Franky Doyle, Prisoner: Cell Block H

Franky Doyle (Carol Burns)

Franky Doyle was an inmate at Wentworth Detention Center on Australian Soap Prisoner: Cell Block H. She was a lesbian biker, who was sentenced to life for armed robbery and murder. At the beginning of the series she was depicted as violent, destructive, bullying and sexually harassing fellow inmates. She was in a constant power struggle with main character Bea Smith over who would hold the title of “top dog”.

Franky fell in love with her cellmate Karen, largely on account of Karen’s education, which the illiterate Franky was jealous of. Karen did not feel the same way and she made it clear how disgusting she found Franky’s advances. They eventually formed a friendship, however, when Karen began teaching Franky how to read. Franky was also in a one-sided relationship with fellow inmate Doreen Anderson. Doreen, who needed someone to look after her thought it best to play along with Franky even though she denied being a lesbian.

After Franky’s brother was killed in a tractor accident, Franky and Doreen escaped prison and were on the run for several weeks. Eventually cornered by police, Franky was shot to death. Franky’s story was edited into a two-hour special called The Franky Doyle Story, which replayed the more memorable events of her stay at Wentworth.

The character of Franky was largely criticized in the beginning of the show for its portrayal of lesbians, but grew to become one of the most popular characters. In an ironic statement, considering the Bury Your Gays trope, show creator Reg Watson said: “We came up with episodes which shocked people when they were seen in America. It was shown at peak time in Los Angeles and at first a group of lesbians picketed the studio. I can remember frantically telexing LA, trying to explain that the scripts were not anti-lesbian. They had to watch on, see how things turned out. They did, and Franky Doyle became a figurehead. When she died they held a wake.” (Prisoner Cell Block H: The Inside Story written by Hilary Kingsley, 1990).

Appearances:

• 20 episodes.

Female love interests:

• Karen Travers (Peta Toppano, straight, regular)
• Doreen Anderson (Collette Mann, straight, regular)

Relationship story arc with a woman: No

No male love interests

Relationship story arc with a man: No

Male love interest after being identified as a lesbian? No

Filter Relationship Arc:

• None

Storyline during sweeps? No

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.