Nicki Returns - To Prisoner
From TV Week, 3 May 1986. Written by Patrice Fidgeon.
A young star moves from Return To Eden to familiar Wentworth.
At first glance Nicki Paull (pictured) looks like she doesn't have a
hassle in the world _but her experiences on screen in the past few months are
enough to make a girl's hair turn white!
As Sarah Harper, Stephanie's pretty (she was then dark blonde), curly-
haired daughter in Return To Eden, she has had to contend with suspected incest,
a doomed romance, an unwanted pregnancy, a serious accident - not to mention the
daily ups and downs of her mother's life.
But now, just when Sarah looks set to become a blushing bride after all
Nicki is up to her new-look, spiky-blonde locks in trouble again.
Except that you won't be seeing any of this on Eden.
Nicki has switched shows and will be back on Network 10 later this year in
Prisoner as Lisa Mullins, a new inmate who promises to cause plenty of
fireworks.
;
Nicki finished work on Return To Eden in December and since then has been
waiting, along with the rest of the cast, to hear if the show would be going
straight into another series.
"The agreement I had with McElroy & McElroy (Eden's producers) didn't
expire until a couple of weeks back and the same day I was offered the role in
Prisoner so it's worked out great, " Nicki told TV WEEK.
But if she thought Sarah had her share of woes, the dirty dealings Lisa
gets mixed up in should have 'her scared out of her wits.
"Lisa's been in prison several times before. This time it's a blackmail
scam," Nicki explained.
Lisa has been the "bait" used to lure prominent people into compromising
situations so her criminal associates can catch them on film and blackmail them.
Lisa’s tough but streetwise and she’s nobody’s sucker," Nicki said.
Only this t
ime she’s caught the wrong people in bed.
She doesn’t know just who’s she’s dealing with on this occasion but the
police do and they send a policewoman undercover, as an inmate, into the jail to
keep watch."
Queensland-born Nicki became interested in acting when still at high
school. When she started university, however, she had her sights set on a career
in the diplomatic corps. But the lure of acting proved too strong and she moved
to Melbourne, enrolled in the Victorian College Of Arts, from which she
graduated three years ago, and landed a couple of small roles in Prisoner and A
Thousand Skies. She then moved to Sydney after an offer to star in Return To
Eden.
Immediately after the completion of filming on the series at the end of
last year Nicki was offered an opportunity to work on the other side of the
camera as a researcher/production assistant on Seers, a documentary produced by
Imago Films in 1986, the Internati
onal Year Of Peace.
I’ve been working with Bob Plasto, who made A
Shifting Dreaming, with
Jack Thompson, and I've found it very rewarding," Nicki said.
"All this has happened so fast with Prisoner. As far as McElroys are
concerned we've agreed I'm going off to do something else. I'm quite glad the way it has worked out.
I like the idea of going on to something new and the role is certainly very different from Sarah, who
was for much of the show more of an
observer. Lisa's more of a catalyst, which I prefer. "
Before Prisoner, playing Sarah in Return To Eden was, Nicki maintained, "the most
intense experience I’d had."
She admits it wasn’t easy.
"The show underwent such a change from what we were originally told. I’m someone who really needs a very
clear and definite idea of the role I’m expected
to play. I’d be very wary about anything like that
happening again."
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