The cast of Wentworth are truly some of the nicest people I've ever had the pleasure to interview. With three exclusive chats coming your way over the next few days, first up is our talk with Celia Ireland who takes on the role of Liz Birdsworth. Read on to find out what she had to say about the new season of the show, some brilliant behind-the-scenes action and much more.
Celia Ireland as Liz
At the end of season two, we saw Liz almost get her life back on track, but Bea has landed her back in Wentworth. Is that friendship and relationship something we'll see tested in the third season?
Yeah. Yes, that is a really, really good question, yes it is, absolutely. It's really interesting actually in the first few eps of series three for Liz, it's a really intense storyline and trajectory, really up until ep five. So yeah, there are definitely repercussions for the friendship between Liz and Bea, but also for Liz herself. So yes indeed, you'll have to be watching for that one! (laughs)
And Liz isn't on the best terms with Boomer, so will there be conflict there?
Oh, indeed love, yes! I can't tell you too much but, I'm sure the punters will definitely realise that... That's what's so interesting when we were doing the series - how seriously the notion of lagging or snitching, it's taken very seriously, and clearly for Liz in series two, knowing that she was getting out on parole, she made a really big decision to dob on Boomer and dob the whole Pink Dragon drugs thing, which really did jeopardise her, but she knew she was getting out.
However, what she didn't anticipate is that she would end back up in Wentworth, and so yeah. I mean her consequences are definitely dealt with in ways, that I won't describe, because I don't wanna ruin it for people! But yes, it's a really interesting... the first four or five eps for Liz are very intense really.
Family is such a huge part of Liz's personality, she's always been the motherly role and hugely respected with the prisoners, does this change?
Yes, I think it may change. (laughs) I think she's kind of under trimming the stress. There's a number of things that'll happen that are really interesting. I mean, it was a great storyline for Liz in series three, I had an absolute ball. It was really, really confronting and challenging so it's her sort of re-establishing, trying to re-establish herself into a world which she thought she was away from, and then a number of personal issues take over. So I think particularly the first four to five eps, it's really a rollercoaster for Liz. So yeah, it was great, it was a really meaty storyline for me to get my teeth into! (laughs)
With Liz now back in Wentworth, do you think we'll ever see her get her happy ending?
(laughs) That's a good question. Look, I suppose the essence of any good drama is continual conflict and internal conflict and I guess that's really true for Liz - partly that her worst enemy is herself really, and that certainly comes forward in series three. We see stuff unfolding and it's really like, 'oh God, oh no!', it's that kind of stuff for Liz. I think maybe happy endings in a way, are, we're all a work in progress, in fact I think Liz says that somewhere at some stage in series three, and I think that's really true for her. I think it's true for all the people on the show - is that there's a constant kind of shifting and changing of alliances and loyalties and sense of self, and that's constantly being changed which I think keeps the series alive and interesting. So while she'd love a happy ending I don't know darling if that makes for interesting drama! (laughs) Sadly! Sadly, I think it's stuck!
Perhaps we'll get a spin-off of Liz being released and happy!
(laughs) Yes, exactly! She finally gets out and marries a farmer from her past and settles down in country somewhere! Away from booze and away from tractors! (laughs)
What's refreshing about this show is that it's a huge ensemble cast primarily made up of strong female roles, does it feel very much that way when filming?
It really does, and what's fantastic is the longer we do it, the stronger that ensemble is. You kind of develop a shorthand. It's an intense show, it is not an easy show. You've gotta do a lot of work, it's emotionally draining and it's really fantastic in that respect. You really do. It is great.
What is fascinating too, I was just thinking before that you know, when this show, when Prisoner or Prisoner Cell Block H as it's known in the UK and is still known and has a huge loyal following, what's interesting is it was so groundbreaking because it was probably one of the first telly shows which was all about women. And what's interesting is that in 2015 it still has the same impact, and I know that's true for Orange is the New Black. These shows are really making a mark and I think it's ostensibly, apart from the fact that the storylines are good and the performances are strong, and as a whole unit they're really interesting to watch, but the fact that 90% of the cast is women is still really an amazing hook for the show. In a way that's wonderful, but in another way, 30 years ago we were looking at that, and it's still the same now. That we remain all women in the show. I'd like to see more of that, so I'm starting to think of a spin-off series about a convent! (laughs) Filled with nuns or something, you know?
But look it's great, it's a wonderful show to be part of, there's no two ways about it. We all keep in touch, we're good mates with each other. We're all really excited about getting back in to do [series] four, those of us who are coming back which I can't really reveal! But yes, three is a jolly ride. Actually, I think having seen all of them now - I haven't seen all of three but I've seen pretty much all the way through it - it's just - what I love about it is it's a psychological journey, it's much more subterranean I think than the other two. All the characters have this kind of psychological journey that can of course, knowing the nature of the show, it does get very, very dark. All the characters go on this kind of journey in isolation as well as with each other and it can be very dark, it's really intriguing and yeah, it really keeps you on the edge of your seat, I think.
Going back now, right back to the beginning of the first season I suppose, with Wentworth being launched off of the Prisoner series and what that left behind, was there a pressure stepping into the show and the role of Liz?
That's a great question - look I don't think we were really aware of that. I think the producers and executive producers and writers were really clear that it was a reimagining - that was a word we were given, and I think that was a great relief.
I knew that I was quite a bit younger than Sheila Florance who I thought was fantastic as Liz in the original and I knew that they had a different twist on everybody's characters. To have Doreen played by beautiful Shareena Clanton who's an Indigenous actress, and Bea played by a much younger woman, and certainly characters like Boomer, Katrina Milosevic's wonderful bloody character who came from nowhere, she wasn't based on anyone! I think we kind of knew we had the potential to make it our own and I think series one was a really clever mix of paying homage to the original but starting to try and break through to new ground, and then series two does that even more effectively, and then I actually think three even more so.
So while there was a pressure, one of the loveliest things we did when the first series was finished filming, there was a night we had some of the original Prisoner cast members and they came with us to a cinema in Melbourne and watched the first episode of series one, and do you know, they applauded! They were so fantastic - Val Lehman, they were all there pretty much - and they were so, so proud of what we'd done, and they were so pleased and happy to hand over this mantle. A lot of them are in their mid to late sixties but they loved it, they just thought it was a really fantastic, modern, stylish, dark, gritty take on it. They were really pleased which was great, it was really great.
Can you tell us a little bit about a typical day filming Wentworth?
Well, a typical day - it's hard really because I guess it really depends where you're filming. Like for example if we're out on the compound, we've had some very funny days out on the yard. Because we were filming in Melbourne through all different seasons right through the heat of summer, right through to the freezing cold winter, you would go from wagging up with thermal underwear and so on, squeezing everything under your tracky dacks and t-shirts, because it was meant to look as if it was still summer. Then of course the contrary would happen, it'd be the middle of a 45 degree day, in that compound with the bearing sun beating down on us and that has the poor old makeup people having the fans come out between shots.
There really isn't a typical day. I'm not sort of evading the question but, it's so different each day because it depends where you're filming.
I think probably for someone like Pam (Pamela Rabe) whose character Ferguson is ostensibly inside the Governor's Office, that tends to be her main plain, she would probably have a standard day, but I mean, it's always pretty different.
Like if you're filming in the dining room I have been known, (laughs) here's me telling a terrible truth about myself! But I have been known to get so bored filming in the dining room scenes - which are usually big group scenes and they get just little tiny snippets of you, so you're sitting there in the background shots a lot of the time - I have eaten four hotdogs! (laughs) While I was waiting for the day to finish, so those days can feel very very long. But luckily, the gorgeous standby props man made sure that the food was fresh, so every time I was in shot I was eating, so I just kept eating and I think I polished off four hotdogs by the end of the day!
But I also know that some of the girls, they have quite a bit of time in hair and makeup. Liz is lucky that she's so incredibly beautiful naturally that there's, there's so little hair and makeup that she needs! I literally take about three minutes to get into work, get my tracky dacks on, run in, and what they do for Liz is a little bit of what's called stippling, which is a red sponge with red face makeup on it, which they put on Liz because as you know she's had issues with alcoholism, so her skins a little bit worse for wear, and then I just pull my hair back and I'm ready to go on set.
So in answer to your question, sorry Daniel I'm answering this in a very long way! There really is no typical day, it's quite random, and it does depend on where you're at. But I know we sort of do get quite tired when it's the compound scenes out on the yard because I think when it's big group scenes, the energy tends to fall away. When you're in the cells doing a two-handed scene or a small group scene, the energy is higher. It gets quite intense and it flows very quickly and it's easier for the crew 'cause there's less distractions. You're in a quiet scene, you're kind of soundproofed in this little vault but when you're outside there's a lot more to contend with and it's just tiring and takes longer, but we love it, we absolutely love it. We love each other and we're very good mates, we keep up with each other when we're not working so that's really fantastic.
What have been some of your favourite moments filming behind-the-scenes?
See that's a good question. I think, oh! There is a little story to tell. When we were finishing series three I think we were all slightly delirious, because what happened was we'd filming series two and three almost back to back, so it was like a month off inbetween. And I at that stage was lucky enough to also have a role on Home & Away. So I came back to Sydney and do three weeks on Home & Away, so I didn't get a break at all! So by the time series three finished, we were all quite loopy, and there was this spectacular day where Pam (Pamela Rabe) (laughs) who plays Ferguson, in the lunch break she decided to get dressed in the tracky dacks and white t-shirt - she pulls out her hair and she created this extraordinary character! She pulled her pants up very, very high, in Australia we call it Harry High Pants, I don't know if you have that in the UK, but it's when a person pulls their pants up just a little bit too high and has tucked their top in. She had her hair out and she created this bizarre little special lady called Louise and she was absolutely hilarious, that was a special day! That was in the green room!
Sometimes we do little challenges, there's always somebody either got music on, dancing, or there's a fitness thing, we're all tryna do burpees and out compete each other. There's a lot of camaraderie.
One of the wonderful things was the catering. I always put on weight every series and I'm determined next time that I'm not gonna put on any weight! But it is so lovely to look forward to a really lovely lunch, so lunch time is always a great thing to look forward to but look, I think we spend a lot of time as well on a more serious note, really wrestling with scripts in a good way. The writers are fantastic and we certainly collaborate with each other, our co-actors but also with the script department. So there was a lot of that as well, we were always, everybody, we're all incredible committed to making it as real as possible and I think that's one of the show's strengths. Even though it's high drama and let's be honest, I don't know of a prison that has this level of violence and grittiness and intrigue and kind of horror. I don't imagine there is any such prison that has this many horrible things happen in a short amount of time! (laughs) But why it's good is I think is because of the performances which are very, very truthful. We all collectively battled for that so that the women have an authentic voice and that we're just real. I think that it's a really lovely hybrid of high drama with realistic performances and I don't know that that's common really. I think often things are either drama and suspense and stuff, but this is sort of high drama with a lot of extreme things happening, but they're all based in truth and it makes quite an interesting show really.
How best would you sum up series three for UK viewers?
Well I would say that it is subterranean and by that I mean, a lot of stuff is happening to the characters in a very deep, psychological fashion. I think one and two - two, the arc of that, the predominant arc was really about Bea getting out and working out how to get out of the prison to seek vengeance on Brayden Holt, and Franky sort of wrestling with Bea for Top Dog.
Series three for all the characters is much more personal. We've got Doreen with the pregnancy, Liz is going through her own world of hell with various factors, Franky has major stuff going on for her psychologically and emotionally, as does Bea and Maxine and Boomer, so I think it's much more about the psyché of the women rather than physical stuff, while there is still a lot of physical stuff going on. And certainly for Ferguson as well, it's a really intriguing insight, and some of the feedback we've had for series three is it's really wonderful to expose layers of the characters that had been hinted at before, but it's much more satisfactory I think. I think out of the three it's a really solid series. I just think that you'll have a ball watching it, it just keeps you hooked from one end to the next, you're thinking 'oh my God, what's gonna happen?' It really is fantastic in that respect.
I think it's just a deepening of the women and emotionally what's really at the core for most of us. High stakes, really high stakes.
The third season of Wentworth Prison begins on Channel 5 at 10pm on July 22.
Season 3 is coming to DVD in the Autumn and will also be available to download. Season 1 & 2 are available to buy now on DVD and digitally.
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