Sonia Stevens

**Sonia Stevens**, the Ice Queen, was an inmate who appeared from episode 394- 447, she was the last rival of Bea Smith and was a cool vice queen who had operated a protection racket fleecing prostitutes whilst maintaining a cover as a policeman's wife.

## Top Dog

Sonia Stevens arrives in 394, and suddenly, we have a new rival for Bea Smith, eventually helping to get Bea transferred to Barnhurst. Sonia isn't as rough as some of the other prisoners and rarely uses intelligence, and it isn't long before the others discover her story. Helen Smart recognizes her and reveals that Sonia is well known for protection rackets and supplying prostitutes with heroin. Bea decides not to act, but chooses to hear all the facts first. During this time, Phyllis tries to threaten Sonia, first with a sewing "accident" causing Sonia to get a needle through her finger. Bea puts salt in her breakfast then swaps it with Rosemary, Bea puts her cigarette in her breakfast. Pixie drops the sheets in the laundry so Sonia couldn't get them from her and she bumps into her on purpose because Bea told her too. Phyllis later puts razor blades in Sonia's soap. Sonia immediately sees the trick, then swaps the soap with Phyllis who then uses it and cuts herself. She puts an ash tray on Bea's hand into provoking her to get caught by Joan. She gets Phyllis to get the number game started up so she can rip off the women, Bea ask her to give the money to her so the women can get there money back, Sonia refuses and Bea takes a swing at Sonia with Joan catching her. Sonia and Joan set up a booze trade by getting Lizzie to make alcohol. Bea takes a swing at Sonia for working with Joan to get Lizzie to steal yeast and sugar from the kitchen to make alcohol. Sonia teams up with Joan Ferguson to get rid of Bea by provoking fights. Bea is transferred leaving Sonia to be the Top Dog, she continues to get Phyllis to rip off the women with the numbers game, and forcing the women to buy alcohol. When Cass arrives Sonia is concerned about Cass, she trips Cass over in the laundry to cause trouble. When Phyllis refuses to do what Sonia said Sonia gets Frances to get glass bottles from the kitchen to her and to break and put in Phyllis's bed. Her time as Top Dog is short lived, when the title is eventually taken over jointly by Cass Parker and Minnie Donovan. After the production of illicit booze, Cass and Minnie manage to make Sonia drink it all herself.

## Bid For Top Dog

After the arrival of new prisoner Bobbie Mitchell, Sonia makes her tape Minnie's conversation on her Walkman, also borrowing her Walkman to tape a conversation with The Freak. Sonia has a narrow escape from killer screw David Bridges when he agrees to arrange her "escape." Fortunately, Randi Goodlove takes Sonia's place and is killed instead of her (414). Joan gives Sonia, Lizzie's goodies that were brought in for the women so Sonia can sell them. Sonia gets Marge to start a fight in the rec room and Sonia flips the table where Helen and Judy are to cause trouble. Sonia must also deal with new prisoner Belinda Johns, who is seeking retribution from Sonia for being made blind. Belinda puts glass in Sonia's cream, she stabs Sonia in the back, she strangles Sonia but is stopped by Judy. In the end, Belinda is unable to kill Sonia. The women start scaring Sonia for her rude comments, the first one was her sheets being ripped, a dummy being hanged from the ceiling, she also believed there was a snake twice but it was a tie on the first time and a bit of a hose on the second time. Bobbie gets a dead snake and puts it in Sonia's locker and Sonia goes into shock for the whole night. Sonia is told that her husband Eddie Stevens has been killed in a car accident and believes it's Rick Manning who arranged the death. Eddie's death had been faked to allow him to go undercover to try to nail two cold police officers Mears and Birmingham. They visit Sonia to "question" her, and one of them gives her cyanide to poison Rick. Sonia tricks a new prisoner Gloria Payne to put the poison in Rick's food, telling her it's a "laxative" powder, but the glass of milk she puts it in is split by Cass before Rick can drink it.

## Kidnapped by Kurt Renner

Sonia is eventually transferred to Barnhurst along with Bobbie Mitchell, but it turns out the transfer is a set up organised by Kurt Renner's gang. Bobbie is more or less an innocent victim of the saga. Kurt Renner kidnapped Sonia in order to get closer to Eddie Stevens, who once shot Renner.

Sonia soon finds out that she has been kidnapped not by the Fellowes gang, but by the Sydney-based gangster Kurt Renner, who intends to use her as bait to get Eddie onto his patch to settle a score with him. It is implied that Sonia is partly trying to keep Bobbie alive by making her survival essential to Renner's plan.

Joan Ferguson is in Sydney to visit her father, and naturally... spots Bobbie. Sonia agrees to meet Eddie and watches him get shot the following day. Bobbie is eventually captured.

In episode 447 Sonia steals Kurt Renners gun, later in that episode Sonia has her last scene and that is her looking over a cliff, later the police come and find the car that Sonia stole with gunshots on it that could mean two things. Either there was a gun fight and Sonia died or she shot the car with the gun she stole from Kurt Renner to make it look like there was a gun fight... and then she died. (Sonia might have gotten the idea from her husband, Eddie Stevens because he also faked his death). There has been a lot of fan speculation over the years as to what really happened.

**Sonia Stevens was played by Tina Bursill**