The BEST episodes of Prisoner: Cell Block H season 1
Every episode of Prisoner: Cell Block H season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Prisoner: Cell Block H season 1!
The lives of women behind bars in a female prison.
#1 - Episode 55
Season 1 - Episode 55 - Aired 8/29/1979
The women decide to hold a farewell party for Karen to cheer her up, but Monica throws cold water on their optimism, saying she once had to wait months for a decision on her parole. Jean arranges an interview for Leanne as a cashier in the supermarket down the road. Lizzie reminds Karen about the halfway house project as a way of getting her to look to the future. As Vera wakes up Monica, the camera dwells for a second on her bedside reading matter . Jean lends Leanne a neckscarf for her interview to disguise the fact that she isn't wearing a bra under her teeshirt. Vera snaps at Jim for not supporting her when Bea comments they should have just dropped Vera off the roof. Meg discusses Peter Clements' thesis with Jean, who think he was accurate about Vera ("a sociosexual neurotic fulfilling frustrated needs") but Meg defends her. Noeline suggests Greg only left because Meg was trying to seduce him. Vera lets Karen know she's got her parole by brusquely ordering her to go and pack her things. Noeline grudgingly says goodbye to Karen and advises her not to get in any more trouble. Vera sneers at Karen that she expects to see her back inside. Karen leaves Wentworth with the thirty dollars she brought in plus $172.50 wages. Jim and Vera refuse to let her say goodbye to her friends or Erica. Jean collects her on the other side of the gate to drive her to the place where she is staying. Leanne gets the supermarket job and attributes her success to the fact that the manager "kept perving on me tits". Karen goes to stay with Marjorie Whitton, a friend of her mother's who lays down the house rules to her in no uncertain terms (and an uncertain Welsh accent). Doreen returns to Wentworth: she does not seem to be cured, and doesn't respond when Meg uses her name, or recognize Lizzie or Bea. Bea realises that Doreen has been drugged. Jean makes up a phony shopping list for Meg so she will look in on Leanne at the supermarket. Lizzie refuses to work in the laundry with less than
#2 - Episode 13
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 4/4/1979
No sooner are the escapees over the fence than Lizzie suffers chest pains. Franky and Doreen take her back to the fence, where she asks the guard to let her back in. As news of the escape spreads, the women are locked in their cells and Vera attempts to tighten security. Franky and Doreen mug a young boy for his fish and chips and sleep in a barn for the night. Vera reports Eddie and Marilyn's relationship to Erica, prompting her to cancel the contract with Eddie's firm. Lynn reluctantly agrees to drive the getaway car for Doug and Bernie.
#3 - Episode 78
Season 1 - Episode 78 - Aired 11/27/1979
Karen and Greg's engagement doesn't go down well with Doreen, who is displeased at the changes at the Halfway House. Bea confronts Ros when she gets out of Solitary, intent on bashing her. She wallops her, but the screws arrive and blame Ros, sending her straight back to the pound. Erica cracks down on security and Vera, predictably, goes well overboard with her tough measures. The inmates have a whipround to buy an engagement pressie for Karen and Greg. Jim is reunited with an old army buddy, Geoff Butler, who promptly hits on Meg and is rebuffed. David O'Connell plans to kill Greg, despite Herbie's pleas that he not do it, and stakes the surgery out. He gets Herbie to call the surgery, and opens fire on the person who comes to answer the phone...
#4 - Episode 74
Season 1 - Episode 74 - Aired 11/13/1979
Ros is brought back to Wentworth. The police think she hid at the halfway house and a reporter, Alex Fraser, starts sniffing around the house to find out more. Ros refuses to tell the police where she was hiding. Karen eventually admits to Greg that she did let Ros stay. Greg is furious at having to lie to the police to save Karen and Doreen. With Christmas approaching, Lizzie suggests the women write their annual Christmas play, so Bea and Ros use the chance to ridicule the officers. Vera runs herself ragged trying to have the play cancelled and sabotaged, but the women submit a fake script for Erica's approval. Pat hears Andrew tried to run away from home again. Mrs Devlin comes to visit and says that the kids will have to go into care if she hasn't got her parole by Christmas. Karen supplies Alex with info to write an article on Pat's plight, in a bid to persuade the parole board to release Pat.
#5 - Episode 72
Season 1 - Episode 72 - Aired 11/6/1979
A furious and upset Doreen demands to know why neither Alice or Karen told her the truth. Finally, Karen tells her that her mother is dying and takes her to see her. When Doreen returns to see Alice again, she does not answer the door and appears to be unconscious. Vera starts typing classes for the women and plans a small birthday party in the staff room but nobody shows up for it. Meg tries to counsel Rosie, but Chrissie sticks her nose in and makes her worse. Ros goads her into attacking Chrissie during a typing classes. While everyone is preoccupied, Ros sets off the fire alarm and escapes in a repair man's van. A now completely loopy Rosie thinks Chrissie has stolen Sam and punches her in the stomach. Meanwhile, Karen and Doreen arrive home at the Halfway House to find Ros waiting for them in the kitchen.
#6 - Episode 70
Season 1 - Episode 70 - Aired 10/30/1979
After Vera reports Pat over the incident with David, Erica agrees to Jim's suggestion to go easy on her and not take the matter any further. Bea thinks that Chrissie must have lagged and wants to thump her, but Pat stops it. Karen gets Doreen's room ready at the Halfway House and tells Alice she should stay away from Dor unless she is prepared to tell her who she really is. Doreen is released, but finds it hard adjusting to life on the outside. Alice and Doreen bond while on a drive together; later Alice tells Karen the reason she doesn't want Dor to know who she is - she's dying of cancer. Chrissie decides to have her baby after all. Rosie prepares for baby Sam's first birthday, oblivious to the fact that he will be taken from her when he reaches a year old.
#7 - Episode 67
Season 1 - Episode 67 - Aired 10/17/1979
Alice Hemmings pretends to Doreen that she is there on behalf of the Halfway House and doesn't tell her who she is. Vera sneers Alice is wasting her time with Doreen; later, Alice tells Karen she realises she has left it too late to come back into Doreen's life. Erica returns to work. Chrissie taunts Meg into almost hitting her. Ros suggests to Bea they send her to coventry rather than beating her up. Erica warns Bea she will be held responsible if anything happens to Chrissie. Mum finally reconciles Judith-Anne with her mother and they all go back to live with Lorraine and Ron. Someone breaks into the infirmary and smashes into the medicine cabinet to steal drugs.
#8 - Episode 62
Season 1 - Episode 62 - Aired 9/25/1979
Bea realises Toni is dealing drugs and hits Doreen for going along with her. Doreen tries not to tell Erica it was Bea who hit her, but accidentally lets it slip. She begs Erica to recommend her parole, despite Greg's reservations about her mental state. After examining Mum, Greg says she has a chest infection and needs rest. He suggests Karen move in with them to look after them; later, Mum collapses while home alone. Angela holds a meeting about the Halfway House, with Erica and Greg in attendance. However, Karen acts very childishly resulting in a telling off from a furious Angela. Glenys escapes the hitmen and flags down a passing driver, angering Toni. Meanwhile, Glenys is under police guard again, but still gets a threatening letter in her dinner.
#9 - Episode 61
Season 1 - Episode 61 - Aired 9/19/1979
Bea gets out of Solitary, and Vera delights in warning her about Toni. However, Bea shocks the girls by making no effort to take over again. They later agree to work together to get on Vera's nerves, annoying big Martha. Toni tells her husband's cronies that she wants Glenys killed: later, Glenys is captured by the hitmen following her, who drive her into a forest at night, where a grave has been dug for her. Ted Douglas talks Erica out of resigning. Instead, she is going on leave for a while to think things through. Greg finally agrees to come back to the prison and goes out for dinner with Karen. Angela tells Karen that she is a lesbian. Meg goes to see Mum and a now very pregnant Judith-Anne, and finds Mum's health is rapidly worsening.
#10 - Episode 60
Season 1 - Episode 60 - Aired 9/18/1979
Monica is in trouble from Toni and Martha, out to get her for lagging and blow her parole. However, Meg realises that a fight between them was a set up and Monica is released after all, vowing never to be back. Sean McNally cuts Toni off, refusing to supply her with any more contraband. Now that the supply has run dry, the women tire of her and reject her, leaving only Martha on her side. Meanwhile Glenys, the witness to Toni's crime, is followed around by McNally's hitmen. Karen takes up her post with Angela Jeffries, who tells her they finally have the funding for the Halfway House. She wants Karen to try and persuade Greg to go back to the prison, but he still refuses. Later, Greg is alarmed to learn that Angela is gay.
#11 - Episode 57
Season 1 - Episode 57 - Aired 9/5/1979
Karen moves in with Melinda. She goes for a job interview but the woman realises who she is and sends her packing. Melinda books an abortion under Karen's name and goes away to have it done, telling Karen and her father that she is just going away for a few days. With Bea in the pound, Monica takes over the press. On the outside, Toni McNally, wife of a drugs kingpin, shoots a woman dead in a pub toilet and is brought to Wentworth on remand. She ingratiates herself with the others by passing on goods smuggled in by her lawyer, effortlessly taking over as Top Dog. Meanwhile, the witness who saw Toni kill Jackie Coulson is moved to a safe house for protection, but runs away from her police guards. Jim asks for leave to try and sort out his family problems.
#12 - Episode 54
Season 1 - Episode 54 - Aired 8/28/1979
The officers search the prison for Bella's missing ring, unaware that Noeline smuggled it out to Leanne. However, Meg later catches Leanne with it. Noeline is questioned by the police and reveals she found the ring in Martha's locker. Martha accidentally confesses to Erica that she murdered Bella, so Bea and Monica get out of Solitary. Martha simmers in Solitary following her confession. When her meal is delivered, she jumps Vera and puts a fork to her throat, dragging her up onto the roof and threatening to chuck her over, but Jim manages to diffuse the situation and save the day. Greg quietly leaves Wentworth, saying goodbye to Karen. Peter Clements' thesis is published and ridicules both Vera and Jim. Karen nervously awaits her parole hearing but it appears to go badly and she is convinced she has blown her chance at release.
#13 - Episode 53
Season 1 - Episode 53 - Aired 8/22/1979
Melinda finds Bella's body in the shower block and Bea falls under suspicion of her murder. Noeline schemes and points the finger at Bea and Monica: Bea has an alibi in the form of Greg, so Monica becomes the chief suspect. They are both sent to Solitary anyway. Lizzie tries to confess to clear her mates, but nobody believes a word of it. Melinda cons Greg into helping her in court, by using her pregnancy to get off on a good behaviour bond. As soon as she is free, she goes to see him and demands an abortion. He realises she never had any intention of having the baby and only used it to get released. Disgusted by the whole matter, Greg resigns from Wentworth. Meg very quickly grows tired of Leanne's antics and complains when she arrives at the prison to see Noeline. Noeline passes something to her during the visit, which turns out to be a ring stolen from Bella's body after her murder.
#14 - Episode 52
Season 1 - Episode 52 - Aired 8/21/1979
Bella's attacker is Martha, but she's only trying to be friendly. Erica agrees to let Martha act as Bella's bodyguard. Out in the garden, Monica attacks Bella and is sent to Solitary. Bella confides in Karen about her past and what led her to Wentworth. She also tells Karen how stupid she thinks Martha is, which Martha overhears. Martha storms off after an argument in the shower block, leaving her alone, after which Bella is knocked out and drowned in a sink. In the aftermath of the murder, Erica banishes Peter Clements from the prison when he admits he told the prisoners about Bella. Jean persuades Meg to let Leanne move in with them, and she quickly turns the place into a pigsty.
#15 - Episode 51
Season 1 - Episode 51 - Aired 8/15/1979
The new inmate in Solitary starts protesting and banging on her cell door to be let out of the pound, joined by Bea and the other women in support. The woman, child killer Bella Albrecht, is let out of Solitary, but a veil of silence surrounds her presence there. As the other women try to get the gen on her, Erica tells Karen the truth about Bella but makes her promise to keep quiet. Karen refuses to tell Bea anything, but she gets the info out of Peter Clements. Later, alone in the shower block, Bella is attacked. Meanwhile, Meg realises that it was Leanne who burgled the flat, but Jean persuades her not to turn her into the police.
#16 - Episode 49
Season 1 - Episode 49 - Aired 8/8/1979
The women plan to make a fool of Jim when they learn that he is afraid of blood. They talk Greg into holding first aid classes for them, and plan to humiliate him during it. Edie is worried about him and tells Vera the women are up to something. During the class, the girls pour red liquid over Monica; Jim gets flustered and over-reacts. They plan another surprise for him later on, but are thwarted by Edie. Meanwhile, Lizzie and Edie are becoming firm friends. Jean tries to find Edie somewhere to live when she is released, while Lizzie plots to help her friend stay inside with her. Jim offers to help Edie financially. The night before she is due to be released, she passes away in bed, leaving Lizzie distraught. Jim arranges to pay for her funeral. Carol Burton calls the cops on Melinda and has her arrested for blackmail; she arrives at Wentworth and is shocked to find Karen is already an inmate there.
#17 - Episode 47
Season 1 - Episode 47 - Aired 8/1/1979
Erica introduces new security measures to try and ferret out the key (ie metal detectors). Monica gets out of the pound. Blossom approaches Jim for help: she offers him half the money to help her smuggle the key out of the jail, and he agrees. Bea suggests to Vera, who reports to Erica, that Jim is having it off with a prisoner. When Blossom gets probation, she calls Jim to arrange getting the key out. Vera overhears the phone call, reports him to Erica, and he is swiftly suspended. Lizzie accuses Peter Clements of sending Dor round the twist. Greg and Jean are suspicious of him and his motives. Meanwhile, Peter's colleague Tom Burton is having an affair with Karen's college friend Melinda Crosse. His wife Carol drunkenly tells him she'll kill him if she ever finds out he's having an affair.
#18 - Episode 42
Season 1 - Episode 42 - Aired 7/17/1979
Jim recovers from his minor injuries as Joyce recovers from her narrow escape at the hands of her husband. Not wanting Harry to get to the money, she asks Monica to help her move the money somewhere safer after she is released. Erica learns that Jim and his wife, Leila, are separated. Lizzie tells Erica that she framed Lynn: Lynn is let out of the pound and Lizzie suffers loss of privileges. Meanwhile, Lizzie confronts Doreen, telling her she knows it was her who did it. Doreen spitefully tells Lynn that it was Lizzie who set her up and Lynn turns on the old woman. However, Monica soon works out the truth about the whole incident and tells Lynn the truth. Lynn is furious and calls Doreen a worm, rubbing mud in her face. Steve is invited to lunch by an old flame, Jennifer Collins, who proposes they go into partnership together.
#19 - Episode 33
Season 1 - Episode 33 - Aired 6/12/1979
Bea returns to Mum's flat, furious over Judith-Anne lying to her. Judith-Anne finally agrees to find out where Val is, but after she contacts Val, Val calls the police. Bea spots the police in time and turns up on Val's doorstep, forcing her to let her stay. Later, a policeman arrives at Val's house looking for Bea. Erica finds Vera tied up in her flat and calls the police. Vera admits it was Lucas who tied her up. She learns she may face charges for associating with known criminals. Erica wants to demote her, but Meg gets her to reconsider. Monica tries to show her dominance over the women with a sit-in but Karen breaks it. Doreen tries to stand up to her but nobody backs her up. Clara refuses Steve's offer of bail. Noeline is moved in to share a cell with Karen.
#20 - Episode 27
Season 1 - Episode 27 - Aired 5/23/1979
The mystery of Susan Rice deepens, when it emerges that nobody connected with Jason Richards has ever heard of Susan's hubby. Susan herself continues to freak out at the least opportunity. She says that it was Richards' idea for her husband to divorce her. She later learns her husband has applied for custody of their kids. Another screaming fit in the Rec Room ends with her trashing her cell and she is so upset she has to be sedated. Meg is concerned about Vera's involvement with Yates and George Lucas. Vera begins to think he is only interested in her because he wants her to take over Yates' drug dealing in the prison. He comes to the prison to see her and they are seen kissing by Doreen and Lynn. Later, George tells Vera that Yates has been arrested and asks her to look after her when she arrives in Wentworth. Steve makes enquiries about Karen being able to go to Uni on the outside.
#21 - Episode 22
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/8/1979
At the VJ's hearing, Barbara backs down and claims she was the only one involved in bringing the drugs into the prison. Vera tells the VJ that Barbara is Erica's niece and subtly suggests she has given her preferential treatment. When Erica returns, she is furious to learn that the Department are considering investigating her running of Wentworth thanks to Vera's meddling, and demands to know from Meg what went on while she was away. Lizzie arrives to see Angus and the pair waste no time in fighting with each other. He tells her she's getting nothing in his will and then snuffs it. Lizzie pinches something valuable anyway and smuggles it back into the prison. Steve and Jean get Mr Warner to come back and talk to Lynn, as her tough image will affect her trial. However, Doreen intimidates him during their visit in the garden. Catherine gets three years and Ken has to sell his share of the business to cover their legal costs. Karen learns her retrial starts in a couple of days.
#22 - Episode 26
Season 1 - Episode 26 - Aired 5/22/1979
The news about Karen causes celebrations among the inmates and staff. The mystery new prisoner is identified as a Susan Rice, but the woman remains an enigma. Jean is puzzled as to why she was shoplifting, as it turns out she is not short of cash. However, she is estranged from her husband, who has filed for divorce. She gets out on bail but is almost immediately rearrested for the same crime. After attacking Doreen and freaking out in the Rec Room, she tells Meg that her husband is having an affair with a pop star, Jason Richards. Vera bumps into ex-Officer Yates in a bar, who invites her to a party at her place. Yates introduces Vera to a man called George Lucas, whom Vera becomes smitten with and they go out on a date. However, it turns out that George is the man Yates was working for when she was sacked from Wentworth for drug dealing.
#23 - Episode 29
Season 1 - Episode 29 - Aired 5/30/1979
The prisoner step up their bullying campaign against Yates now that they know what she is inside for. Yates gives her file back to Vera and steals a knife from the dining room after Vera refuses to give her anything to protect herself with. Monica ambushes her in the corridor and takes her to Bea. Bea and Yates fight, leading to Yates pulling her knife, stabbing Bea and running off. She hides in one of the laundry driers; Vera, unaware she is inside, walks past and shuts the door. Meanwhile, neither officers nor prisoners know where Yates is and the hunt begins to find her. Susan Rice throws acid in Jason Richards' face live on TV. She is brought back to Wentworth, now completely loopy, and is attacked by Doreen. Meg and Jean discover that Richards is in fact Susan's husband, not his lover. Lynn meets Syd's son Geoff, who is instantly attracted to her.
#24 - Episode 43
Season 1 - Episode 43 - Aired 7/18/1979
Lynn refuses to forgive Doreen and learns she is to be released. She and Doreen sort of patch things up before Lynn leaves, but Doreen is still distraught over the whole thing, and confused over her feelings for her. Monica refuses to get involved in Joyce's troubles, especially as she has just got her parole and will be leaving along with Lynn. However, when Monnie's husband Fred turns up to tell her he has huge gambling debts, she agrees to help Joyce in order to pay them off. What Monnie doesn't know is that Fred's lying through his teeth and he wants the money to live it up with his girlfriend, Blossom Crabtree. Dimwit Martha Eaves overhears Monica and Joyce discussing their plans, and reports back to Harry Martin and his gang, telling them when Monnie will be released. When the release finally comes, though, Lynn leaves first and is accidentally abducted instead.
#25 - Episode 7
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/14/1979
Lizzie finds a stray cat in the garden and brings it into the prison. When it dies, she blames Franky for killing it, but it turns out she did it accidentally herself by giving it water from the garden tainted with weed killer. Lizzie then tries to fake amnesia in order to get an early release but Meg sees right through it. Gary Doyle comes to visit Franky again and gives her a copy of his plans for the farm. Later, the other women deface the plans by scribbling all over them. Mum suggests Franky work in the garden to keep her away from Bea. Erica and Meg ponder Franky's chances of a parole. Some male prisoners come to work outside the fence to work on the drainage system and Lynn befriends one of them, a guy named Doug. Vera's mother has a heart attack and dies. Marilyn is released to live with Eddie but, unable to get a job after being inside, she considers going back on the game.