Wentworth (TV series)

"Wentworth Prison" redirects here. For the former prison in New South Wales, see Wentworth Gaol.

Wentworth
File:Wentworth title.png
Genre	Drama
Created by	Lara Radulovich David Hannam Reg Watson
Starring	Danielle Cormack Nicole da Silva Pamela Rabe Shareena Clanton Celia Ireland Kate Atkinson Robbie Magasiva Aaron Jeffery Katrina Milosevic Leeanna Walsman Kris McQuade Tammy Macintosh Kate Jenkinson Bernard Curry Libby Tanner Socratis Otto
Opening theme	"You Don't Know Me"
Composer(s)	Richard Pleasance
Country of origin	Australia
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	35 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jo Porter
Producer(s)	Amanda Crittenden (series producer)
Running time	43 minutes
Production company(s)	FremantleMedia Australia
Release
Original network	SoHo
Picture format	576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Audio format	Dolby Digital 5.1
Original release	1 May 2013 (2013-05-01) – present (present)
Chronology
Related shows	Prisoner
External links
Website

Wentworth is an Australian television drama series. It was first broadcast on SoHo on 1 May 2013. The series serves as a contemporary reimagining of Prisoner, which ran on Network Ten from 1979 to 1986. Lara Radulovich and David Hannam developed Wentworth from Reg Watson's original concept. The series is set in the modern day and begins with Bea Smith (Danielle Cormack)'s early days in prison.

For the first three seasons, Wentworth was filmed on purpose-built sets in the suburbs of Clayton, Victoria. Production moved to Newport, Victoria starting with the fourth season. The show has received a mostly positive reception from critics, and the first episode became the most watched Australian drama series premiere in Foxtel history. The series was picked up by several countries, including New Zealand and the UK, where it has been retitled Wentworth Prison. The fourth season was commissioned on 27 February 2015, and began on 10 May 2016.

Premise

Further information: List of Wentworth episodes

Wentworth is set in modern-day Australia and focuses on Bea Smith (Danielle Cormack) when she first enters prison after being charged with the attempted murder of her husband. Bea is separated from her daughter and sent to Wentworth on remand, where she lives in "an uncertain limbo" until she is sentenced. Starting at the bottom of Wentworth's hierarchy, Bea is forced to learn how to survive in prison.

Season		Episodes	Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
	1	10	1 May 2013 (2013-05-01)	3 July 2013 (2013-07-03)
	2	12	20 May 2014 (2014-05-20)	5 August 2014 (2014-08-05)
	3	12	7 April 2015 (2015-04-07)	23 June 2015 (2015-06-23)
	4	12	10 May 2016 (2016-05-10)	TBA

Cast and characters

Main article: List of Wentworth characters

Actor	Character	Seasons
		1	2	3	4
Danielle Cormack	Bea Smith	Main
Nicole da Silva	Franky Doyle	Main
Kate Atkinson	Vera Bennett	Main
Shareena Clanton	Doreen Anderson	Main
Celia Ireland	Liz Birdsworth	Main
Robbie Magasiva	Will Jackson	Main
Katrina Milosevic	Sue "Boomer" Jenkins	Recurring	Main
Aaron Jeffery	Matthew Fletcher	Main
Kris McQuade	Jacs Holt	Main
Leeanna Walsman	Governor Erica Davidson	Main
Pamela Rabe	Governor Joan Ferguson		Main
Kate Jenkinson	Allie Novak				Main
Socratis Otto	Maxine Conway		Recurring		Main
Tammy Macintosh	Karen "Kaz" Proctor			Recurring	Main

Production

Conception

In March 2012, it was announced that a contemporary re-imagining of Prisoner had been commissioned by Foxtel. Brian Walsh, the executive director of television at Foxtel, stated that Wentworth would not be a remake of Prisoner, which ran for 692 episodes on Network Ten from 1979 to 1986. He continued: "Wentworth will be a dynamic and very confronting drama series, developed and stylised specifically for subscription television audiences. We have told producers to push all boundaries and honestly depict life on the inside as it is in 2012." Lara Radulovich and David Hannam have developed Wentworth from Reg Watson's original concept. FremantleMedia and director of drama Jo Porter will produce Wentworth. The first episode, and several subsequent episodes, were written by Pete McTighe. Television critic Michael Idato acted as series consultant and Kerry Tucker acted as consultant on authenticity.

Porter commented that the series would explore "the politics of women in a world with few men, and how the experience both challenges and changes them, sometimes for the better." Wentworth is set in the modern-day and centres on Bea Smith's early days in prison. The storylines include a mix of original inmates and staff from Prisoner with characters developed especially for Wentworth. Foxtel told a reporter from The Sydney Morning Herald that the original characters from Prisoner would be a contemporary interpretation in the new series. It was initially reported that none of the original cast from Prisoner would appear in the first season of Wentworth, however Anne Charleston, who had a number of small roles in the original series, made a cameo appearance as Liz Birdsworth's mother-in-law, also Alex Menglet and Gloria Ajenstat who played Ray Proctor and Tammy Fisher in the original series will have guest roles in the new series. Foxtel revealed that the producers were looking at how they might incorporate the Prisoner theme tune, "On The Inside", into the new series.

On 5 June 2013, it was confirmed that Wentworth had been renewed for a second season. A reporter for the Australian Associated Press said production would begin later in the year, and the season would air in 2014. Porter stated: "We have assembled an extraordinary team of writers who can't wait to get started on series two. We have so many more stories to tell." In January 2014, it was announced that a third season of Wentworth had been ordered, before the second had aired. In a similar manner, a 12-episode fourth season was announced before the airing of the third season on 27 February 2015. It will begin airing from 10 May 2016.

Casting

On 4 October 2012, a reporter for The West Australian revealed that Celia Ireland and Kate Atkinson had joined the cast of Wentworth, while Shareena Clanton would make her acting debut as Doreen Anderson. Danielle Cormack was cast in the role of Beatrice "Queen Bea" Smith and she stated "I am absolutely rapt to be part of the reboot of such an iconic drama. Prisoner left an indelible mark on fans and I really hope that the re-imagining of this series will be just as popular with viewers now as it was back then." Actors Robbie Magasiva and Aaron Jeffery play corrections officers in the detention centre. David Knox from TV Tonight revealed that Nicole da Silva, Kris McQuade, Catherine McClements and Leeanna Walsman had also joined the cast.

Following the end of the first season, it was revealed that iconic Prisoner character Joan "The Freak" Ferguson, a sadistic, lesbian prison officer, would be introduced in the second season. Porter commented "Prisoner offered up a very rich well of amazing characters to draw upon and the Wentworth writers are very excited about revisiting the character of prison officer Joan 'The Freak' Ferguson in our second season." Erin McWhirter from TV Week reported that former All Saints actress Tammy MacIntosh was one actress rumoured to have been offered the role. On 21 September 2013, it was confirmed that Pamela Rabe had been cast as "The Freak". McQuade, McClements and Walsman did not reprise their respective roles of Jacs Holt, Meg Jackson and Erica Davidson for the second season. Katrina Milosevic, who portrays Boomer Jenkins, was upgraded to the main cast.

Actresses Pia Miranda, Libby Tanner and Tammy MacIntosh joined the cast from the third season as inmate Jodie Spiteri, psychologist Bridget Westfall and vigilante Karen Proctor respectively. Sigrid Thornton, who played Ros Coulson on Prisoner, will be joining the cast for season four. She will not be reprising her former role, but will play another Prisoner based character Sonia Stevens. In November 2015, Kate Jenkinson and Bernard Curry were announced to be appearing in the show as Allie Novak, an inmate, and Jake Stewart, a correctional officer, respectfully.

Filming

Foxtel confirmed that Wentworth would not be shot at the studios in Nunawading, Victoria where Prisoner was filmed. Wentworth was instead filmed on a purpose built set in the suburb of Clayton. The shoot employed 300 cast and crew. The ten-part season began filming for four months from 10 October 2012. Wentworth began airing on Foxtel's SoHo channel from 1 May 2013. Filming for the second season began on 23 September 2013 and wrapped on 13 February 2014. The second season began airing on 20 May 2014. Production for the third season resumed in March and filming was completed in late July. In the same month, it was announced that the property in which Wentworth was filmed had been sold, and the set would be knocked down. A new alternative was being sought and a TV Week reporter commented that it was unclear if the loss of the set would be written into future storylines. The third season began airing on 7 April 2015. Production on the fourth season began in the second half of 2015.

Reception

Following a screening of the pilot episode for the media in February 2013, Ben Pobjie from The Age called Wentworth "a triumph". He praised the writing and the cast, saying "So rarely in Australian TV do we see well-written characters collide with dead-on casting and tense, atmospheric direction as they have here." He added that Wentworth is "a powerful, almost cinematic drama" with its own identity, that incorporates "echoes" of the original Prisoner series. Holly Byrnes, writing for the Herald Sun, quipped "this brilliant retelling picks up where the pioneering series left off and then takes the kind of shocking plot detours contemporary TV viewers would expect from award-winning US dramas like Breaking Bad or Sons of Anarchy." Byrnes also praised the cast's performances, particularly Cormack.

Following its North American debut the critics drew comparisons with US prison dramedy Orange Is the New Black, though Liz Raftery of TV Guide said she believed the show was more gritty and did not "sugarcoat" prison life. They branded it "edge-of-your-seat television" and singled out Sue 'Boomer' Jenkins as one of the show's standout characters and reasons to watch. Margaret Lyons from New York magazine called it a "ruthlessly dark drama" similar to Breaking Bad, a comparison which TV Guide's critics also made. Lyons added that Wentworth's careful plotting of storylines gave meaningful payoffs and triumphed into making it a "smart and competent" series.

The first episode of Wentworth attracted 244,000 viewers, making it the most watched Australian drama series premiere in Foxtel history. The UK premiere of the show attracted 1.67 million viewers, a 10.3% share of the audience for the 10pm time slot.

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Recipients and nominees	Result
2013	Australian Screen Editors	Best Editing in a Television Drama	Philip Watts	Nominated
2014	AACTA Awards	Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama	Kris McQuade	Nominated
		Best Television Drama Series	Wentworth – Jo Porter, Amanda Crittenden	Nominated
	ASTRA Awards	Most Outstanding Drama	Wentworth	Won
		Most Outstanding New Talent	Shareena Clanton	Nominated
		Most Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor	Danielle Cormack	Nominated
			Nicole da Silva	Won
			Kris McQuade	Nominated
		Most Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor	Aaron Jeffery	Nominated
			Robbie Magasiva	Nominated
	Logie Awards	Most Outstanding Drama Series	Wentworth	Nominated
		Most Outstanding Actress	Danielle Cormack	Nominated
		Most Outstanding Newcomer	Shareena Clanton	Nominated
	Equity Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Cast	Nominated
2015	AACTA Awards	Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama	Pamela Rabe	Won
		Best Television Drama Series	Wentworth – Jo Porter, Amanda Crittenden	Nominated
	ASTRA Awards	Most Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor	Danielle Cormack	Won
			Celia Ireland	Nominated
			Nicole da Silva	Nominated
			Pamela Rabe	Nominated
		Most Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor	Aaron Jeffrey	Nominated
			Robbie Magasiva	Nominated
		Most Outstanding Drama	Wentworth	Won
	Australian Directors Guild Awards	Best Direction in a TV Drama Series	Kevin Carlin for Series 2 Episode 11	Nominated
	Australian Writers Guild Awards	Best Script for a Television Series	Pete McTighe for "Fear Her"	Nominated
		Best Script for a Television Series	Stuart Page for "The Governor's Pleasure"	Won
	Logie Awards	Most Outstanding Drama Series	Wentworth	Won
		Most Outstanding Actress	Danielle Cormack	Won
		Most Outstanding Actress	Nicole da Silva	Nominated
2016	Logie Awards	Most Outstanding Actress	Pamela Rabe	Nominated
		Most Outstanding Drama Series	Wentworth	Nominated
		Most Outstanding Supporting Actress	Celia Ireland	Won

Broadcast

Wentworth has been sold to more than 20 countries. On 2 April 2013, it was confirmed that TVNZ had signed a deal to broadcast Wentworth in New Zealand. Later that month, it was announced that Wentworth would be broadcast on Channel 5 in the UK. The head of acquisitions for the channel, Kate Keenan, commented "Wentworth will be a great addition to Channel 5's drama output this autumn. This compelling cast of female characters packs an emotional punch and will appeal to the Channel 5 viewers who love our range of crime output from dramas to factual series."

A trailer for the series began airing on the channel and its website in August 2013 and premiered on Channel 5 on 28 August. Channel 5 also re-titled the show, Wentworth Prison. The second season began on Channel 5 on 3 September 2014 and season Three, which commenced broadcast on 22 July 2015, concluded with a two-hour season finale which consisted of episodes 11 and 12 of the season on 30 September 2015. The series premiered in the Republic of Ireland broadcasting as Wentworth on TV3 from June 2014. Season 2 premiered on TV3 on 15 January 2015.

In Canada the first two seasons broadcast on Aboriginal Peoples Television Network in late 2015. In December 2014, Netflix in the United States added seasons one and two to its streaming service.

Home media

In Australia, each set available has been released on both DVD and Blu-ray formats. In the UK, each set available has only received a DVD release.

Title	Episodes	Release date			Additional
		Region 2	Region 4	Region B
The Complete Season One	10	4 November 2013	18 November 2013		Features 5-disc DVD (Australia) 3-disc Blu-ray (Australia) 3-disc DVD (UK standard edition) 4-disc DVD (UK Deluxe 4-disc Edition)
The Complete Season Two	12	24 November 2014	22 October 2014		Features 4-disc DVD (Australia) 3-disc Blu-ray (Australia) 4-disc DVD (UK Deluxe 4-disc Edition)
The Complete Seasons One & Two	22	24 November 2014	22 October 2014		Features 9-disc DVD (Australia) 6-disc Blu-ray (Australia) 8-disc DVD (UK)
The Complete Season Three	12	12 October 2015	14 October 2015		Features 4-disc DVD (Australia) 3-disc Blu-ray (Australia) 4-disc DVD (UK Deluxe 4-disc Edition)
The Complete Seasons One – Three	34	12 October 2015	14 October 2015		Features 13-disc DVD 9-disc Blu-ray (Australia) 12-disc DVD (UK)

Remakes

• There is a German remake in pre-production.
• Celblok H, a Dutch remake of Wentworth for Dutch TV Network, SBS 6, starring Isa Hoes, Eva van de Wijdeven, Bo Mearten, and Inge Ipenburg, began airing on 3 March 2014. A third season is scheduled in 2015.

External links

• Official website
• Wentworth at IMDb