If one is a dyke queen, one knows better than to stand in front of stampeding sapphists when Bad Girls screens on Wednesdays. What is it with lesbians and female prisoners? Reportedly, Australia's Prisoner series attracted similar interest amongst British lesbians, but events at Her Majesty's Women's Prison at Larkhill have proven as much of a cult favourite in Australasia. One lesbian friend suggested that there were good, sound feminist reasons for loving the series. Look at what an unjust racist, patriarchal, capitalist and heterosexist world does when it turns women into criminals, she said. There's merit in this argument. Otherwise, how can one explain the existence of corrupt male prison guard, Jim Fenner, the series chief villain? There are female villains there - Bev and Phyllis are there for fraud, Darlene Cake, Tina O'Kane and Al MacKenzie are there for grievous bodily harm and murder, and as for the guards, Di Barker has questionable sanity, while Frances Myers and Sylvia Hollamby are disciplinarians. For Series Six, Tanya Turner has been framed for coke possession in Footballer's Wives, and has been imprisoned in Larkhill. Given her previous bisexual tumble with Earls Park CEO Hazel, her penal sojourn will be interesting to watch. And then, there are the lesbians. Lesbians love this series because of strong lesbian character development and believable storylines. During the first three series, Nikki Wade proved a pivotal character, who was imprisoned for killing the policeman who had tried to rape her lover. Within Larkhill, Nikki and Governer Helen Stewart fell in love with one another, which ended in vindication for Nikki and her resultant release. As with Nikki, Kris Yates is also inside for killing a violent male. In her case, it was her violent and abusive dad. In this case, though, her sister Milly was the actual perpetrator, and Kris lied to protect her. Like Nikki, Kris is a strong woman, and even Fenner is scared of her. Given her violent upbringing, Kris finds it hard to relate to others- apart from her lover, Selena Geeson. Selena joined the prison service to be near her lover, and has discovered Kris' innocence. She will stop at nothing to clear her lover. At the moment, their love is a secret, but will it remain so? Finally, there are the Julies (Johnston and Saunders), who are simple but devoted souls. During the last series, Julie J had a breast cancer scare, which was one of the most moving story arcs of that series, dealing as it did with one of the leading women's health nightmares. As for gay men, we have Neil Grayling, the current prison governor. Neil likes younger men, although he was a closet case until recently. He has shown awful taste in men, and even made a desperate pass at the ghastly Fenner, who thankfully turned out to be robustly heterosexual. He has more scruples than Fenner, but I wish there was a more sympathetic gay male character to balance him out. It'll be interesting to see his response to any relevations related to Kris and Selena. I have to admit, I can see what the grrls see in it too. It's damned compulsive viewing. Recommended Reading: http://www.badgirls.co.uk Bad Girls fansite, with details of current series. http://www.mandanajones.net/badgirls.html Mandana Jones (Nikki Wade) fan website Craig Young - 26th February 2005