Margaret Anne "Maggie" Kirkpatrick (née Downs; born 29 January 1941) is an Australian actress who is best known for her portrayal of the character Joan Ferguson, a sinister and cold lesbian prison officer, nicknamed "The Freak", in the popular Australian television soap opera Prisoner.
Kirkpatrick performed as Madame Morrible in an Australian production of the musical Wicked. Kirkpatrick has appeared in such popular series as Water Rats, Home and Away and All Saints.
In 2017 Kirkpatrick returned to TV after a 9 year hiatus making her return in Australian TV Mini-series 'The Letdown', in 2018 appeared in ABC comedy 'Sando' and provided her voice as Doris in 'The Bureau of Magical Things'.
In 2021 Kirkpatrick appeared in Stan series Eden.
Personal Life
In July 2015, Kirkpatrick was charged with child sexual assault against a 13-year-old girl in the 1980s. She strongly denied the allegations, Kirkpatrick said, "Yes, allegations have been levelled at me, are they true? Absolutely not." She appeared in court in and was found guilty on 20 August 2015. She was subsequently sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order, including 100 hours of community service. She was also to be placed on the Victorian sex offender page for 6 years and forced to relocate to Victoria. Kirkpatrick appealed the case and the appeal was upheld with Judge Geoffrey Chettle stating “the abuse may well have occurred, however I cannot prove beyond reasonable doubt” and dismissing the conviction and charges. In her only TV interview about the charges, Kirkpatrick slammed the media and claimed that it was "bad journalism" as they continually showed clips of her character from Prisoner during the legal battle, going as far to say the media couldn't separate reality from fiction. Kirkpatrick has since revealed that the allegations and conviction even though it was dismissed left her with PTSD.
In 2019 Kirkpatrick released her biography titled 'The Gloves are Off' and retired from publicity events in 2019 after appearing one last time for Screen Star Events.
Trivia
- Maggie had originally auditioned for the role of Vera Bennett but didn't get the role, and she returned to theatre, before coming on to the series in 1982 episode 287 as one of the series most famous characters, Joan Ferguson.
- Maggie revealed in an interview with Talking Prisoner that she was going to be in Wentworth as the character of May Jenkins but due to commitments in the UK she had to pass up the role the role went to Anni Finsterer.