The Lou Kelly Riot
During episodes 600-601 of "Prisoner Cell Block H", the infamous Lou Kelly riot took place.
Almost 20 years after its debut, it was deemed good enough to release on DVD on the compilation disc "The End".
Hungry for power, vicious top dog Lou Kelly takes over the prison by force and begins her reign of terror with an execution, bashings, hostage-taking and an explosive fight-to-the-death between The Freak and Rita Connors. The 'Lou Kelly Riot' remains one of the most dramatic points in the series history.
Here you can read what the fans had to say about it below, or view the galleries which contain ONE HUNDRED images from episode 600!!!
If you would like to add an opinion, please let me know.
(Many thanks to all the members of "On The Inside's Recroom" for their contributions)
Go
to the Lou Kelly Riot Galleries
Go
to the 600-601 Episode Guides
"Lou was still as twitchy and edgy as before, with an excellent performance by the actress, making you feel she really was a powder keg ready to explode at any time. I think these episodes are probably Lou's finest hour, both for the acting performance, and the character's writing. I particularly liked the scene where Lou kept repeatedly hitting a single key on the piano - adding quite a lot of tension to the atmosphere, but also highly indicative of her mental state at that time. In addition, the scene leading up to Eve's death (Lou pacing the room, talking and preparing the 'rope') was equally effective, and disturbing"............. March
"Louise Siversen’s acting here (episode 600) was fantastic and Eve's death has to be one of the most shocking but fantastic in the show - although I think Myra's is tops! I loved Lou - her antagonism of the Council was fab! Her acting during the riot was superb, glad that she was recognised and bought forward to a main character!" ..... Pete
"To my mind episode 600 is the second greatest episode in the entire series, (with 326 being the best, just!) It is slightly better than the terrorist siege because there are less annoying things in these eps, in fact the one annoying thing in the entire riot is Ettie’s Parslow trying to get into the prison, one minute we have Lou and her brilliance then we have some dotty old bag ruining the fun. Louise Siversen gives a performance of epic proportions and really outdoes herself with a terrific knife edge portrayal of a character who has cracked under the pressure, now Rita takes her seriously, now Bob doesn’t think she’s a joke! Now Joan doesn’t think she is gutless!, there are so many terrific moments in these episodes and Lou is mainly responsible for them, her sickening torture of Eve on the chair is outstanding and the tension in that scene is unrivalled (aside from perhaps Myra’s death!). I’ve been watching the episodes of Lou Kelly reign in the show and I do think her character is unique, she is the ultimate example of a start from the bottom and work your way up to the top character. Kelly goes from being an extra with an occasional line, then to a lackey of Marie Winter and Reb Kean then the regular punching bag of Myra Desmond and constant victim of Nora Flynn’s council, but deep down all of us inside wondered what it would be like to have sustained period with Lou as Top Dog! Lou as top-dog!?!!?!?! For an extra to become top-dog was precedent and Lou achieves it, and episodes 586 to 601 are the most exciting episodes in a long while, overshadowing even the siege of 50 episodes earlier. Her acting in 600 puts one in the eye to all who criticize PCBH's acting quality! The producer had obviously noticed what an excellent and passionate actress Louise Siversen was and knew her character was worth bulking up, every time Kelly was on the screen you know we are going to have a sarcastic remark or some sort of violence, she is responsible for the deaths of at least four people (Sam Greenway, Eve Wilder, Sean and Flora Jenkins) and killed Nora’s baby. A tribute to Lou, who was definitely one of the all time great of the series. 615 is a sad episode, the death of the last great baddie inmate! Kath and Janet suck royally" ....... Steve Hurst
"One of my favourite scenes in it (Episode 600) is when the doctor is trying to convince Lou to allow Julie to get to the hospital and Lou seems totally distant and completely unhinged, everything about the way she stands and the face she makes is excellent. "She's not going any where until we get what we want", the doctor says "she needs to be x-rayed" to which Lou aggressively replies with a brilliant one-liner: "Well Lurch reckons you’re super man do it your self", adding some black comedy. There’s still a tiny bit off humanity in her though, as she lets the doc have a look at Julie and let's pills be brought to her. As usual for Lou Kelly though her human side was very subtle and intelligently handled in that we don't know if she does this out of common decency or just because she doesn’t want the consequences of Julies death on her hands. I think the Lou Kelly riot has an edge that could propel prisoner in to the mainstream if they just gave it a chance. I think the Lou Kelly era was the darkest, grittiest and most dramatic era from the series, certainly out of all the episodes I’ve seen it is anyway, Prisoner around the 600 mark seems to have a more mature, intelligent, more realistic, and darker edge, especially when you compare it to the dreadful later episodes (after Lou's death) when we have to put up with Merle Jones".......... Chucky
"Lou Kelly's riot for me; definitely the bloodiest riot in Prisoner's history" ................. OTIDaveM
"Lou Kelly's riot was the best for me too. Definitely enjoyed that one the most just above Sandy's riot" ........... Helen
"Lou Kelly's riot was a classic" ................. XR8
"Yeah Lou Kelly did it for me too, its almost like "Sandy riot, what Sandy riot?" Hehehe, Kelly had the best riot by far!"............ Adsj
"Lou’s riot in episode 600- the thing that I liked about this episode was when they killed Eve, that neck breaking crack sound still sends a chill up my spine" .................... Wentworth 1979-1986
"I’d go for the Lou Kelly riot as it had much more action" .............. Angel44
"Lou Kelly's riot, definitely, so much thrills, chills and spills!"............. Shazza
"Lou's own riot was really very cool" ............. Patterson, Kelly
"Deffo Lou Kelly - although I haven’t seen them all - simply for Lou's performance - and the comeuppance of Eve!!!!!" ..... Pete
"Lou Kelly's riot without a shadow of a doubt!" ....... Steve Hurst
"Lou Kelly's riot is the best!" ........ Lee
“They are such exciting episodes, the build up is tremendous and Kelly starts to crack as she realises she cannot beat Moran, she goes for broke with the riot.....and WHAT a riot, unforgettable!” ........ Steve Hurst
"You could really feel Lou getting more and more mad as the episodes went on! It was great stuff!" ... Pete
"Lou's riot. Absolutely superb, no question the best. Tremendous build up... the actual riot takes place in 600 & 601, but getting there is half the fun. Unlike some of the others that seemed rather more spur of the moment you could feel this coming. The more out of control Lou got the more it was reflected in everything that happened around her. It did a terrific job wrapping up some storylines and launching some new ones" ....... Jkoch
"Lou's riot was great, I highly enjoyed it" .......... Rburgette
"Lou Kelly’s riot was picture perfect after many attempts they finally got it right, an insane instigator, a prisoner and a screw that hate each other, all the goody-goody's brilliantly tied up and out of the way, a governor willing to take em out single handed, and the hanging of a lagger - Wonderful stuff!" ........... Steve Hurst
"The riot was really great, I thought Louise Siversen done a great job of acting Lou Kelly through this....Like she always does!" ............. cRyPToRcHiLD666
"She was ruthless, but at the same time I think she was lost. Somehow she was confused on what to do"......... Scott Godfrey
"Lou Kelly's riot was by far the best! Watching the Freak and Rita go at it was one of the best prisoner fights ever!" ..... mackiedoodle
"Wow!!! I can watch Lou's riot over and over again and never be bored- Louise is amazing!" ....... Gary
