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In the background for about 300 episodes, with barely two lines of dialogue to rub together, but she still saw more action than most main characters.
As background extras go, Lil never had the 'shocked expression' skills of Tina Murray, nor the sheep impersonations of Lorna. But she was always there when a bit of instant muscle needed to wheeled on. Usually working as part of a pair, she would switch allegiances more often than Marty Jackson would switch appearance.
Her first appearance appears to have been in episode 91, where she was seen with big Bev Cavelli. The pair soon became the prison's rent-a-bashing service, and were so inseparable that people seemed to forget who was who. Within only a few episodes Bea was seen referring to Bev as 'Lil' in the dining room. And in episode 195, she told Lil, "Ok Bev, give 'em back!"
The heavying began immediately after their first appearance, when Lil and Bev were sent by Bea (with Margo Gaffney - referred to as 'Dempsey' at the time - in tow) to attack Sharon Gilmour. And a while after this, the same three attacked the annoyingly whiney Tracey Morris (and who can blame them?)
When the ill-fated escape attempt took place in the underground storm drains, it was Lil who provided the decoy, by planting a ladder by a fence with a blanket thrown over the barbed wire. She also appeared to give nosey journalist Sandra Hamilton a shove in the shower block, causing her to be knocked unconscious. Around the same time, eccentric herbalist Evelyn Randall had been deliberately poisoning the staff and inmates, so that she could 'miraculously' cure them with herbal remedies. When the truth was revealed, naturally the women were unimpressed, and it was Lil who planted a booby trap (a candle over some flammable liquid) in Evelyn's cell, leading to the herbalist getting hideously burned.
Back with sidekick Bev, and under Margo's influence, Lil had another burst of action around the episode 200 mark. First of all, she and Bev ransacked Doreen's cell, then the same pair almost made Judy Bryant's pacemaker short circuit by holding her against the laundry drier. Margo made Lil follow Mum Brooks, and fetch her pills, taunting Bea with them. Bea had been suffering from amnesia at the time, and it was thanks to Margo and her two heavies that her memory returned, after they bashed her and locked her in a dark storeroom, inadvertently bringing back memories of her near death in the storm drains.
After another gap, she was back in business, when she and Bev beat up Doreen for lagging, and her first mention in the programme's end credits appeared in episode 256. By now, Marie Winter was calling the shots with the heavies, and they were required to deal with Sandy Edwards by what was to look like a suicide. Lil was involved in an attempt to ambush Kate Peterson on the staircase with Margo and Marie, but when Kate produced a knife, she fled. One of her most interesting roles came soon after, when she played the Clerk of the Court, reading out the charges in the 'kangaroo court' for Kate.
Towards the end of the 200s, Lil was seen with Phyllis Hunt, heavying Faye Quinn for not paying up after a bet. With Bea and Ronnie, she beat up Chrissie Latham when she was caught red handed (literally) stealing money from Lizzie's shoe. And with Ronnie and Margo, threw a sheet over new inmate Meg Morris' head before laying into her. At this time, it's worth noting that her partner in crime seemed to have switched from Bev to Ronnie. The pair both volunteered for the Woodridge concert to raise money for the halfway house, and were both involved in child basher Sally Dempster having scalding coffee poured over her.
Some time after this, Nola McKenzie arrived in Wentworth. Lil became part of Maxine Daniels' unofficial (i.e. not approved by Bea) bashing of Nola. But Nola was not going to just take that, and both Lil and Jacko (her new heavying partner) were beaten up by Nola afterwards. She soon became one of Nola's heavies, and along with Mary Adler, she helped bash Bea Smith in the prison library, while Joan Ferguson pretended not to notice.
Sadly, after around 300 episodes, Lil was struck down by Lassa Fever when the prison had an outbreak of the deadly disease. Her final line ("urgh.. urgh.. urgh..") was uttered, as she died in Colleen Powell's arms. She'd outlasted Bev, and had switched sides more often than Chrissie Latham's sexuality. But it was the end of an era, and nothing would ever replace the gruesome twosome element of Lil & Bev (or Lil & Ronnie, or Lil & Jacko).
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