WENTWORTH CAST ANNOUNCED – SHOOTING BEGINS NEXT WEEK

Foxtel’s new drama Wentworth, a new take on classic show Prisoner Cell Block H, has finalised it’s cast and will begin shooting in Melbourne next week.

The much anticipated Foxtel drama Wentworth – a contemporary re-imagining of the iconic Australian series Prisoner – starts production in Melbourne next week.

Wentworth premieres in 2013 on Foxtel’s SoHo channel.

The 10-part series, produced by FremantleMedia Australia, is a confronting drama set in the pressure cooker environment of a women’s prison. The inmates and corrections staff of Wentworth Detention Centre will be forced to forge unlikely friendships and allegiances if they are to survive on the inside.

The cast of prisoners are Danielle Cormack (Underbelly Razor, Rake) as Wentworth’s latest arrival, suburban wife and mum Bea Smith, Nicole Da Silva (Rush, East West 101) as GenY lesbian Franky Doyle, Celia Ireland (Laid, All Saints) as earthy Liz Birdsworth, Kris McQuade (Killing Time, The Circuit) as newly-created character, crime matriarch Jacs Holt and, in her first major television role, Shareena Clanton as young Aboriginal woman Doreen Anderson.

Catherine McClements (Rush, Water Rats) and Kate Atkinson (Offspring, Rush) play Governor Meg Jackson and her deputy Vera Bennett. Aaron Jeffery (Underbelly Badness, McLeod’s Daughters) and, Robbie Magasiva (Shortland Street) are corrections officers Matthew “Fletch” Fletcher and Will Jackson. Leeanna Walsman (Underbelly Badness) plays progressive and crusading lawyer Erica Davidson.

Foxtel Executive Director of Television Brian Walsh said “Wentworth will be bold Australian storytelling with this remarkable group of actors portraying the rivalries, power struggles and heartbreak of prison life in a drama tailor-made for the subscription television audience.”

Wentworth will be shot on a purpose built prison set in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton and the production will employ in excess of 300 cast and crew during the four month shoot.

Whether the series will capture the imagine of fans the way the original did remains to be seen but it is good to see Foxtel’s commitment to drama continuing.

Source: Foxtel Media Release