20-year-old Australian girl Katrina Stanton (Nicole Kidman) has been searching for her father in England when she befriends handsome and charming American freelance photographer Arkie Ragan (Jerome Ehlers) while travelling home to Australia from London via Thailand.
Ragan hides 2.4 kg of heroin in a camera case with a false bottom and gets Kat to take it through Thai customs for him, but the police at the airport find the drugs in her bag.
Kat is charged with heroin trafficking and taken to the horrific “Bangkok Hilton” at (the fictional) Lum Jau prison, where she makes friends with fellow inmate Mandy Engels (Joy Smithers), who has been given the death sentence and is awaiting execution by machine gun (the mandatory sentence in Thailand for drug smuggling).
Whilst she endures the terrible conditions inside, Kat’s lawyer Richard Carlisle (Hugo Weaving) and ex-pat “Bill Worthington” (Denholm Elliott) – who turns out to be Kat’s father, Hal Stanton – battle with the authorities to have her freed. The requisite body search and the misery of sharing a bare cell with eight other women and a slop bucket are shown in graphic detail.
Handsomely filmed in Australia, England, India and Thailand, this is a superb miniseries. The writing and acting are first-class, and it is still one of Nicole Kidman’s finest roles.
Katrina Stanton
Nicole Kidman Bill Worthington (Hal Stanton)
Denholm Elliott Richard Carlisle
Hugo Weaving Mandy Engels
Joy Smithers James Stanton
Lewis Fiander Catherine Faulkner
Judy Morris Arkie Ragan
Jerome Ehlers Billy Engels
Noah Taylor Lady Faulkner
Gerda Nicolson Kang (‘Pretty Warder’)
Pauline Chan Detective King
Richard Carter Major Sara
Tan Chandraviroj Astra
Deborah Kara Unger Thai Police Sergeant
John Alansu British Attache
Vincent Ball Immigration Officer, GOA
Ambika Baxter Sarah
Lucy Bayler O’Keefe
Jonathan Biggins Minister
David Bookalil Prison Governor
Kat Ditthavong Gordon Fleming
Wallas Eaton Astra’s Friend
Lachelle Gaymon Kat Aged 5
Amber Haidar Miss Howell
Deidre Lassau Gnut
Lin Chin Lee Mrs Cameron
Clarissa Kaye-Mason Jane
Helen Mutkins Sir Richard
Michael Sinclair Anat
Ram Worton
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Kat is charged with heroin trafficking and taken to the horrific “Bangkok Hilton” at (the fictional) Lum Jau prison, where she makes friends with fellow inmate Mandy Engels (Joy Smithers), who has been given the death sentence and is awaiting execution by machine gun (the mandatory sentence in Thailand for drug smuggling).
Katrina Stanton
