Supervising Officer Leigh Henry is the most senior officer on C Wing, energetic and enigmatic Leigh joined the prison service aged 20 and has been here ever since. She lives and breathes the job – she’s never had a day off sick and is deeply committed to her wing and to the prisoners in her care. But that certainly doesn’t mean she’s a soft touch: Leigh is absolute of the mindset that prison is a necessary sanction for criminal acts – but she also knows first-hand just how overstretched our prison system is
Officer Rose Gill lives on a notorious estate with her father and younger brother, and has become a young matriarch of sorts. So it would initially appear that to Rose, ‘prison officer’ is only the latest in a long line of poorly paid jobs. She’s clever but has no focus or – despite her outward swagger – confidence in her ability to be or do anything of any real value. Rose is no clichéd ingénue quivering at the prospect of being surrounded by dangerous men. Very little fazes her. Rose is a fast learner and a survivor; and as she adapts to this new world, she quickly sees that’s the name of the game for everyone on the landings, irrespective of uniform: survival, physical and psychological
Officer Jackie Stokes is a foul-mouthed mother figure to the hundreds of men who pass through her idiosyncratic care. With a wicked sense of humour and nerves of steel, Jackie never runs from a conflict and is usually the first to jump into the fray when a fight breaks out on the wing – living proof that female officers can absolutely hold their own in a male prison. She’s sweary and brutally frank but, almost without exception, she finds something to like about every prisoner. Indeed, Jackie is the closest thing Leigh has to a friend. Jackie considers herself the Supervising Officer’s unofficial Number Two, and feels protective of her… Yet despite her repeated attempts to reach out to Leigh on a deeper level, Leigh keeps Jackie firmly at arms’ length emotionally.
Officer Gary Campbell sees everything in A or B: all cons are scum, no exceptions. This is partly why ultra-competitive Gary sees every day as a battle: it’s us against them, goodies versus baddies. He believes he’s a different species to the inmates, superior to them in every respect, and thus he despises liberals as much as cons. He’s vocal about officers’ rights and the heroic role of the prison officer. Being married with two young children doesn’t stop his eye wandering… The arch-enemy of the #metoo movement, Gary will regularly say (and do) things utterly out of step with the times.
Officer Ali Shah lives with his mum and sisters. He’s an expert on true crime and fond of a conspiracy theory; he loves to debate with colleagues and prisoners alike about anything and everything – but particularly the fascinating facts he always has on the tip of his tongue. And he doesn’t always know when to shut up. He loves his flashy car and indeed, debt might become a real problem for Ali at some point… Often the butt of jokes and wind-ups, Ali is quite naive – but very decent and totally loyal.
Officer Don Carpenter is the officer most people think of when they think about prison officers at all: he did a bit of time in the Forces, drifted into security work and, about twenty years ago now, he met a guy on holiday in Spain who was a prison officer and thought: sounds easy, I could do that… And he can, with his eyes shut (if possible); it’s very simple – if you don’t bring anything to it… Don is lazy and a miserabilist, he’s Victor Meldrew in uniform – and as such, he’s often funny.
“I hope it’s a piece of drama that people enjoy and anything else that comes from that is wonderful. The biggest win would be something as simple as people thinking that prison isn’t what they thought it was, because it’s far richer than it’s given credit for. I’d hope they would ask whether it’s the best way for the inmates to be spending their time. If it’s not helping them, then it’s not helping us because they will all come out again. The question we all need to be asking is: what is prison for?” – Rob Williams- writer, creator and executive producer
Screw is coming to Channel 4 and All 4 in early 2022. It’s produced by STV Studios.
