Top Ten: Maybe Baby

Babies feature in more storylines in Prisoner than you might at first think. Not only because the women have strong feelings about them (especially when it comes to “baby bashers”) which can fuel hatred towards a character, but because of incidents from the past which have affected individual characters’ lives.

1. Born Behind Bars
Ah, the classic baby born in prison storyline. Most memorably this happened with Lexie Patterson towards the end of the series (where Lurch’s skills in animal husbandry came in particularly handy). Earlier in the series, after the women had been transferred to Woodridge after the great fire, Jeanie Stanton gave birth in the dorm. But not forgetting the most significant prison baby of all.. Meg Jackson/Morris revealed in the early episodes that she had been born in prison.

2. Underage Pregnancy
In the early episodes, Mum Brooks wasn’t the only person to get the cold shoulder from her awful daughter. Granddaughter Judith-Anne moved in with Mum during her pregnancy. Another possible example of underage pregnancy came with Kerry Brodie, who will come up again in a moment.

3. Abortion
Prisoner was not afraid to tackle this issue, and from the opening episodes Karen Travers’ abortion was a major part of her storyline and her reason for being in Wentworth. The subject reappeared later with Tony Reid’s friend, Sally Blakely. Doreen Anderson/Burns and officer Joyce Barry were also mentioned as having had abortions earlier in their life. In Doreen’s case it was suggested hers might have had something to do with losing her baby later on, and for Joyce, it was her experience and regrets that pushed her to try to persuade Meg not to go through the same thing.

4. Forced Separation
Having a baby taken away from its prisoner mother at one year old was one of Chrissie Latham’s main storylines, as her beloved baby Lizbuff approached twelve months. The same issue was used in a much more low-key (and poignant) way in the early episodes, when Helen Masters promised she’d get Beth Jones’ baby back, but on her release went back on her word.

5. Miscarriage
There were several characters in the series who lost their baby, most notably Nora Flynn (after being punched in the stomach by Lou Kelly) and Bobbie Mitchell (after an accident at the fete). Cheryll Armstrong blamed her miscarriage on her addiction to drugs. And Sonia Stevens revealed she had lost a baby earlier in her life, during a consultation with Dr Weissmann.

6. Post Natal Depression
This seems to have been what led Lori Maynard (Judy Bryant’s daughter) to abandon her baby on the steps of the Halfway House, after she found out the baby was deaf. The condition was also the reason Nora Flynn had the (brief) reputation of a child killer, after she had tried to stop a mother from killing her baby and was wrongly blamed for the attempted murder instead.

7. Unable to conceive
Joyce Barry revealed to Meg that she was unable to have children, though rather curiously, a full grown son appeared later in the series. In a more subtle, but very sad little scene just after the birth of Lexie Patterson’s baby, Merle Jones revealed, "I can't have one," she said. "They fixed it so's I couldn't.”

8. Baby Buying
The subject of surrogacy came up when Roxanne Bradshaw arrived in Wentworth, pregnant with another couple’s baby, which they were paying her for. Despite the women’s initial disapproval, Roxanne trying to increase the amount, and then changing her mind about giving up the baby, she eventually agreed to go through with the original deal before going into labour and leaving Wentworth.

9. Abuse
There were several examples of abusers of children, but the most memorable case involving a baby was in the opening episodes. Lynn Warner had been wrongly accused of trying to bury a baby alive, when in fact it had been her wicked employer.

10. Incestual Pregnancy
This unusual taboo subject was attempted with the introduction of Kerry Brodie, who not only turned out to be very young and pregnant, but it was soon revealed the father was her own father. This could have been a very brave and interesting storyline, had it featured good acting and not been over and forgotten within 3 or 4 episodes.