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 RITA CONNORS
Played by Glenda Linscott
MAJOR SPOILER WARNING!!!
SERIES ENDING REVEALED!!!
Bikie Rita Connors is introduced to us at the end of episode 585. She is brought to Wentworth in the usual way, but the 'paddy wagon' that is transporting her from the courts is followed by a troop of bikies. She jumps out of the van once at Wentworth in spectacular fashion as she punches the air and shouts to her mates who have been following her.
Joan Ferguson makes an instant enemy of Rita. She rips the chains off Rita's jacket with great amusement, however Rita is not amused.
We know that Rita is Top Dog material as soon as she is on screen but she's just not interested in the job to begin with. The other women need someone with her strength (and height!) to take over things at Wentworth, which is currently being run by Lou Kelly. When Rita finds out that her boyfriend, Slasher, has been killed (episode 598) it is not long before she realises that her time inside Wentworth may as well be spent as Top Dog. She doesn't have her biker gang anymore so accepts the Top Dog position and calls her followers "The Wentworth Warriors".
Rita spends a lot of time inside protecting the women from Officer Ferguson who attempts to make her life hell whenever she's around. Joan thinks she has got rid of Rita once and for all when she's transferred to Blackmoor prison but in episode 686 is returned after buring it down in a riot.
Episode 686 starts the final storyline of the series. Rita isn't feeling well but isn't too worried - she thinks she may still be recovering from a recent poisoning incident but when she gets worse she has medical tests which show bad news.
Rita is suffering from non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a form of cancer affecting the immune system. She vows to fight the illness and initially keeps it to herself and mate Alice Jenkins, although eventually the rest of the other women find out. Rita knows that she's dying but wants to do 'three things before she dies'. She doesn't let on what she means but we later find out that Rita is going to trick her enemy Joan Ferguson into helping her escape so she can rob a finance company. She has had the robbery planned for ages but just needed to find the right time to do it. In return for this, she would share some of the takings with Joan. Rita would hide the money in the toilets at the finance company where Joan would collect them the following day.
Joan reluctantly agrees and Rita does the robbery and is recaptured as planned. When Joan is questioned by the police she's told that Rita has died from her illness. Joan sees this as the perfect opportunity to get the money from the toilets and keep it all for herself. Little does she know that she's being followed by the police who catch her in the act and she's arrested.
Joan is sent to none other than Wentworth for one night, until she is able to be transferred to a prison in a different part of the country. She is sent to solitary where Rita - risen from the dead - brings her meal.
Was Rita really ill? We never find out but it's a cracking ending to the series!
© 2004 Scott Anderson. Not to be reproduced without permission.
Thanks to "Who's Who in Wentworth" for episode numbers & precise details.
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