Yvonne Atkins

Yvonne Atkins is a fictional character from the ITV prison drama series Bad Girls. Portrayed by Linda Henry, Yvonne first appeared in the penultimate episode of the first series. She played a prominent role in Series 2, 3, 4 and 5 as Top Dog of G-Wing, until she was murdered by Jim Fenner in the last episode of Series 5.

Biography
Yvonne received four years for conspiracy to commit murder after she hired a hit-man to kill a business rival of her husband Charlie, a London gangster. Upon entering Larkhall, she does her best to wind up Sylvia Hollamby by using her smarts and her connections on the outside. She promptly becomes Top Dog of G-Wing, but doesn't seem to abuse her power maliciously. She helps protect other inmates from the bullying tendencies of Shell Dockley   and others.

Yvonne starts a sex hotline called "Babes Behind Bars" until it is eventually found out by the prison officers. Later, Yvonne's arch-rival, Renee Williams, arrives on G-Wing. She sets about bullying and intimidating the other prisoners, and racially abuses black inmates and officers on the wing. She reveals to Yvonne that she had been sleeping with her husband, Charlie, before she got sent to prison, and later tries to attack her in the toilets with a razor blade, but Nikki Wade steps in to help. Renee is eating dinner one day and suddenly; she stops eating, starts wheezing, her face quickly turning red. She falls to the floor, clutching her throat and gasping for breath, but she expires too quickly for the officers to help. It is later revealed to the viewers that Yvonne had put crushed peanuts into a pepper-shaker, which caused anaphylactic shock.

Yvonne later manages to get out of the prison for a day accompanied by Jim Fenner and Sylvia. She pretends she needs to go to the toilet, so they take her into a pub to use their facilities. Here she tries to escape through a window, but Fenner stops her, after reading in the newspaper that Yvonne's husband Charlie had been arrested. Much later on, her estranged husband is assassinated outside of court, after the jury claim he is innocent, though in fact, there was pressure on the jury to make that decision. Yvonne learns that it was her daughter Lauren who organised the hit, in revenge for his infidelity.

Yvonne finds herself defending the young inmate Shaz Wiley, who is left lonely and vulnerable after her girlfriend Denny Blood escapes from Larkhall with Shell. She is being bullied by the recently arrived Peckham Boot Gang, consisting of Maxi Purvis, Tina O'Kane and Al McKenzie. They get Shaz's friend Buki Lester in on their plan, and have her lure Shaz into a trap by inviting her to a "party" in the laundry room. Shaz agrees to go, unaware that there is no party and she is being tricked into meeting up with violent bully Al McKenzie, who intends to attack her. Yvonne gets wind of the plan, however, and surprises Al by showing up in place of Shaz. Al attempts to attack Yvonne, but finds herself grossly outmatched. Yvonne beats her up and warns her off; which intensifies the feud between herself and the Peckham Boot Gang.

Yvonne also discovers Fenner is running brothels for wealthy madame Virginia O'Kane while she is in prison. She informs former Wing Governor Helen Stewart, who has recently been sexually assaulted by Fenner, and of this; Helen sets out to gather evidence to bring Fenner down for good. Yvonne's involvement in this plot leads to a further feud between her and Fenner, who is also having an affair with Maxi, and conspiring with her to bring Yvonne down and instate Maxi as Top Dog. After G-Wing celebrates Nikki Wade's successful appeal, Yvonne asks prison officer Di Barker for permission to take a bath. Virginia decides to go with her, but Di does not escort them. Whilst Yvonne listens to music on her headphones whilst in the bath, Virginia is drowned by an unseen assailant. Yvonne finds her body and becomes the prime suspect, believing Fenner has set her up.

Yvonne pleads innocent for the murder of Virginia, but the authorities refuse to believe she is innocent. Yvonne manages to cause a power cut, and uses this time to escape, she is almost over the wall when Fenner spots her, he and Karen Betts manage to stop her, and this makes Betts believe Yvonne is guilty of Virginia's murder. When Fenner is promoted to Wing Governor, Maxi - who he is now sleeping with - admits she and Al murdered Virginia and framed Yvonne, when she starts blackmailing Fenner about their affair, Fenner actually teams up with Yvonne and tells her the truth about what really happened to Virginia. When Yvonne's friend Denny returns to G-Wing, she helps them by seducing Al and recording her confession of Virginia's murder. Yvonne makes a new enemy with Snowball Merriman, who is actually in a relationship with Yvonne's son Ritchie. Snowball is planning to escape by setting off a bomb in the prison, which results in tragedy for the prisoners, however she is caught at the gate and Fenner allows Yvonne into Snowball's cell, allowing her to "teach her a lesson".

After Denny's girlfriend, Shaz, died in the fire, as a result of Snowball's escape plan, Yvonne "adopts" her as a daughter, and Denny begins calling her "mum". Snowball attempts another escape, taken Karen hostage, she attempts to shoot her, but accidentally shoots Ritchie, paralyzing him. When Ritchie tells Yvonne how much he still loves Snowball, Yvonne reluctantly begins protecting her from the other inmates. Ritchie and Snowball later make a suicide pact; Ritchie dies but Snowball doesn't. A devastated Yvonne is told to still look after Snowball in case she tries to kill herself again, but Yvonne creates a diversion and allows Snowball to hang herself in front of everyone. She later begins a relationship with prison officer Colin Hedges, who she is aware is a heroin user.