Colleen Powell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Colleen Powell was a character in Australian prison drama Prisoner Cell Block H. She was played by Judith McGrath.

[edit] Profile

Officer Colleen Powell's first appearance in the Prisoner series was in 1979. She was initially a background officer and was therefore not given anything exciting to do. Her first appearance was in Episode 48, filling in for Jim Fletcher, and her first job was to unlock the cells in the morning. Since she was a new officer, she didn't know why Jim was absent. Her next appearance was in Episode 65 as a stroppy and spiteful Union rep. In her early appearances, Colleen had her hair tied back and wore glasses.

After episode 65, Colleen made five uncredited appearances in Episodes 71, 76, 77, 80 and 111. Her appearance in 111 involved Debbie Pearce, who had a 24-hour stay in Wentworth to see what it was like to be in prison. Colleen had supposedly observed a programme like this in Paramatta, which must have been where she worked before coming to work in Wentworth.

She was the person who called a drunken Vera into work for a late shift in Episode 155. When the prisoners discovered Vera was drunk, they stole her keys, allowing Lizzie to steal one of Erica's decanters from her office and the rest of the women forced Vera to drink it.

After the drunken Vera incident, Colleen began to make more frequent appearences. In Episode 161, she was one of the officers who Stuart Gillespie sent to the rifle range for target practice, when he recommended that armed guards needed to be posted around the perimeter fence. Colleen appeared again in Episode 165, where Gillespie told her she would have to work unpaid overtime on the day of the pantomine. In that same episode, Colleen and Gillespie were discussed posting officers on the roof on the day of the pantomine.

In Episode 166, her spitefulness came to a head again when she threatened to call in the Union when Jim was told to recall the officers going home after their shiifts had finished, so they could serve meals. In Episode 168, she arranged security arrangements with the Union, when Gillespie visited Wentworth to discuss security arrangements. In Episode 169, Colleen told Erica that her husband was a hopeless handyman when Erica asked Colleen if her husband could fix the rec room television. She did however recommend Sid Humphrey, an elderly retired neighbour, who did come in to fix the TV as long as it was for "the cost of parts only." In a way, it was all down to Colleen that Lizzie later fell in love with Sid Humphrey! In Episode 174, when was Lizzie was worried about Sid not coming in, she asked Colleen to check on him. This ofcourse Colleen did but sadly found Sid lying unconcious on the floor, having suffered a stroke. He made a request for Lizzie to visit him.

By 1981, Colleen Powell had developed into quite a major character. She was a nasty, strict and sometimes aggressive officer who made many enemies among the staff and the prisoners. Since she was Union Representative, she was very militant in this role. One of her early achievements (with a little help from Vera) was engineering the resignation of prison teacher David Andrews in Episode 194, when she overheard him suggesting to Bea that the women go on strike. In Episode 193, Colleen threatened to call in the Union yet again when Jim told her and Vera of Erica's decision that Judy could take over the laundry and Bea could work full time studying. Colleen therefore lead a delegation to Erica, telling her that the officers refused to do overtime and therefore wouldn't supervise Bea.