Not the hand Bea!

Val before we get into it I just have a few questions I would like to get out of the way. Do people panic when you walk into a laundromat?
No. And I haven't killed anyone for weeks, Andrew.

Do you own an Elna Press?
(laughs) I do not.

Shall I buy you one this Christmas? I hear it's the 'must have' gift this season.
If you insist.

Val, when you took the role of Bea Smith in Prisoner in 1978 you were a single mother with three children. How did you balance that?
Well, my son was away at boarding school, and the girls were both in their teens. They actually made it onto the show. My one daughter played a girl who died of a drug overdose, and my other daughter came on much later. They all grew up to be fine.

When you read the script, what attracted you to the role of Bea?
I never read a whole script when I accepted the role. Not the way things work these days. I went along to a cattle call, where you have five minutes to sell yourself. They wanted me to come back and read for the director and producer, and once they liked what they heard they screen tested me. Eventually they cast me on a 16-week contract. I thought, "16 weeks, that's nice!" Four and a half years later I was still there.

Aussie audiences love underdogs and anti-heroes. Were you surprised at how much people loved Bea?
When I saw the first three episodes I thought, "My God, people are going to hate me! They're going to be throwing things at me! I'm slamming people's hands in steam presses, and shooting my husband!" But I was wrong. As far as the general public was concerned, Bea Smith could do no wrong.

Despite the character of Bea being quite hard, when I watched Prisoner again as an adult, as a gay man, I realise that you play Bea quite camp at times.
I used to get in trouble for that. Sometimes I'd get away with it and sometimes I wouldn't. She was a big fish in a very small pond; she could do what she liked really.

You had the chance to work on a show that offered a wonderful platform for women at the time.
Well we had an amazing array of talent put forward their services, because it was doing so much for actresses. It took character actresses out of cameo roles and into lead roles. They wanted to be part of it.

There was nothing like it at the time in Australia.
And there hasn't been since.

Did you form any strong bonds with the women you worked with?
I was very close friends with Sheila Florence and [still am] with Amanda Muggleton.

What would you say was the most controversial storyline running through the series that you can recall?
Well I don't think there was a taboo subject we didn't touch. There was rape, incest, we did it all.

It's no secret Prisoner had an enormous following in the UK, but many people may not know that there was a point in time where up to 39 million viewers were watching Prisoner in the US.
We didn't even know we were being aired in America until we were getting phone calls from American fans. We had no idea that was going to happen.

You have been seen as a poster girl for lesbians around the world. Are you flattered by their Bea Smith fantasy?
A lot of gay men too! I don't know where that puts me! No, it's nice, doesn't matter if they're gay women, straight women, gay men or straight men. I appeared at gay pride in London twice. I got on the stage and said, "There has been a lot of speculation about my sexuality, and I'm sorry for all the heartache, I am straight." There was this groan from the crowd, and I said, "however, even though I don't share your sexuality, I do share your outrage of being discriminated against because of it." One of my very close friends, Michael Cashman, was involved in starting Stonewall, in the UK. He was terribly excited to have me in the Stonewall tent serving beers.

Have you seen the Prisoner DVD boxed set in that fabulous metal briefcase?
You probably know there is a limited edition run on those? They are numbered. I have number one. They gave it to me, but I haven't played it yet. When I'm really poor it'll be on eBay.

You are putting together an excusive BBQ for family, friends and of course fans of Prisoner on 22 February next year, but we need to tell people to get their tickets now.
All the information is on my website [www.val-lehman.com] and if they go to the bulletin board they will find information about the event. Aussies can keep booking until the end of January.

And the funds raised at the Gourmet BBQ go to a charity that you are incredibly passionate about, Positive Women.
That's right. I help raise money for the charity and as you know without funding there is a very big hole.

This gourmet BBQ mounted by Val Lehman and Captive Audience Events is on Sun 22 Feb at the original home of Prisoner, Global Studios, Nunawading, Victoria. All 692 episodes of Prisoner are out now through Shock.

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