A new prison drama that’s big on laughs

While Australian prison series Wentworth is going great guns on telly, make room in your viewing itinerary for fellow all-girl inmate drama Orange Is The New Black.

Fresh from the US, the series has been created by Jenji Kohan of Weeds fame, so you can expect lots of comic-tragic storylines involving the usual drugs, sex and scandal.

The series begins with engaged Brooklyn-ite Piper Chapman (played by Taylor Shilling), whose decade-old relationship with drug-runner Alex (Laura Prepon) results in her arrest and year-long detention in a federal penitentiary. To pay her debt to society, Piper must trade her comfortable New York life with fiancé Larry (Jason Biggs) for an orange jumpsuit and a baffling inside culture where she’s forced to question everything she believes in.

The Los Angeles Times has described Orange as “smart, funny and surprisingly moving” and, having seen a few episodes of the show already, we couldn’t agree more.

Slap on a pair of trackies, crack open a bevvy, and settle in to some quality TV viewing.

Orange Is The New Black airs Wednesday nights at 8.30pm on Showcase from October 9.