'In The Gloves Are Off, Maggie takes us on her journey from humble beginnings in a Newcastle dress shop to becoming one of Australia’s most well-known television and theatre stars.

'She gives us a peek behind the scenes of the television industry and the world of the theatre with insight and wit – the business, the challenges and the names. Maggie also shares publicly, for the first time, the full story of her very public legal battle – and the consequences of that battle that she’s still living with today.

'The Gloves Are Off is an engaging, amusing and sometimes harrowing tale from one of the grand old dames of the Australian acting scene.

'What happens when you take a half-orphan from Newcastle with stars in her eyes eventually give her the chance to play a sadistic, psychopathic prison guard in a cult TV series for 389 episodes?

'She turns into a household name, that’s what.

'But there’s so much more to Maggie than Prisoner’s favourite freak Joan Ferguson. Over an acting career that spans almost six decades Maggie Kirkpatrick has established herself as one of Australia’s most respected actors with highlights that include war survivor Bridie Cartwright in Shoehorn Sonata and master-manipulator witch Madame Morrible in Wicked. She’s also been a political activist, wife, mother, grandmother and friend to some of the most renowned professionals in the entertainment industry in Australia and the U.K.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'In early March, the ABC issued a press release announcing that the “multi-award-winning Australian drama Wentworth” would make its free to air television debut on April 12. “This ground-breaking and much acclaimed Foxtel drama”, it went on, has not only been enormously popular “worldwide”, but also garnered a swag of nominations and awards, including one from the Monte Carlo TV festival. Somehow overseas recognition still seems to count for so much more when it comes to assessing the value and impact of Australian screen productions.'