 Name: Beatrice Alice Smith "Bea Smith"
Played by: Val Lehman
Bea Smith has always been the undisputed top-dog of Wentworth Detention Centre.Appearing from episode 1 - 400 of the series, her character left a mark that couldn't be replaced on the show.
In the beginning Bea is released from wentworth after serving time for the murder of her husband's mistress, something which was first described as a bashing, but much later revealed to be a strangling.
Bea her daughter Debbie's grave , who died of a heroin overdose, debbie became hooked on drugs whilst bea was inside , without Bea , and without the support she needed from her father , thats where debbie turned.
Bea quickly took advantage of the freedom she had and gets a gun from an old mate, visits her husband and cooly shoots him dead, thus bea's back inside.
Over the 400 episodes there are many moments that stay etched in your memory of Bea Smith ,such as:
~Bea is transferred to Barnhurst (196) ,in an effort to stop the mounting tensin at wentworth, during bea's stay at barnhurst she ran into Marie Winter (later revealed to be the original top-dog before bea), Marie has bea's soup drugged, bea was transferred back to wentworth, on the way back the police van is driven off the road by wild drivers and crashes, the driver is killed,the officer is unconcious, and bea hit her head, the injury sent bea back to when she was a housewife and mother, Vinegar tits revels in being able to 'remind' bea of all she's done during her memory lapse-killed a friend,shot a husband,lost a daughter to drugs. Bea attacks margo who has become top-dog and thats when the first of her flashbacks began.
~The great wentworth fire(326+),paddy lawson saves bea after a huge fight with the freak, and helps them both to the roof to escape the fire, Barbara Fields and Mouse are among those to die.
~Joan and Nola use the phony medium Zara Moonbeam to persuade Bea that her daughter Debbie is trying to get a message to her, and they drive her to the edge of a breakdown. When Lizzie tells her the truth and gives her the zip gun with which she was intended to commit suicide, she uses it to kill Nola (369).
~The final confrontation between Joan and Bea (400) is one of the classic Prisoner scenes - both actresses throw themselves into it with all they've got. Bea even appears to knee the Freak "in the balls". Almost as good is Bea's last scene where the Freak leads her away to her transfer - past Lizzie having ordered Bea not to say anything to her.
Bea was ultimately transferred to Barnhurst after actress Val lehman decided to quit the series. Producers tried to lure lehman back, but she always said No. References to Bea appeared up until ep 536,the women sit and reminisce for no apparent reason about Bea and others. At the end of the episode, we see why: there has been a big fire at Barnhurst and Bea was among those who died trying to stop a riot.
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