|
|
 JUDY BRYANT
Played by Betty Bobbitt
We first see American Judy when she is visiting her girlfriend Sharon Gilmour who has been sent to Wentworth for selling drugs. Judy ends up being an inmate herself when she makes sure she gets caught trying to smuggle drugs into the prison - of course, this is just an excuse to spend more time with Sharon.
Judy is a regular visitor to the prison, on both sides of the bars. She makes good friends with Bea, Chrissie, Doreen and Lizzie and for the most part is used as the Top Dog's backup, and also tries her hand at being Top Dog for a while. She becomes an enemy of Officer Jock Stewart, after he admitted to killing Sharon by pushing her down the stairs. Although the women protest about the brutal killing of Jude's girlfriend it only ends in further tragedy when an inmate falls from the roof to her death.
When Judy is released on parole she spots Jock during a visit to the races with her daughter. She doesn't think that he sees her but to her horror he ends up in Judy's flat not long after. He beats Judy and smashes up her home. He also rapes her. After trying to blackmail her, Jock ends up falling down the stairs himself when Judy manages to escape from him during another beating session. She leaves him at the bottom of the stairs - a payback for what he has done to her girlfriend and all of the other women in Wentworth who he abused. Jock ends up not being able to walk again and spends the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
Not long after this, Judy has settled down and working as a taxi driver. Unfortunately she is sent to prison again when she is wrongly charged with assault and stealing. It was actually one of her customer's who should be sent to Wentworth but the customer is never to be traced.
Judy does manage to get out of Wentworth legally and spends some of her money to buy a large home for ex-prisoners - a 'half way house' to enable the women to get back on their feet and find themselves a new life after their time in prison. Named "Driscoll House" after its first resident Susie Driscoll, it appears to be going well for Judy. She has the odd teething trouble and eventually has to relocate to new premises however nothing could prepare Judy for what happens next.
An old prison mate, Hazel Kent, comes to stay in Driscoll House. Hazel has become an alocholic after the breakup of her relationship and loss of her children to their father. We later find out that Hazel is terminally ill and is dying. Rather than have her stay in a nursing home, Judy agrees to look after her in Driscoll. Things go from bad to worse and Hazel (who has become blind by now) ends up asking Judy to end her suffering by helping her to take an overdose. Judy agrees but can't allow herself to stay quiet about what she has done. She ends up back in Wentworth.
She settles back into prison life quite easily - again becoming mates with the new crowd: Myra, Pixie, Reb etc. She falls in love with fellow prisoner Pixie Mason and writes a secret song about her. Nobody is meant to know about it but another inmate Sheila Brady reads the words and helps Judy to write the music to match the lyrics. Judy leaves Wentworth with Sheila in episode 535 and starts a career as a musician with her new friend - at the end of this episode we even get to hear "Pixie's Song" as the credits roll on the screen.
© 2004 On The Inside. Not to be reproduced without permission.
Previous | Home | Next
|
|
|
|
