Joan Ferguson (Wentworth)

The Wentworth website states “Joan’s strength is her determination to succeed against the odds. She found a career in corrections and started as an officer. Her no-nonsense attitude won her fans in high places and she was fast-tracked to Deputy Governor of Queensland’s most troublesome prison, Blackmoore.”[3]

Joan is introduced at the beginning of the second season when she busts a drug smuggle in the laundry room and introduces herself as governor. After Franky refuses allegiance with her, Ferguson becomes fixed on ending Franky's reign as top dog. She releases Bea and cuts her medication to make Bea lucid and urges her into taking on the top dog position.[5]

Joan lets Doreen start a garden project in the prison and gets prisoners from the men's prison to help with the development. She uses this trust to let Doreen tell her how Bea is and to reveal what prisoner spray painted a derogatory photo of Ferguson (the prisoner was Sky Pierson).

Joan later gets Vera drunk to learn about the secrets of the prison, including Fletch's affair with former governor Meg Jackson.[6] She later uses this information to inform Jackson of the affair and then has her thug, Nils Jesper, invade Fletcher's home to make it look like Will invaded his home looking for the diary then has Jackson's home invaded to make it look like Fletch was trying to get the diary back.

Joan gives a "hotshot" to Simmo Slater when she learns that Simmo has to kill Bea Smith, making it look like she had a bad reaction to Franky's drugs. Joan also manipulates Liz into being her informant.[7]

As punishment for Franky's drug trade, Ferguson makes the inmates watch as she bulldozes the whole garden project. Franky confronts Joan over murdering Simmo, at which point Ferguson reveals to her that one of Franky's friends is her informer.[8]

Joan abuses Doreen after finding out she was pregnant. Joan then tries to get Doreen to blame Will on being the father. When Doreen refuses, Ferguson murders Doreen's pet bird and tosses it into her cell.[4]

When Derek Channing initiates an investigation into Wentworth Prison in an attempt to get Ferguson removed as Governor, Ferguson finds out from Rachel Singer that Derek is recruiting parolees. She has Nils look into it and finds out he uses the young parolees as a part of his brothels. Ferguson blackmails Derek with this information, forcing him to give her a good word to the board.

When new inmate Kelly Bryant is transferred to Wentworth, she notices Joan immediately and Fletcher confronts her about it. Ferguson then meets with Kelly and has her moved to Bahnhurst prison. In the midst of Bea's escape, Fletch finds out from Bryant that Joan assaulted Kelly to keep her quiet on her relationship with Jianna Butler. Fletch confronts Joan, along with the knowledge that she invaded his house and has a vendetta against Will, since he was the social worker that took Jianna's baby away. To keep him quiet, she has Fletch run down outside of Will's house.

Ferguson then demands answers from Doreen, Maxine Conway, Franky and other prisoners as to information where Bea went. Joan later makes out that Bea and Will were complicit and planned the escape. She has Vera affirm this accusation since she has the knowledge that Vera euthanized her sick mother. When Bea returns, she addresses Joan as "Freak"[9]

Joan puts Vera's life at risk during a riot organised by Bea Smith. Joan is later told by Bea "You don’t run this prison. I do!"[10] After the riot, Joan sits Bea down and tries to find out what Bea wants. Bea gets what she wants from Joan including pizzas for breakfast.[11] Franky witnesses Joan taking Jodie somewhere while in the slot.[12]

Bea realises that Joan tortured Jodie into shivving Bea Smith in the yard [12]

Joan visits Fletch and when she learns that Vera has been going to see him behind her back, she calls her trust in Vera into question.[13]

Jodie makes an abuse complaint against Ferguson which blindsides her. Joan isn't happy when Derek can't quash the complaint as it had been made directly to the ombudsman. When realising that Bea had a hand in the complaint, she gets her henchman to drug Bea and drag her into the exercise yard through the tunnels. Without Bea at her hearing, Jodie fumbles and is sent to the psych unit. [14]

Joan has Bea put in the psych unit when Bea's behavior in the exercise yard is mistaken as a psychotic episode. Joan forces Bea say it was a mental breakdown to get Bea out of the psych unit. After hearing from Vera of rumours of Bridget and Franky's relationship, Joan plants a recording device in Bridget's office and hears Franky admitting to killing Meg Jackson.[15]

Joan yet again tortures Jodie, leading Jodie to stab herself in the eye to prevent Jodie's move into the general population. When Bridget accuses Joan of engineering the self-harm, Joan manipulates Vera into writing a statement on Bridget and Franky's relationship and has Bridget resign. Joan later has dinner with Vera, who confronts Joan about the riot incident and how it led Vera to contract hepatitis C. [16]

Joan turns Will and Franky against each other by sending Will the recording of Franky's confession on his wife's murder. Joan watches Will attack Franky but is enraged when he does nothing and Franky's parole is sealed. Joan then plants drugs in toys Nash Taylor came to bring Joshua in revenge for Doreen making fun of her and to further turn Bea's friends against her. [17]

When Joan believes Vera tried using Jianna as an excuse to unsettle her, she violently slaps Vera and their friendship ends. She reveals in front of all the staff Vera's condition and forfeits her deputy governorship. She then sees Fletch witnessing a hallucination of her father and asks Nils to kill him to stop him from revealing her previous murder attempt on him.[18]

In the third-season finale, Joan finds the walls closing in on her. She plants a recording device in the secure spot where Kaz Proctor reveals to Bea the name of Joan's henchman is Nils Jesper. She then calls Nils who is waiting to murder Matthew Fletcher on Joan's command. Joan then listens in to the recording as she notices Bea turning her back on Kaz. Joan is later seen smiling as she watches a news report that Kaz Proctor due to an anonymous phone call from an inmate at Wentworth Prison. Vera comes in and reveals she's put in a complaint to the board against Joan. When Doreen's baby Joshua is kidnapped by Jess, Joan finds Jess and strangles her before setting the prison on fire to cover it up after she learns that her henchman is now in police custody. She later blames Jess for starting the fire and makes it look like she perished in the flames. After Bea and Will save Ferguson from the fire, Joan is arrested with all the prisoners watching.[19]

Joan is transferred to Wentworth's protection unit where she is awaiting trial. She tries to manipulate Vera again but fails.[20]

Joan files a petition to be released into general population within the prison. When being assessed by Bridget, Joan reveals Vera's euthanasia of her mother to stop the recording of Joan being used to keep her in protection. Joan is later released into the general population after she blackmails Channing.[21]

When being moved into general population in the prison Joan is subjected to verbal abuse by the other prisoners. Joan speaks with Kaz and tells her not to listen to Bea. She also talks to Doreen and makes her believe that she saved her son, Josh, in the fire and that it was Jess who is responsible for the burning down of H Block. This leads Doreen to protect Joan while she has an airing in the exercise yard. Joan asks Bea to beat her up in the shower so as to give the women what they want. However, while she takes a shower, Joan is brutally raped and attacked by Lucy Gambaro and her gang. Bea, who was on her way to kill Joan, comes to her aid and helps her get dressed. Flashbacks in this episode shows that while in the psychiatric facility she was raped by the doctor who was looking after her. Joan used this assault to get the doctor to give her a clean bill of health.[22]

In the next episode, Joan is shown as a member of Kaz Proctor's crew after blaming her sexual assault on Will Jackson. This leads to an attack on Jackson, where Ferguson aids by telling them where the areas are in the prison without cameras. Joan denies to Bridget and Vera that she has been attacked so she can stay in general. Joan convinces Doreen to blackmail Vera to get her conjugal approved.

When Kaz' dad dies, Joan plants drugs in Allie Novak's cell to get her slotted and give Joan more opportunity to become closer with Kaz. Joan then relays her experiences with her father to get Kaz' trust. Joan then talks to Boomer and tells her she and Maxine would be good at being top dog together. She talks to Lucy Gambaro and her crew to convince them to go after new prisoner, Tasha, in an attempt to steer Lucy's attention off Joan. Joan leads Tasha to the shower, where Tasha pushes the panic button to stop her from being raped. Joan convinces Kaz to stop Maxine from punishing Tasha but Maxine lets Tasha off.

Joan comforts Tasha and saves her life when Tasha tries to kill herself. Joan later discovers that Bea is to be a witness at her trial. Joan then tells Kaz that Nils Jesper is working with Bea to keep Joan in prison. Joan is then seen witnessing Allie and Bea kiss in the kitchen. After Kaz is sentenced to 12 years in prison, Joan offers to kill Bea if Kaz uses her contacts on the outside to kill Nils.

Joan then receives roofies from Tina's Asian crew, testing the tablets out for herself. As Maxine goes for her breast cancer treatment, Joan manipulates Boomer into believing that Vera didn't offer to let Boomer come with Maxine to prison. This causes Boomer to get angry at Vera, leading her to be slotted. With Boomer and Maxine out of the way, Joan has Kaz cause a fight with Bea while she slips the drugs into Bea's drink. While Bea goes to the kitchen to meet with Allie, Kaz takes Allie and the other women to make a stand for Maxine departing alone. Joan uses this distraction to have Bea immobilised by the drugs and attempts to drown her. Meanwhile, Will Jackson finds the phone call that put Kaz Proctor away and it is revealed that it was actually Joan who made the call, claiming to be an inmate at Wentworth so as to plot the idea that Bea Smith turned Kaz into the police. Will shows Kaz the phone call, leading Kaz to angrily fight her and put her arm in the fryer. Bea is then resuscitated afterwards.

After going to hospital, Joan is moved into protection under medical until her trial. She meets with Shane Butler to gain his trust. Joan makes conversation with Jake about Vera. Joan convinces Shane that she is innocent and asks him to kill Nils Jesper. After witnessing Jake dealing drugs with Allie and being under stress when drugs are found in Tina's cell, Joan confronts Jake about his job as a drug dealer. Joan offers to pay him the money he owes to a drug ring if he kills Nils and helps her kill Allie. At the end of the episode, Allie is in the shower by herself when Joan appears behind the mirror, holds her down and injects heroin into her neck, staging a drug overdose.

Before her trial, Joan confronts Bea about Allie, calling her "collateral damage." Although Franky manages to stop Shane from killing Nils, Jake hijacks Nils van and shoots him, setting the van on fire. Joan's charges are dropped and she is released. On her way out, she is confronted by Bea, who plans to kill her due to the attack on Allie. Joan overpowers Bea and takes hold of her knife. Bea then thrusts herself into the knife, making it appear that Joan has killed her.

Joan is put in the isolation unit of Wentworth following Bea's death. She is then released into the general population at the same time as Allie comes back from the hospital following her overdose. In the exercise yard, Allie and a number of different inmates attack Joan. Joan fights back and proves victorious, snapping an inmates arm and strangling Allie just as she had done to Jess, scaring the other inmates. She believes that Vera was trying to help Bea kill her and conveys this to her lawyer, Jake and Vera herself. Since this is true, Vera makes it appear that Bea had used another officer's card to escape and kill Joan, infuriating her.

When Franky Doyle returns to Wentworth, she meets with Joan and believes that Ferguson framed her for Mike Penisi's murder, since the gun Shane was going to use on Nils Jesper was the one that Mike was shot with. This causes a confrontation in the cafeteria as well as Franky asking Vera to find out who killed Nils Jesper. Joan puts on the teal uniform again in this episode and makes it her goal to have Vera brought down in her job and in her emotional life. Joan lets Top Dog Kaz Proctor know of the drug conduit Tina is using. When Kaz shuts down the drug trade, Joan gains partnership with her crew as well as 'the Boys' when she promises to find a new drug conduit. With Jake Stewart on her side, the women are supplied with more and more drugs, putting a strain on Kaz Proctor's leadership.

Joan focuses on becoming Top Dog and using the position to take down Vera. She has Jake become closer to Vera, moving in with him and throwing her a birthday party, and also makes him have sex with the prison nurse, Mrs Radcliffe. She uses this incident to blackmail the nurse into sabotaging Lucy Gambaro's dentist appointment. As she puts new prisoner Iman into Lucy's orbit and manipulates Lucy into attempting to rape Iman, Kaz Proctor loses support as she refuses to use violence to punish Lucy. Joan cuts out Lucy Gambaro's tongue and has Jake put it in a gift box to give it to Vera as her birthday present. This new move gains the support and fear of the prison inmates, who elect her as the new top dog.

Joan starts her reign by supplying drugs to the women, including Bea's girlfriend Allie, who is actually attempting to use the drugs to hotshot Joan and get her revenge. Joan has Allie burn Bea's old drawing book and the photos left in it in exchange for the drugs. While in the shower, Allie appears to have overdosed and Joan taunts her, stating "If only Bea could see us now." Allie attempts to kill Joan by sticking a syringe filled with drugs in her neck. However, the plan backfires as Joan overpowers Allie and holds the syringe above her neck. Joan instead spares her and states that Bea "died for nothing."

Joan attempts to use the garden project run by Sonia Stevens as an alternative way to bring in drugs. Sonia initially refuses but after Joan convinces her that they are similar, Sonia agrees. Will Jackson has become suspicious of Jake's drug activities and Joan tells him to plant drugs in Will's locker, which Will manages to get rid of. After catching Franky and Allie in the laundry chute, the two kiss to cover up their attempt to escape via the chute. Joan relays this incident to Bridget, who has been struggling with Franky being in prison, causing Bridget to leave.

Jake tells Joan that Will Jackson has convinced Allie to come forward as a witness that Jake is supplying drugs to the prison. Joan has this shut down by having Jake take photos of Franky's younger sister, scaring Franky into thinking her sister will be in danger. Allie then lies when she gives testimony. Joan walks in on Iman attempting to murder Franky, in revenge for Mike Penisi's obsession with Franky that led to his death. Joan saves Franky by overpowering Iman but then snaps Iman's neck in order to prevent the truth of Franky's crime being revealed. Joan claims that Franky killed Iman and she walked in on it. Franky is then charged with Iman's murder and Vera is fired after the incident.

Jake starts to turn against Joan after she asks him to break up with Vera. When he refuses, she tells Vera herself and reveals that their whole relationship was based on Joan's instruction. Vera is emotionally distraught after the incident. While in her cell, Joan is taken and cuffed by the Red Right Hand and Franky, who decide to have Joan taken down. They tie her to the basketball post in the exercise yard and ward off officers by taking Linda Miles hostage. Kaz orders an election for Top Dog and Franky reveals to them all her violent past including Iman's murder, Bea Smith's death, hotshotting Simmo and Allie, torturing Jodie Spiteri, cutting out Lucy Gambaro's tongue and murdering Jess before starting the fire. Joan is then elected out of her top dog decision but before being released, a lynching rope is thrown into the courtyard. Joan is hung up the goal post by the prisoners and almost suffocates until Vera Bennet cuts off the rope and gives CPR to Joan, who resuscitates.

Joan is put in the medical unit following the incident but is very quickly released into general by the new Governor Derek Channing, who wishes to have her dead and refuses her requests for security. While Will visits her in her room, she taunts him as being weak after he did nothing following the death of his wife, revealing that she was the one who exposed the truth to him. Joan is put into general population, where she becomes scared for her life following Sonia's poisoning. Jake captures Allie and Franky in the middle of their escape plan. Allie uses her escape to get revenge on Joan and has Jake reveal the plan to her. Joan climbs into the wooden box and awaits to be driven out of the prison in the truck. However, unbeknown to her, a hooded figure takes her away separately, to a secluded woodland, and buries her underground. Hearing the soil being dropped on top of the box, Joan quickly becomes aware that her plan has gone disastrously wrong. She screams for help but is ignored. She tries to break out to no avail. The hooded figure is revealed to be Will Jackson, thus proving he is capable of evil. Lying horizontally underground, Joan suddenly sees Bea's self-portrait nailed above her. Realizing this was Allie's plan all along, she lets out a defeated and terrified scream.

Wentworth Season 6 general trailers show that Joan Ferguson is haunting Will Jackson for what he did, since he is unsure if Ferguson will stay dead.

Officer Jake Stewart reassures Allie Novak that the Freak is dead, although he has no material proof of it. Ferguson's prisoner photo shot is shown on newspapers posters around the city together with Franky's one in order to warn people of fugitive prisoners.

Vera begins to receive anonymous phone calls and disturbances at her home in which muddy footprints are seen outside her house, a dead bird appears on her doorstep, a brick being thrown through her window, and finally, a pair of black leather gloves on her pillow. At first she becomes convinced that it is Jake, but then realizes it must be Joan as Jake has proof of his whereabouts. Later the pips of her uniform reappear following what she thought was a mix-up at the dry cleaners, which prompts her to remember something that Joan had said in the past, that she was "coming for that shiny little crown" − a reference to the design of a crown on her pips.

Vera, Jake, and a guilty-conscious Will return to the burial site where they dig up the grave. As will pulls back the wood, a decomposing body is discovered.

With the fate of Ferguson still left up in the air, she is currently presumed dead, although the outcome of the police investigation DNA results have not been mentioned, nor is it known if they have been confirmed.

In the season finale, Rita Connors is being transferred from Wentworth into protective custody following the siege. Her transport vehicle travels under a bridge where homeless people are keeping warm as a hooded figure amongst them is revealed to be Joan Ferguson, who is alive after all.

Joan is revealed to be living rough, having somehow escaped her burial and now living under the pseudonym Kath Maxwell. She has been tracking Vera for some time, with the intention of abducting her three-month-old daughter, Grace, and starting a new life in Rio. Her plan ultimately fails, however, when a homeless vagrant is curious to know why she shares the same name as his recently missing friend, Kath Maxwell. The man attacks Joan and leaves her for dead.

Two weeks pass, and Joan remains in the hospital in a coma as she suffers from nightmares regarding her burial, when she was governor of Wentworth and her time in the psychiatric hospital. It is later announced that Joan is alive, much to everyone's surprise, especially Vera, Will, Jake, and Allie. Vera goes to identify Joan in the hospital, while it is uncovered that the police knew all along that Joan was alive following the DNA results of the deceased woman in the box, which turned out to be the real Kath Maxwell and they did not announce it to the public as a means of easily recapturing Joan when she least expected it.

In a flashback, it was revealed shortly before Joan was buried alive and made her escape after she was informed by Jake of Franky and Allie's intentions to escape in boxes back in season 5, Joan used a secret phone to contact former officer, Brenda Murphy to follow the van transporting the boxes with Joan and Franky inside, so Murphy could break Joan out. Instead of the original plan of breaking her out of the box, Murphy ended up following Will's truck and from there witnessed Will burying Joan alive. Shortly after Will leaves, Murphy digs up Joan's grave and pulled her to safety. Joan's fingerprints were also found in Murphy's home shortly after Murphy was murdered by Derek Channing.

In order to protect Vera and Grace from Joan, Jake decides to kill her at the hospital. As she continues to dream, Joan's mind battles between the evil Joan Ferguson personality and the vulnerable, weak side of Joan which now takes on the separate Kath Maxwell identity, ultimately burying Ferguson and putting her away for good. As she suddenly awakes, Jake is startled and runs off. Fearing that they will be charged with attempted murder, Vera, Will, and Jake are called to the hospital to find Joan, having no memory of them, believing now that she is, in fact, Kath Maxwell

Joan Ferguson has been described as “arguably the biggest villain within the Wentworth walls.”.[23] Gay Times described Ferguson as a “formidable governor”, they also said “Straight edged, hair back and a stern face, Joan Ferguson is a force to be reckoned with”[24]

Reveal Magazine billed Joan as “The dreaded Joan Ferguson” when talking about the episode Born Again.[25]

Metro said, "Joan 'The Freak' Ferguson isn't just the most terrifying character in all prison dramas - she's the baddest and most sinister baddie ever to grace TV."[26]

Graeme Blundell of the Australian wrote "So much awe surrounds Ferguson that she seems to possess supernatural powers, a Hannibal Lecter-like superhuman cunning and lack of empathy, though Rabe, a performer of unerring grace and authenticity, is such an accomplished actress she avoids the melodrama, turning Ferguson into one of the most believable villains we’ve seen on the local screen."[27]

Pamela Rabe has received several award nominations for her portrayal of Joan Ferguson.

She won the AACTA Award for her performance in Season 3 of Wentworth in 2015,[28] followed by nominations in both 2016[29] and 2017.[30]

In 2015, she received an Astra Award nomination for her portrayal in the series.[31]

In 2016, she was nominated for a Logie Award in the category "Most Outstanding Actress" for her portrayal of Joan Ferguson.,[32] before winning the award in 2018, for her performance in the fifth season.[33]