SPOILER WARNING! This page obviously contain possible spoilers for anyone that has not seen episodes 1-600.

Episodes 1-4 (1979)
Paroled murderer Bea Smith shoots her ex-husband in cold blood and returns to Wentworth. She re-establishes herself as Top Dog after a violent showdown with arch-enemy Franky sees the murder of the Prison social worker.

Episode 20
Franky is shot dead by the police after going on the run with Doreen Anderson.

Episodes 81-83 (1979/80)
Young inmate Ros Coulson helps a gun-toting group infiltrate the prison and free a high-profile prisoner. Governor Erica Davidson is wounded.

Episodes 117-121
Corrupt male officer Jock Stewart evades justice for murdering one of the prisoners. A protest ends in tragedy when an inmate falls from the roof.

Episodes 165-167 (1980/81)
A mass escape is planned under cover of a show for local children. However, the tunnel running beneath the prison collapses, trapping Bea, Lizzie Birdsworth and Judy Bryant.

Episodes 195-200
Bea is transferred to Barnhurst prison, but there makes an enemy of the women with her stance on drugs. She loses her memory and escapes when the van bringing her back to Wentworth crashes.

Episode 224
Officer Vera Bennett is promoted to governor of Barnhurst.

Episodes 246-249 (1981/82)
Sly Marie Winter takes advantage of Bea’s absence in hospital to orchestrate a riot, holding new officers Steve Faulkner and Janet Conway hostage.

Episode 287
Twisted Joan Ferguson – ‘The Freak’ – arrives and soon earns the suspicion of the other officers when she bashes one inmate senseless and scares the others witless.

Episodes 326-327 (1982/83)
Wentworth goes up in flames as part of a miscalculated attempt by Bea to get rid of Joan for good.

Episodes 360-365
When Erica Davidson is sacked, officers Meg Morris and Colleen Powell vie with Joan for promotion. A new face, Ann Reynolds, is appointed instead.

Episode 400
Bea is permanently transferred when finally goaded into attacking the Freak.

Episodes 416-426 (1983/84)
Having survived a lynching by the prisoners, Joan finally gets her chance as governor while Ann is in hospital. Lizzie has a heart attack when she discovers that new officer Mr Bridges has been murdering prisoners instead of helping them escape.

Episodes 466-467
Marie Winters returns in time to start another riot.

Episodes 497-501 (1984/85)
Meg Morris and Ann Reynolds are kidnapped by a deranged relative of a dead inmate and left to die in a booby-trapped building.
Episodes 549-552
A terrorist group is holed up in Wentworth while attempting to free a drug baron's wife. Several women are brutally shot dead, including Top Dog Myra Desmond.

Episode 590 (1986)
Future Top Dog Rita Connors arrives and makes an instant enemy of the Freak.

 

Text and pictures taken from the TV Zone (issue 90, May 1997) feature article "Inside Story" by Peter Griffiths.
Highlights from later episodes have been temporarily omitted.