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A teenager who rebelled with her crimping tongs and yellow denim. Both her appearances in the series involved tragic events. But that's not the reason she's an integral part of Prisoner.
Colleen’s daughter is probably best remembered for her wonderfully dated trendy outfits, and even in her first proper appearance she was seen arguing with her mother about disco pants at a petrol station. Having settled on canary yellow jeans instead, the crimped haired teenager was out looking for her younger brother, when she stumbled head-first into her only major plotline.
Unfortunately for her, she witnessed the getaway cars being switched from a bank job, and recognised the man from the petrol station earlier. She was kidnapped, and taken to a hideout. The three kidnappers included a woman, Carol, who was bashed by her lover Doug, after trying to phone Colleen at the prison in a moment of guilt. But she did persuade the other man, Mel, to call the prison while he was in town.
Later, while Mel was out looking for another car, Doug argued with Carol, knocking her unconscious, before attacking and raping Jenny. Carol was appalled, but stayed with the two men until all four of them moved on to a motel.
That night, Doug told Carol he was planning to dispose of Jenny and Mel, and while Jenny tried to make her escape, Mel was awoken by gunshot, catching Jenny before she could get away. Carol had shot and killed Doug. She decided to wait for the police, while Mel fled with Jenny in tow.
This led to Carol’s prison storyline, when she was inducted as an inmate in Wentworth Detention Centre (where else?) where vengeful mum Colleen happened to be Deputy Governor, glaring over the induction paperwork. Despite being told that Carol had tried to protect Jenny (and despite the highly improbable situation of putting a prisoner in a jail where the Deputy Governor has a personal interest in her case, especially for the rape and kidnap of her teenage daughter), Colleen was none too pleased to see Carol.
But as Colleen tried to make life hard for Carol in the prison, daughter Jenny sent her a letter thanking her for looking after her during the kidnap, much to Colleen’s horror.
Eventually Carol was charged with manslaughter and transferred to Barnhurst, and Jenny was not seen again.. until some considerable time later, when she was inadvertently blown up. Rick Manning had left his car with Colleen’s husband to work on, not knowing it contained a bomb until Patrick was about to drop the kids off at school with it. But the warning came too late..
Jennifer had been a product of all that was gloriously trashy at that time, and these days can be looked back on with nostalgic amusement. It’s a shame really that she was never more than a plot device, something to cause the other characters to react, in both her appearances during the series. The first time as a reason for Carol’s imprisonment and Colleen’s resentment, the second time to provide Colleen with the shock and grief of losing her entire family. (Though to be fair, her second 'appearance' wasn't even that - Patrick and the kids were barely glimpsed, and the explosion took place in the more economical "just off camera" location.)
But Jennifer remains one of those classic parts of Prisoner that put it firmly in the early eighties, along with a few disco scenes and a couple of Jim Fletcher’s wing-collared shirts. If there were a recipe for Prisoner's appeal twenty years down the line, then Jennifer Powell represents what would undoubtedly be the cheese.
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