Stage and screen great Maggie Kirkpatrick became a global TV icon thanks to her pitch-perfect portrayal of Prisoner’s sadistic, black leather glove-wielding warden Joan ‘The Freak’ Ferguson.
Now, 40 years on from the show’s sensational end, Maggie, 85, is reflecting on the finale, in which Joan became a prisoner at Wentworth Detention Centre as an “ultimate comeuppance and masterstroke of poetic justice”.
“I couldn’t have wished for a better outcome for Joan,” Maggie tells New Idea.
“She was wonderful to play because she was such a corrupt and wicked woman, but for her to wind up behind bars was a deliciously inglorious and fabulous finale.
“Fans still write to me from all over the world remarking it was an epic way to end the series, with nasty old Joan thrown behind bars… and I couldn’t agree more,” Maggie adds with a laugh.
The groundbreaking series went out on a high, after eight seasons and 692 episodes, on December 11, 1986.
The finale saw Glenda Linscott’s tough biker top dog Rita ‘The Beater’ Connors, who was dying of cancer, mount a daring escape bid in order to steal $250,000 to secure her family’s future.
“Joan was her accomplice. Yes, she was crooked right up until the end,” recalls Maggie.
Sadly for Joan, she was hung out to dry by Rita and wound up behind bars.
“When I got the script, I remember thinking, ‘what a wonderful plot twist,’” Maggie shares.
Glenda, 68, recently reunited with some of the cast at a Partners in Crime Prisoner fan event.
She also has fond memories of her time on the show – and her part in The Freak’s downfall!
She tells New Idea that, “watching Maggie work was a masterclass. Yes, it could be intense, the workload was enormous, but there were plenty of laughs along the way, too. Rita was a joy to play.”
She adds, “we were all immeasurably proud of the show, but once it was all over, there was one hell of a party.”
Maggie played Joan in 390 episodes of Prisoner, and says working on the show for four and a half years was a “marathon stretch”.
She adds, “It was incredibly hard work, but boy, we had fun too. I remember doing a scene with the late Sheila Florance, who played inmate Lizzie Birdsworth, and we laughed so hard she told me she’d wet herself!”
None other than Sammy Davis Jr. – who was an avid watcher of Prisoner – once visited the set and declared he was a “Joan superfan” in particular.
The show also became an international TV hit, especially in the UK, with fans across the globe devastated when Wentworth’s gates clanged shut for the final time.
But Maggie will not stand for any talk that Prisoner was axed.
“I take great umbrage when people say that,” says Maggie, sounding every inch like her formidable Joan Ferguson alter ego!
“It wasn’t axed. Flop, dud shows get axed. Prisoner came to its natural end, and it did so beautifully thanks to the scriptwriters and producers.”
