lapdog to Franky.
• Put on a Bus: Only appears in one season before vanishing.
• Sycophantic Servant: Because Franky serves as her drug supplier, Sky spends most of her screentime following her around like a puppy, and sometimes acts as low-ranking muscle while Boomer does the heavy lifting.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Disappears with no explanation after season two.

Kelly

Kelly Bryant

"Jesus, Kelly! I thought that was my name for a while: Jesus Kelly!"

Played by: Christen O'Leary

Seasons: 2

• Exposition Fairy: Is this for Fletch.
• Eye Scream: Had one courtesy of Ferguson.
• Motor Mouth: Except when she sees Ferguson, as Fletch notes.

Lindsay

Lindsay Coulter

"We don't have to do this."

Played by: Kasia Kaczmarek

Seasons: 2-3

• Les Yay: Her makeout scene with Franky in Whatever It Takes included some heavy crotch-rubbing (doubling as sneaking some contraband over to Franky from the kitchen).

Stella

Stella Radic

"You can piss your pants for all I care."

Played by: Bessie Holland

Seasons: 2-6

• Butch Lesbian
• Fat Bastard: An obese, selfish Jerkass rapist.
• Jerkass: Gets the prison project in season five briefly shut down while behaving badly.
• Prison Rape: Part of Lucy's rape squad.
• The Starscream: Turns her back on Lucy when the latter is injured. Though she returns to being part of her gang after Lucy recovers until Lucy's tongue is cut out in season five and she leaves her for good. Both Stella and Juice appear as mooks in Kosta's gang in season six.

Tina

Tina Mercado

Played by: Charli Tjoe

Seasons: 3-5

• Ascended Extra: A minor character in the early series, but gets a larger role in season five as the secret drug running takes focus.
• Bastard Understudy: Seems to be Cindy-Lou's loyal right hand woman, but Franky correct guesses that she's the real leader of the group. Sure enough, she quickly takes control after Cindy-Lou's death.
• The Dragon
  • Dragon Ascendant: Takes over Cindy-Lou's gang after her death.
• The Man in Front of the Man: Though she seems to be Cindy-Lou's translator and The Dragon, Franky says that she knows Tina actually runs things. She's right.

Sonia

Sonia Stevens

Played by: Sigrid Thornton

Seasons: 4-6

• Affably Evil: Though she killed her best friend, but is courteous, albeit somewhat haughty, to the other inmates.
• Berserk Button: She doesn't respond well to being blackmailed or threatened, as she reminds those who do so to her.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She killed her best friend, but puts on a good show of being mournful about the death.
• Black Widow: Killed her own husband and tried to kill her lover to clean up loose ends.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Through it all, she seems to genuinely care about Boomer. Shortly before she is killed, she arranges with her attorney to take on Boomer's case (and pays his fee for it herself) to see if he can find her some grounds for appeal for a reduced sentence. (And he does)
• Disney Villain Death: Tries to kill Liz as revenge for Liz being witness X and trying to kill her, but is interrupted by Kaz, who ends up pushing her off the roof to her death.
• Institutional Apparel: Averted. She's pretty insistent on keeping her nice designer clothes on until the trial.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Is pretty haughty, but makes some genuinely nice gestures, most notably paying Tina off to smuggle Maxine's sperm to Boomer while she's in the slot.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Liz puts poison in her tea after months of getting pushed around by her — including making her tea.
• Pet the Dog: Her whole relationship with Boomer, despite Sonia occasionally putting her down. It's actually revealed after Sonia's death that she paid her lawyer to look into making an appeal for Boomer to finally get out of prison.
• Remake Cameo: Sigrid Thornton appeared in 30 episodes of the original Prisoner soap in 1979 as a character called Ros Coulson.
• Token Evil Teammate: Helps out the gang more than once, including bribing the kitchen workers to smuggle Boomer some of Maxine's sperm. She's also an unrepentant murderer.
• Wham Line: Her creepy musings while shaving Maxine's head make Liz realize that she's the one who most likely shaved — and thus killed — her best friend, and that Sonia truly is a murderer.

Spike

Spike Baxter

Played by: Kate Elliott

Seasons: 6

• Asshole Victim: We're given precisely zero reason to like or care about Spike, quite the opposite in fact, and yet her bashing in the showers is still pretty brutal stuff.
• Butch Lesbian: Makes Juicy Lucy look dainty and feminine.
• Cheaters Never Prosper: She wears makeshift knuckledusters underneath her boxing gloves when she fights Ruby in the prison's fight club, but still gets totally beaten up.

Narelle

Narelle Stang

Played by: Morgana O'Reilly

Seasons: 7

• Living MacGuffin: She's introduced to set up a particular plot thread (Kaz's death) and is then never heard from again.
• One Degree of Separation: When she's introduced, her backstory connects her to several inmates we see on a regular basis:
  • Rita - Rita once busted her as a uniformed cop, making Narelle dangerously aware of her biggest secret. This connection draws Ruby in as well.
  • Kaz and Allie - The Red Right Hand bashed Narelle's brother, incorrectly believing he had attacked a woman once. Narelle's brother wound up in a wheelchair. While Narelle isn't immediately aware she's sharing a unit with her brother's attackers, once Kaz makes the connection she confesses to Narelle, leading Narelle to order her killing.
  • Kosta - Their families are rivals in the drug trade.
  • Even inmates not directly connected seem well aware of who Narelle is.
• Put on a Bus: Once her role in the story is complete, she's never seen again. It's briefly mentioned that she was put in Protection and won't return to General.
• Red Herring: Ultimately. It's made to look like she or someone in contact with her was responsible for Kaz's murder, but that's not the case.

Officers

Vera

Vera "Vinegar Tits" Bennett

"I've done things I'm not proud of. And I hope that this makes up for some of it."

Played by: Kate Atkinson

Seasons: all

Always the deputy, never the governor except in season four. Vera Bennett began as a sympathetic character who only wanted what was best for both the women and the officers, a sadly-naive train of thought for the cruel world of Wentworth. After spending her entire life being hassled and bullied by her domineering mother, Vera has become an awkward loner, but is also very proficient with everyday tasks, making her an efficient deputy at the prison. However, Vera can only suppress her emotions and tolerate bullies for so long...

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• Abusive Parents: Her mother was psychologically abusive toward Vera, refusing to let her socialise or date, leading to her being an awkward woman who still lives at home with her clingy, codependent mother.
• Alpha Bitch: After her transformation into Vinegar Tits halfway through the second season. She gets better by the end of season three, and by season four when she's finally Governor her bitchier moments make her more like a Lovable Alpha Bitch, such as tearing up Joan's letter right in front of her.
• And Starring: Kate Atkinson gets "with" in the credits, as of season 6. She gets "and" in season 8.
• Bitch Alert: Her first moments back at work after compassionate leave. The prisoners certainly notice the change.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
  • Season one: Averted.
  • Season two: Zigzagged. Under Ferguson's influence, Vera is sterner with the inmates but still a good person. Then things get worse and she becomes an Alpha Bitch.
  • Season three: Inverted. She's still Vinegar Tits, but as the season goes on her emotions / conscience return to the fore.
• Break the Cutie: Was definitely one of the nicer guards around and a generally sweet person. After her humiliation by prisoners in Metamorphosis following a long string of stress faced by being caretaker to her needy mother, as well as being embarrassed in front of Fletcher and Linda when she came to the former's house to apologize, she turns into the Alpha Bitch.
• The Chains of Commanding: Quickly realizes how many spanners can be thrown into the work when it comes to running a prison.
• The Dragon: To Meg in season one, and Joan in seasons two and three.
• Dragon Ascendant: Constantly subverted. After Meg's death, the viewer is left believing Vera will take over as governor but she doesn't. Again in season two after Erica's exit, the job as governor is taken by somebody else. In season four, after Joan's downfall in season three, Vera finally gets the job she's long deserved.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Twice; in the first season, she lets her hair down into a more fashionable and feminine style, though after her mother humiliates her in front of her coworkers, she puts it back up again. Then in the second season after she's Driven to Villainy, she starts pulling her bangs back so that she resembles Ferguson more.
• Face–Heel Turn: After her humiliation, she becomes more of an Alpha Bitch to the inmates and gets colder, which is quickly noted by coworkers and inmates alike. Towards the end of the third season, though, she gets a Heel–Face Turn.
• Heroic BSoD: The episode Metamorphosis, which marks Vera's transformation into Vinegar Tits, has her publicly humiliated by the inmates, which acts as the final straw for Vera.
• Hypocrite: Arguable. When she finds out that Jake is a killer, and Will confesses the same, she is appalled and disgusted. But Vera has blood on her hands, too - she ended her horrible mother's life with drugs, and set in motion events leading to the riot in the pilot which got Meg Jackson killed. Neither was a cold-blooded murder such as Jake and Will did, though.
• Imperiled in Pregnancy: Very much so in the season 7 finale, though her daughter is born healthy thanks to Liz and Boomer's help.
• Invented Individual: Invented a boyfriend in season one in order to seem less awkward in front of the staff. Quickly killed by her mother, who came to work after Vera dared to plan to go out with coworkers one evening and revealed that he didn't exist.
• Iron Lady: Is determined to act this way when she finally becomes Governor.
• Mirror Character: A major theme to her final arc on the show; Vera fears that by trying to finally dispose of Ferguson, she's become just as evil. In the end, they do find something they genuinely have in common - the lack of a healthy relationship with their respective mothers (Vera's being overbearing and emotionally abusive, and Joan's having been killed while she was young). This ends up being why Joan does most of what she does in season 8.
• Office Romance: With both Fletch and Jake.
• Rage Against the Mentor: After seeing Joan as a mentor figure and modeling herself after her, she eventually realizes what Joan is and tells her that she's a horrible person after she gets confirmation that Joan refused to help her after she was held hostage. Joan holds her hand in an awkward attempt to re-establish control over her, at which point Vera informs her that she contracted Hep-C after being held hostage. Joan's reaction? To withdraw her hand and wipe it off on a napkin. Vera's expression says it all.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: For one and a half seasons. Then character development / Ferguson turn her into a corrupt version of Vinegar Tits.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers an epic one to Joan near the end of season three, especially the concluding sentence: "I don't pretend to understand your intentions, but I do know you are not fit to be governor."
  • Delivers an equally brutal one to Jake in the season five finale.
• Slain in Their Sleep: Does this to her mother.
• The Stoic: Following her humiliation at the hands of the inmates in season two.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Backing up Ferguson's claims that Will was aiding and abetting, as mentioned above.
  • Also being the catalyst for Bridget losing her job in season three.

Joan

Joan "The Freak" Ferguson

"We exist to correct."

Played by: Pamela Rabe

Seasons: 2-5; 8A-end (main cast) 6-7 (guest appearance)

Joan Ferguson is introduced in season two as the new governor following the abrupt departure of Erica Davidson. Determined to make Wentworth a better place, Ferguson is quick to inaugurate a stricter system within the prison, keen to remove all drugs and reduce recidivism. What the inmates won't be expecting, however, is the lengths Ferguson will go to ensure the prison remains under her complete control...

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• Angrish: Borders on this in her "defense speech" in Coup De Grace.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Being a skilled fencer is just the surface of Joan's physical prowess.
  • In Season 3, she lifted Jess clear off the ground and strangled her to death while wearing heels
  • Even after being stripped of her title as Governor, Joan displays what is probably her most ass kicking moment yet. After being sent back to Wentworth as a prisoner for the murder of Bea, several inmates attack her in the prison yard. She fights them all off, suffering little more than a bloody lip, and asks, "Who's next?"
• Ax-Crazy: Undoubtedly.
• Back from the Dead:
  • Seemingly in season 6, after being Buried Alive in season 5, when Vera finds herself being blackmailed, with black gloves being left on Vera's pillow and a theft resembling a comment Ferguson made to Vera earlier in the show. Averted in this instance, as the blackmailer was actually Officer Brenda Murphy.
  • Ultimately played straight, as she is revealed alive in the closing Wham Shot of season 7.
• Badass Boast: “I will remove any, and all, obstacles in my path.”
• Bad Boss: Lets Vera, her most loyal worker, get held hostage even as she's being threatened with being injected with hepatitis C, refusing to budge and let the prisoners extract Bea. Vera ends up getting cut and contracting it anyway.
  • YMMV, potentially. She's generally good about taking care of the needs of of her more genuinely loyal followers, even advancing their goals at the same time as serving hers. In her eyes, everyone is simply fully responsible for the consequences of their own failures.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: She kills Jess when the latter tries to kill Doreen's baby.
• Big "NO!": After she's Buried Alive and opens her lighter to find that Allie taped a drawing of Bea to the top of her coffin, letting it be the last thing she sees before Ferguson presumably dies.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: To Jackson, calling him her best officer when she's really trying to destroy him and his career.
• Brawn Hilda: A Freeze-Frame Bonus in season four shows that she was born in Russia.
• Buried Alive: Her fate in the final scene of Season 5, courtesy of Will Jackson, of all people. It is suggested towards the end of season 6 that she did, in fact, perish in her grave, but she is then seen alive in the final concluding shot of season 7.
• Butch Lesbian: Well, she's certainly not a Lipstick Lesbian...
• The Chessmaster: Always has a strategy ready, if only to save her own ass. Some of her strategies are so layered and detailed, they take an entire season to completely unfold.
  • Averted in the season two finale, where she expects Franky to tear Bea apart after the latter's return to Wentworth, thus getting her threat out of the way; instead, Franky declares her Top Dog. In season three, she reveals to Will that Franky was the one to kill Meg, hoping that it'd drive him to kill Franky, and she's shocked when Will instead chooses to let her go.
  • Played literally in Season 5, where she can be seen playing chess and even carrying a chess piece around the prison.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Is more than capable of this, as proven with Jodie.
• Cold Ham: Generally speaks in a very controlled, dramatic manner. Unless, of course, she's having a breakdown.
• A Day in the Limelight: Though we've gotten to know her pretty well at this point, episode nineteen is the first in the while to feature flashbacks, and they all feature Ferguson from several years ago.
  • And again in Goldfish.
• Deadpan Snarker: Her quick wit translates quite well into this trope.
  Fletcher: Why have you put me on the spend?
  Joan: Does a Y chromosome prevent you from pushing a trolley?
• Death Glare: Like most characters in the show, Ferguson gives one hell of a glare.
• Deliver Us from Evil: Zizgagged but ultimately subverted. It looks as though Doreen giving birth may finally humanize Ferguson, but it doesn't.
• Dope Slap: Gives one to both Doreen and Vera. Also when she was torturing Jodie Spiteri whilst in the slot.
• Easily Forgiven: After being a vicious and totalitarian governor and manipulative, snakelike fellow prisoner, even killing the beloved Bea, she's made Top Dog after cutting out Lucy's tongue. Kaz was already getting criticized for her inaction... but one of those criticisms was because she wouldn't let the other prisoners bash Ferguson.
• Establishing Character Moment: Season two's first episode has a cold open which consists entirely of Ferguson giving a speech about correction whilst simultaneously busting a drug-smuggling operation within the prison.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Was in love with Jianna and devastated after her death, never quite getting over it.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Despite all the terrible things she's done, she considered saving baby Joshua from the fire she started in the third season finale to be something anyone should and would have done.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Is shocked when Will chooses to let Franky go instead of killing her once he finds out she killed Meg, and again when Maxine lets Tasha off with a warning after she pressed the panic button. Both times involve her plans being foiled.
• Evil Is Petty: Kills Doreen's cute baby magpie because she refuses to falsely name Will Jackson as the father of her baby.
• Evil Gloating: Is partial to this every now and then.
• Evil Versus Evil: Clashes with Jess a few times over Doreen and Doreen's baby. It concludes when Jess tries to kill the baby, so Ferguson kills Jess instead.
• Eye Scream: Is responsible for brutal eye injuries inflicted on both Kelly Bryant and Jodie Spiteri. This is revisited in season 8B when Eve loses an eye as well; Will and Vera instantly know she was responsible.
• Forbidden Fruit: Her relationship with Jianna.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In Goldfish, Ferguson is seen staring out her office window, and the viewer is aware of her reflection. When Ferguson turns away, her reflection keeps on staring, possibly symbolizing a split personality.
• Grammar Nazi : She corrects Franky's grammar.
• Heel–Face Turn: Requires a pretty liberal definition of "face," since the crowning act of this turn is snapping Ann's neck (albeit to save Vera's life), but the final season's most dynamic story arc is her genuine amnesia in 8A and her learning to have some kind of moral center in 8B.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Looks like she'll be one in the season three finale by saving Joshua from Jess, only to trap both the baby and herself in a room with a blazing fire. They both survive, though.
• Karma Houdini: In season two, she's responsible for manipulating and terrorizing several inmates, killing Simmo and trying to convince Bea to kill Franky, and her only comeuppance is public humiliation. Things get worse for her in season three, however.
  • In season five, she initially gets away with Bea's death by claiming self-defense, but it comes back to bite her in the penultimate episode where Franky brings it up at her trial.
• Kick the Dog: Most notably killing Doreen's pet bird as a warning for Doreen to do as she's told. She also threatens to either kill Doreen's baby or have it taken away at birth, but she actually ensures neither of these things happen.
• Lack of Empathy: Well, it's more suppressed than lacking, but still.
• Large and in Charge: At six feet tall, she towers over most of the inmates and even members of her own staff, which she uses often for intimidation.
• Large Ham: Spirals into this several times in season five, especially when on trial.
• Mama Bear: Over Jianna and Jianna's unborn child. It will later apply for both Doreen and Doreen's baby when Ferguson begins to lose her mind.
• Manipulative Bitch: Starts with getting Vera drunk to tease secrets out of her, while convincingly faking drunkeness herself. It escalates very rapidly from there.
  • Being a prisoner doesn't slow her down much, either. She gets to be Top Dog by engineering a situation where Lucy would try to gang rape newbie Iman and then blackmailing Nurse Radcliffe into allowing her to get Lucy alone in order to cut out her tongue in apparent righteous vengeance.
• Manchild: Kind of. During her slow breakdown, she confronts Doreen and says, very slowly and unprofessionally: “I heard you after you gave birth. You told Smith about us. You laughed at me and called me a freak. I trusted you.” Then she just walks off.
• Neat Freak: If anyone touches any of her things, not only will she put them back *precisely* as they were, she'll wipe them down with sanitary wipes. If any handshakes take place, the handwash comes out immediately afterwards.
• Never My Fault: Her deep rooted fear of being inadequate lead to this psychological complex. She always deludes herself to believe that her failures are either solely due to someone else's incompetence. Of course, that's if she doesn't go into complete denial and act as though she had no involvement in the failure at all.
• No Social Skills: Manipulative and cunning as she is, she makes some pretty stupid mistakes from not understanding people. When on trial by her fellow prisoners and tied up in season five, knowing that being "guilty" will mean her death, she decides the best course of action is to blame them for being so stupid and defective that they needed her as Top Dog, turning even her supporters against her.
• Not Me This Time: She really didn't kill Mike Pennisi, though she is more than willing to take advantage of the situation to keep Franky from walking free.
• Oh, Crap!: Realizing she's been played by Bea after the latter escapes prison and kills Brayden Holt.
  • And again when Bea uses her to stab herself in the stomach, thus framing Ferguson for her apparent murder.
• Pet the Dog: She did go out of her way to save Doreen's baby. You have to give her that much.
• Psycho Supporter: Of Bea in season two. Until Bea fucks her over and escapes.
• Redemption Equals Death: Nearly the case in the season three finale, as she saves Doreen's baby from the murderous Jess, only to get trapped in a small room with a roaring fire. Soon enough, though, she and the baby are both saved.
• Royally Screwed Up: Oh yes. They don't call her The Freak for nothing!
• Sadist Governor: Runs the prison with an iron fist. And does the same as Top Dog, her underlings all treating her with fearful respect.
• Sanity Slippage: Zigzagged. Though she appears to be losing her mind throughout season three, it's soon revealed she's always been unstable.
  • After seeming much more intact in season five, she starts to lose it throughout the season, especially after her attempted lynching.
• Slain in Their Sleep: Does this to Simmo. It comes back to haunt her.
• Smug Snake: She's almost always grinning about something nefarious she's planned.
• Stepford Smiler: Rarely does she lose her temper or raise her voice.
• The Stoic: For a good one-and-a-half season!
• The Unfettered: Will do anything to win. When she becomes a prisoner, she tries to get Bea to attack her in order to gain Kaz's sympathy. Instead, Lucy's gang surprises her and sodomizes her with a broom handle. Note that Liz told Bea in season one that her friend couldn't recover after her own ganging and killed herself but it barely affects Ferguson at all, and she uses the rape to her advantage to lay the blame on Will and Bea.
• Villainous Breakdown: Has a handful of epic ones during season three, unless they all count as one long, drawn-out breakdown.
  • Has a particularly catastrophic one near the end of Season 5, where she is on the cusp of swaying a lynch mob intent on her death over to her side... but simply cannot tolerate the indignity of being tied to a post and accused of crimes she actually committed, so she immediately begins lambasting every woman present as mentally and emotionally defective animals.
• Xanatos Gambit: Even if she has lost, she'll manipulate those around her into thinking she's won.
• Zero Approval Rating: Actually manages to avoid this as Top Dog by engineering ways for her to be needed there, but her lack of charisma while on trial turns all the prisoners against her, and they try to lynch her in retaliation.

Erica

Erica Davidson

"I can mediate, strategise, communicate and manage. This is experience you don't get from patrolling a compound..."

Played by: Leeanna Walsman

Seasons: 1

• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She initially seems to be a kind and caring person, but we see her lie, manipulate, spread rumours, and cover up crimes.
• Put on a Bus: Abruptly leaves after the first season, presumably because of her feelings towards Franky getting in the way of her work and relationships.

Will

William "Will" Jackson

Played by: Robbie J. Magasiva

Seasons: all

• Badass Biker: Rides a Cool Bike to work.
• Big Good: Outside of his brief Jerkass episodes (which are all pretty early in the show's run), he's probably the best officer to count on. All but invoked by Vera in season 8 when Ann threatens to fire him, saying officers like him (respected by inmates and staff alike) don't come along every day and if she does dismiss him, the majority of the senior staff (including Vera herself) will follow him.
• Buried Alive: The fate he inflicts on Ferguson.]]
• The Dragon / The Lancer: To Vera in season four after he becomes Deputy Governor.
• Eating the Eye Candy: He's the object of admiration for many of the women.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Will and Kaz are in a car accident that leads to the car being submerged in water. Will nearly loses his life saving Kaz's (she having been restrained in the vehicle). Afterwards, the two previously bitter (borderline mortal) enemies come to hold perhaps the closest alliance Wentworth prison has.
• Happily Married: To Meg. Without knowing that she was having an affair.
• Hookers and Blow: After Meg's death, he spends his time snorting cocaine and hooking up with random women, highlighting his personal problems.
• Intimate Psychotherapy: After burying Ferguson alive in the final moments of season 5, he is repeatedly haunted by visions and memories of her in season 6. When he has sex with Marie, these "demons" are somehow quieted.
• Laser-Guided Karma: He has done some things that are against the law (see Hookers and Blow above), along with pretty much every character on the show on either side of the law. He has arguably paid more for his relatively venial offences than other characters have for far, far worse deeds.
  • He buries Ferguson alive in the season 5 finale, and while he suffers no legal consequences, the psychological wounds it inflicts are severe.
• My God, What Have I Done?: In season 6, as he grapples with the guilt of burying Ferguson alive.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Despite being suspicious of her involvement in his wife's death, he becomes more sympathetic to Bea after Debbie's death, as they've both lost a loved one.
• Office Romance: Has a brief one with Rose.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Zig-zagged. He starts off as a favorite among the prisoners, but Took a Level in Jerkass after Meg's death and getting into cocaine. Eventually he gets better and returns to being one of the more likable screws.
• Save the Villain: Saves Joan even though she tried to use all her power to end him. He later mentions his regret for this as part of the reason that he buries her alive in the season 5 finale. He felt a measure of responsibility for all the horrible things she did to Vera, Will himself, Bea and the other prisoners, "and even Jake."
• Took a Level in Jerkass: After Meg's death, although he gets better by season two.

Ann

Ann Reynolds

Played by: Jane Hall

Seasons: 8A-8B

• Alpha Bitch: Certainly positions herself as this early and often, trying to undercut Will at every step and install Linda as her own puppet as Governor.
• Ax-Crazy: She's clearly emotionally disturbed throughout, but she goes well off the deep end in the series finale allowing the bombing to happen and trying to murder Vera to cover up her role in it.
• Broken Bird: Shows traces of this when discussing her daughter who died in a terrorist bombing. May be more of a Monster Sob Story considering her overall arc.
• Jerkass: She has little if any social graces or professionalism (Vera remarks on her use of the word "cunt" in a staff meeting) and is clearly not around to make friends. Will is the primary target of her antagonism and she even convinces him to quit at one point (though he does come back).
• Jerkass Has a Point: Her comments about Wentworth's abysmal security track record are not exactly wrong. A real life prison with so many murders and assaults would be shut down, and quickly.

Fletch

Matthew "Fletch" Fletcher

"You think everyone in here is the victim, but they know right from wrong. They just don't give a shit."

Played by: Aaron Jeffery

Seasons: 1-3

• Abusive Parents : His parents would beat him if he didn't clean his room.
• Cassandra Truth : When he finds out about Ferguson.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Averted. Season two ends with him being hit by a truck on Ferguson's order, but he gets better.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After his most heroic turn in helping to expose Ferguson's villainy at the end of season 2, Fletcher purchases a farm, retires to the country, and presumably goes on to lead a life of relative ease.
• Idiot Ball: He notices new prisoner Kelly is frightened by Ferguson, and threatens Ferguson with this information, making her suspicious. After he learns what Ferguson did to her, he loudly reveals this information to Ferguson, says he's going to use Kelly as a witness, and threatens her again. Despite knowing that Ferguson is trying to destroy Jackson, he doesn't say anything straight out and only insists over countless messages that he has something important to tell him. And, despite knowing that Ferguson is dangerous, he doesn't bother looking over his shoulder any more than usual and ends up getting run down in front of Jackson's house.
• Last-Name Basis: Known almost exclusively by his last name.
• Look Both Ways: Is hit by a van driven by one of Ferguson's goons driving at full speed down the street... Which he might have noticed, had he bothered to look both ways.
• Made of Iron: Survives a van ramming him at full speed.
• Office Romance: Dates Vera for a few episodes in the first season. He breaks it off when she finds out about him and Meg.
• Poor Communication Kills: Gives Will vague warnings about Ferguson's plans without actually specifying what they are.
• Put on a Bus: Doesn't appear after season three, and Will mentions that he retired to a more peaceful job.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Zig-zagged; he's not the straightest man around but becomes this after Will Took a Level in Jerkass following Meg's death and starts to treat the prisoners badly. And that starts to go downhill when the truth about him and Meg comes out.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran : Suffers PTSD from his experience in the military.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After recovering from his "accident", Fletcher becomes much gentler and more humble.

Meg

Megan "Meg" Jackson

"We don't negotiate with prisoners."

Played by: Catherine Mcclements

Seasons: 1

• Accidental Murder: Franky accidentally kills her in the first episode.
• Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Averted, due to her affair.
• Happily Married: To Will. Though she was cheating on him with his coworker.
• Posthumous Character: The strong majority of her characterisation happens after she's killed off.
• Tragic Mistake: Brings Jacs out of the slot in a badly thought-out plan to combat Franky's control, which leads to her death.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Killed off at the end of the first episode, with most of her characterization coming posthumously.
• Who's Your Daddy?: She got pregnant while she was trying to conceive with Will, but also while she was having an affair with Fletch, leading to her getting an abortion.

Linda

Linda Miles

"The women are already on edge."

Played by: Jacqueline Brennan

Seasons: all (recurring cast)

• Everyone Has Standards: Will do a lot for a bribe, but won't let herself be the prisoners' lackey.
• The Gambling Addict: Takes bribes from prisoners and occasionally does their dirty work to pay for her gambling habit. She still has standards, though.
• Ironic Nickname: Is called "Smiles" by inmates despite her cold and humourless demeanour.
• The Mole: Frequently works for the prisoners in exchange for bribes, within reason. Notably, she helps Bea trick Joan into thinking that Vera entered her office to mess with her.
• Only Sane Employee: Even then she's not the sanest!
• The Stoic: Rarely shows any strong emotion. Even her outburst of anger mixed with fear upon discovering the death of the sex worker she arranged for a conjugal with Liz comes across as a notable departure from the norm.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Far beyond her traditional coldness; in season 8, she's cruel and downright abusive. It's mainly directed to new prisoner Judy Bryant, while she later also strikes Boomer in the midsection with her billy club when she sees her helping Judy with a scheme and straight-up whallops Ferguson in the back of the head while she's having a psychotic episode. After this last incident, Will's had enough and suspends her. It's hinted that these outbursts are the result of PTSD stemming from season 7's siege, and she threatens to sue Will and the Department of Correctional Services because of this. There is also a subtle hint that that may itself have been a ruse.

Derek

Derek Channing

"I will do everything in my power to make sure the truth comes out."

Played by: Martin Sacks

Seasons: 1-6

• Boom Head Shot: How he kills Officer Murphy in the season 6 finale, believing she is Ferguson and wanting revenge.]]
• Corrupt Bureaucrat: Joan blackmails him when she finds out he's running a brothel with the more attractive parolees. Oh, and his quote? It's actually related to manipulating an unstable victim so that Joan won't get punished, thus leading to her revealing said brothel. Though he's still a step above Ferguson, as he was the one to save Vera during her hostage situation.
  • Learns that Jake is the corrupt guard in season five, but only uses it to get a cut.
• Handsome Lech: Not a bad-looking guy, but is a bit slimy, not to mention running a brothel on the side.
• Karma Houdini: Has yet to face any real consequences for his dastardly (and criminal) deeds.
• Put on a Bus: Channing is fired almost immediately after being made acting governor in season 5, due to Franky and Ferguson's escape.
  • The Bus Came Back: Then returns at the end of season 6, revealing he has become obsessed with revenge on Ferguson for everything she has done. He ends up murdering Vera's stalker, Murphy, believing she is Ferguson, leading to Jake, Will and Vera pinning Ferguson's apparent death on him.

Bridget

Bridget "Gidget" Westfall

"I'm gonna help you get out of here."

Played by: Libby Tanner

Seasons: 3-6

• Ascended Extra: As a character, she spends the better part of season three hovering around Franky, but her role is a bit more expanded in season four as she treats other prisoners.
• Lipstick Lesbian: Though Franky was able to work out Bridget was gay after just a few appearances together, Bridget is still a subtler and more feminine lesbian than most on the show.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Genuinely wants to help the prisoners.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Often gives this to Franky.

Rose

Rose Atkins

Played by: Maggie Naouri

Seasons: 2-3

• Hospital Hottie: Will certainly thinks so.
• Nice Girl: Unlike her replacement, she's kind to all the prisoners.
• Office Romance: Briefly has one with Will.
• Put on a Bus: Doesn't appear again after season 3.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Fletch is mentioned as having a peaceful new job, but Rose just simply disappears and isn't mentioned again.

Jake

Jake Stewart

Played by: Bernard Curry

Seasons: 4-end

• Anti-Hero: In season 6, after his role in Ferguson's abduction and burial, he softens up a lot from previous episodes, showing remorse and trying to make things right, but still isn't afraid to threaten Will that if he goes down, he will take Will with him.
• Bring My Brown Pants: Pisses himself after being threatened by drug dealers.
• Butt-Monkey: Has very little agency of his own and is constantly being manipulated by those around him.
• Dirty Coward: One of Jake's most notable traits is that he is pathetically cowardly.
• Driven to Suicide: Tries to commit suicide to escape Ferguson's influence, but changes his mind at the last minute.
• Face–Heel Turn: Starts off an ordinary guard, and then his actions become more and more questionable until he goes off the deep end and does dirty work for Ferguson.
• In Love with the Mark: Grows to genuinely care for Vera and tries to break his partnership with Ferguson because of it.
• Karma Houdini: He's 90% of the reason Ferguson has a brief victory, but the season ends without anyone figuring it out. Even when it and other terrible deeds of his are discovered in season five, it doesn't seem he suffers any major (read: legal) consequences.
• Mistaken for Gay: Zigzagged; when he's first introduced Will tells Linda, who then tells Vera, that he's gay. It's later revealed that he's bisexual.
• Office Romance: Starts dating Vera.
• Sleeping with the Boss: Gets close to Vera on Ferguson's orders to manipulate her and keep her off his trail.
• Token Evil Teammate: Has a shady past with some drug dealers, and isn't above trading drugs to addicted prisoners in exchange for a favor. He also lets Tina know that it was Bea who lagged, something someone like Vera or Will would never do. This culminates in him being another one of Ferguson's lackeys, setting Allie up to be attacked and killing Nils Jesper on her orders.

Chris

Chris Bakula

Played by: Scott Parameter

Seasons: 1-3

"Do you smoke?"

• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Is seen to have been killed by Jess in the season four finale. It's sudden and no one really remarks on it, but to be fair he didn't have much screentime.
• Establishing Character Moment: He's the first officer we meet, and his first scene involves giving cigarettes to an inmate in exchange for a blowjob.
• Flat Character: Has almost no characterization and few appearances outside of being a slimeball in the first scene (which can hardly be used to introduce general sliminess among the officers, who are shown to be generally reasonable), and then is killed off.
• Slimeball: Trades cigarettes for a blowjob from an inmate.

Nurse Radcliffe

Lee Radcliffe

Played by: Madeleine Jevic

Seasons: 4-6

• Blatant Lies: Tells Jake in the fourth series that she doesn't have sex with colleagues. Guess who she has sex with in the very next season?
• Hospital Hottie: Becomes the new nurse after Rose is Put on a Bus.
• In-Series Nickname: Called "Nurse Ratshit" by the inmates.
• Jerkass: She's a lot less sweet than Rose was.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful!: Vera's warnings for her to wear more subtle, work-appropriate makeup are ignored.

Brenda

Brenda Murphy

Played by: Katerina Kotsonis

Seasons: 4-6

• Boom Head Shot: How she is killed, at the hands of Channing, who is deluded enough to believe that she is Ferguson.
• Create Your Own Villain: After being framed by Vera for Bea's escape into the courtyard to kill Ferguson, Murphy begins stalking Vera for revenge, pretending to be Ferguson.
• Walking Spoiler: Seeing as her biggest role in the show comes in the season 6 finale, this is a given.

Greg

Dr Greg Miller

Played by: David de Lautour

Seasons: 7-8B

• Dr. Feelgood: Justified. He prescribes Liz a drug to try to lessen the symptoms of her dementia. It leads her to have a psychotic episode, which in turn prompts him to halve the dose. This new dose works wonders, eliminating most of Liz's symptoms, but since he failed to document her original adverse reaction, the government forces him to take her off the drug entirely, and her symptoms return. Near tears, Liz begs him to giver her the drug again, and, seeing how well it had worked for her in the past, he does. When it proves less effective this time around, Liz asks for the original double dose to be reinstated, so that she can say goodbye to her son with a clear head. He very grudgingly agrees to this as well, and it's indirectly insinuated that this may have led to Liz's massive stroke at the end of season 7.
  • Recurs in season 8, in a much more ethically questionable way. After learning that Ferguson has regained her full memory, he illicitly prescribes her the same drug he gave Liz (which we at this point learn has been banned in Australia), hoping it will stimulate her empathy. Going along with it is his plan to support her amnesia defence at trial, even though he knows it's now not genuine. Ends up being All for Nothing in more ways than one when Ferguson admits her guilt on the stand at trial, and he reveals he had been giving her a placebo for many months when she started to show progress.
• Establishing Character Moment: Other than a quick scene where he basically just says hi, the first thing we see him do is successfully talk down a drug-addled prisoner holding a knife to Vera's pregnant belly.
• Hospital Hottie: While she does come to respect him as someone who cares about the women, this is definitely Boomer's first impression of the man. When they meet she is head over heels attracted to him.
• Imaginary Love Triangle: Jake sees one when he notices Greg and Vera seemingly becoming close, but they're just friends. Eventually Jake realises this himself.

Sean

Sean Brody

Played by: Rick Donald

Seasons: 7

• Depraved Homosexual: Played pretty much straight, as he's extremely Camp Gay and repeatedly tries to coerce ex-lover Jake into sex before going even further off the rails.
• Foreshadowing: It's pretty clear from the get-go that there's something not quite right about Sean:
  • He's seen setting up a new route for drug smuggling the very episode in which he debuts.
  • He gets Linda a few "sure thing" longshot horse racing winners to entice her to trust him, and is oddly able to procure them.
  • He sure is comfortable disposing of a dead body.
  • When not one but three ramps fail to turn up evidence relating to Kaz's murder, that pretty strongly suggests an officer could have been involved.
  • Even Jake, far from the straightest arrow in the quiver himself, thinks he's no good.
• Hostage Situation: Engineers one in the two-part season 7 finale.
• Pretty Little Headshots: How he goes out when Allie gets the gun.

Supporting

Harry

Harry Smith

Played by: Jake Ryan

Seasons: 1-2

• Asshole Victim: Zigzagged. No one really cares for his death - most of the drama revolves around who did the deed - but Bea does shed a tear, realizing Harry was all she had left of Debbie.
• Butt-Monkey: Things go pretty downhill after Debbie's death; he turns to drinking, fails to kill Brayden, is thrown out of the prison after harassing Jackson about letting him see Bea, and later has his windshield destroyed by Jackson after the latter believes Harry was responsible for harassing him. The next time we hear of him, he's dead.
• Put on a Bus: Doesn't appear again after episode nineteen.
  • Bus Crash: And is reported to have been murdered several episodes later.

Debbie

Debra "Debbie" Smith

"I love you, Mum."

Played by: Georgia Flood

Seasons: 1-2

• The Cameo: For Bea's hallucinations in season two's opening episode.
• Oh, Crap!: When she realizes that Brayden injected her with too much heroin.
• Plot Driving Death: Her death in season one leads Bea to kill Jacs, triggering the struggle for top dog in season two as well as the season-long revenge arc that focuses on Bea plotting to kill Brayden. She was also Bea's last link to the outside, and with her death, Bea has nothing left to do but become top dog at the end of season two.

Brayden

Brayden Holt

"My mum's in here too."

Played by: Reef Ireland

Seasons: 1-2

• Even Evil Has Standards: In the first season, while he goes through with killing Debbie, he disowns his mother for making him do so, and he visibly hesitates before sticking the needle in Debbie's arm. He brings this up to try and excuse himself when Bea has him at gunpoint in season two, but as soon as he thinks he's out of harm's way, his usual self-assured demeanor returns quickly; he may feel genuine remorse for his actions, but he's too proud to actually take responsibility for them. Bea shoots him on the spot once she realizes. He Dies Wide Shut.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has an ugly scar on the side of his face from where Bea attacked him.
• It's Personal: He killed Debbie on Jacs's orders. Even after Bea kills Jacs, she makes it her mission throughout the entirety of the second season to kill him — and succeeds.
• Pretty Little Headshots: How Bea kills him.
• Smug Snake: Acts this way, a lot. And it's his smug smirk after Jackson convinces Bea to let Brayden go that makes her reconsider and kill him.
• The Sociopath: Seduces girls, including family friends, hooking them on drugs and getting them to do dirty work for the family.

Vinnie

Vinnie Holt

Played by: John Bach

Seasons: 1

• Bus Crash: Is reported to have died of a heart-attack during Brayden's funeral.
• May–December Romance: With his young "tart."

Nash

Nash Taylor

"I fucking love you, Doreen!"

Played by: Luke Mckenzie

Seasons: 2-5

Nash is an inmate from Walford prison. He and a group of Walford inmates are sent to Wentworth to help the women with a garden project orchestrated by Ferguson, during which Nash falls in love with Doreen and begins a secret relationship with her.

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• All There in the Manual: Soho's official website goes into detail regarding Nash and his background. He was arrested for automotive theft and no longer sees his first child, daughter Mia, for that exact reason. Until season four, when he's living with her and his ex.
• The Bus Came Back: Nash returns for a handful of episodes in season three before being framed and re-sentenced. Then again when it's revealed his charges are dropped and he's back on the outside.
• Forbidden Fruit: Initially, his relationship with Doreen, which mostly consisted of secret, sexual meetings in Wentworth's potting shed.
• Nice Guy: Prisoners (and viewers) are initially wary of Nash but needn't be. When Doreen announces her pregnancy to Nash over the prison wall, it seems for a moment he may bail on her, but he doesn't.
• Put on a Bus: Literally in season two; he and the rest of the Walford inmates are removed from Wentworth and sent back to their own prison on a bus after Bates tries to rape Franky and she assaults him.
• Put on a Bus to Hell: After a brief return in season three, Nash is soon framed by Joan for drug-smuggling and once again sent to Walford prison. Luckily, the charges get dropped.

Jianna

Jianna Riley

Played by: Tasia Zalar

Seasons: 2-3

• Driven to Suicide: It's assumed that she does this after Jackson takes her baby away. Ultimately averted, as it's revealed in season three that the prisoners killed her as a way to get back at the tyrannical Ferguson.
• The Lost Lenore: To Ferguson.
• Missing Mom: To her son Shayne, who never got to know her outside of Ferguson's stories to him.
• Never Suicide: Kelly's story makes Fletcher (and us) assume that she killed herself after losing her baby, but Fletcher's remembrance of the rest of the conversation in season three reveals that she was murdered by the other prisoners.
• Posthumous Character
• Teen Pregnancy

Colin

"You aren't gonna squeal, are ya?"

Played by: Steve Le Marquand

Seasons: 2

Kaiya

Played by: Tanika Fry

Seasons: 1

"I want my teddy."

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• The Cutie
• Put on a Bus: Leaves during the second episode to live with her grandmother and isn't seen again, nor is she even really mentioned by Doreen, her own surrogate mother!
• The Reveal: Her mum isn't Doreen. It's Toni.
• Shout-Out: Her teddy is a reference to Prisoner Doreen's teddy.

Nils Jesper

Played by: Tony Nikolakopoulos

Seasons: 2-4

• Bald of Evil
• The Dragon: To Ferguson.

Don

Detective Don Kaplan

Played by: Steve Bastoni

Seasons: 4-5

• Bald of Evil
• Dirty Cop: It isn't immediately obvious, but it becomes clear toward the end of his arc that he's working on behalf of Sonia, rather than trying to take her down.
• Inspector Javert: Subverted, he seems to be this about Sonia for a while before it's revealed he's (literally and figuratively) in bed with her.
• Manipulative Bastard: Knows just what strings to pull with Liz to get her to do his bidding.

Turk

Gregory "Turk" Turkel

Played by: Andy McPhee

Seasons: 4-6

• Bald of Evil
• Face of a Thug: Played straight.
• It Works Better with Bullets / Weapon for Intimidation: Twice he holds an unloaded gun up to Jake's head (pulls the trigger the first time).