Wentworth: Ranking The Series 8 Main Top Dogs

After nine seasons and one hundred breathtaking episodes, beloved Australian Prison Drama Wentworth has finally come to an end. The series will go down in history as one of the greatest Australian dramas of all time, largely due to its many beloved characters.

Of these characters, the most important are the Top Dogs, those special women who rose up to become leaders within the prison walls. The best Top Dogs were those who struck the balance of keeping order within the Prison and fighting for the best interests of the women.

With that in mind, let's rank the eight main Top Dogs of Wentworth Correctional Centre, from worst up to best.

8. Joan 'The Freak' Ferguson

When Kaz Proctor steps in as Top Dog just prior to Bea Smith's death, she has dreams of running Wentworth differently, and putting a stop to violence between the inmates. Unfortunately, a lot of the women come to see this lack of violence as troublemakers not being punished for their transgressions. Joan 'The Freak' Ferguson, by then behind bars for Bea's murder, takes advantage of this, carrying out her own punishment when she cuts out Juicy Lucy's tongue. To the horror of Kaz and her crew, the women declare Ferguson Top Dog.

However, The Freak's victory doesn't last long. A Top Dog needs a loyal crew, which Joan never bothers to build, and respect between the Top Dog and the other women must go both ways. Joan proves this is not the case when, during a Kangaroo court trial arranged by Kaz and Frankie, Joan refers to the other women as animals with little control over themselves. Joan's reign as Top Dog almost ends with her being lynched, until Vera Bennet reluctantly steps in to save her life. Definitely not a successful run at the top.

7. Lou Kelly

Wentworth's final Top Dog, Lou Kelly, also ranks low on the list. Like Joan, Lou declares herself Top Dog after carrying out her own punishment on Sheila Bausch in revenge for the death of her lover, Reb, however, she does not officially take the role until she wins it in a fight against Boomer.

Lou is a terrible Top Dog for a number of reasons. She is mostly in the role for power, and constantly puts her own desires above those of the other inmates, a notable example being when after learning she has something she needs, Lou takes Judy Bryant under her protection, despite having promised to punish her for the stabbing of Allie Novak. Even worse, in the series finale she lets her planned bomb go off with absolutely no thought to the other women's safety. Many are seiously injured or killed in the blast. While we never see the women's opinion on this, it doesn't bode well for Lou's future as a Top Dog.

6. Marie Winter

After the sudden, tragic death of Kaz Proctor in season 7, Allie nominates her then-girlfriend, Marie Winter, to take her place as Top Dog. It is a decision she eventually comes to regret. At first, Marie seems to be a good Top Dog, liked by the women, and fair in her decision making.

However, this changes quite quickly when Marie has a court date that doesn't go her way, leaving her with a longer than expected Prison sentence. Along with crooked Screw Brody, Marie hatches a plan to get herself and the unknowing Allie out of Wentworth. The plan leads to a siege that ends with more than one inmate dead, Vera giving birth in a stairwell, and Liz suffering a stroke. The only thing that helps Marie scrape in above Lou is the fact that, unlike Lou who simply didn't care, Marie genuinely didn't mean for anyone to get hurt, except maybe Ruby.

5. Jacs Holt

When Bea Smith first arrives at Wentworth Correctional Centre at the beginning of Season One, Jacs Holt, the matriarch of the Holt crime family, is the prison's Top Dog. According to the guards, Jacs has been Top Dog for quite a few years when the series begins. However, pay attention, and there are hints right from the beginning that Jacs's power is waning. For example, despite not being in Jacs's crew, Franky Doyle seems to step in as de-facto Top Dog when Jacs is in the Slot. And while later in the series, we see the crews of injured Top Dogs fill in for them while they recover, this is not the case for Jacs. After Franky breaks Jacs's hand, much of her crew begins to defect.

Perhaps Jacs's biggest mistake is trying to break Bea Smith. Immediately after learning that Jacs is responsible for the death of her daughter, Debbie, Bea murders her. Jacs's actions also sign the death warrant of her son, Brayden.

4. Allie Novak

In the slight time jump between the season 7 siege, and the beginning of season 8, Allie Novak, a hanger-on of previous Top Dogs, has stepped into the Wentworth driver's seat herself. In her own tenure as Top Dog, she tries to emulate the values of the two Top Dogs she was closest to. Allie tries to be fair and keep violence to a minimum, like Kaz Proctor, but like Bea, she is unafraid to hand down a harsh punishment if the situation warrants it.

Unfortunately, like other Top Dogs who carry their heart into the job, Allie begins struggling with the darker aspects of what she needs to do to keep the women of Wentworth safe. Allie's time at the top is cut short when she is stabbed by Judy Bryant, resulting in a spinal injury that leaves her paralyzed, and forcing her to step down as Top Dog at the beginning of season 9.

3. Frankie Doyle

Frankie Doyle's time as Wentworth’s Top Dog is the epitome of ‘Be Careful What You Wish For’. After jostling for the position with Jacs throughout season 1, she has finally taken Top Dog status as her own. The problem? Well, being Top Dog isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Balancing her Top Dog responsibilities, her friendships, and her prison drug racket is more difficult than she expected.

On top of this, she soon finds her position threatened by Bea’s return from the Slot. As Jacs’s murderer, Bea does in fact have a claim to the Top Dog position. Though Frankie wins a fight against Bea, seemingly cementing her position, she cedes Top Dog status to Bea after realising Bea lost on purpose as part of her plan to escape and kill Brayden Holt.

"This is Queen Bea. She's your Top Dog now... anyone have a problem with that?"

2. Kaz Proctor

When Kaz Proctor takes up the role of Wentworth's Top Dog at the tail end of Season 4, she has lots of new ideas for how she is going to run things. For one, she wants to eliminate violence among Wentworth inmates, and do away with the violent punishments dished out by previous Top Dogs. To Kaz's dismay, the women don't take to her new, pacifist leadership, and her initial refusal to relax her stance leads to her position being briefly usurped by The Freak.

In her later seasons, Kaz takes a more balanced approach, still disliking violence, but understanding it is sometimes necessary in the name of avoiding chaos within the prison walls. She becomes one of Wentworth's longest serving Top Dogs, as apart from Joan's brief tenure, Kaz serves as Top Dog from the end of season 4 until her death in mid-season 7.

1. Bea Smith

Though an obvious choice, anyone reading this article knows it could be no other way. Bea Smith is easily Wentworth's most beloved Top Dog. As a leader, Bea is tough, but fair, and from the moment she took the reigns at the end of season 2, the needs of the women came first, and she gives up most of who she used to be pre-prison in the name of protecting them.

In season 3, she spends much of her time trying to end Joan Ferguson's reign of terror as Governor, and at season's end, she runs into a fire without a second thought to rescue Doreen's baby son, Josh. Then, in season 4, she tragically gives her own life to ensure Ferguson remains behind bars.

That brave act alone earns be the status of Wentworth's greatest Top Dog.