Abigail

Abigail became Australias undisputed number 1 female sex symbol through her role as virginal blonde Bev Houghton in Number 96 1972 English born Abigail was educated in France Her mother was a Ceylonese Sri Lankan of Dutch BurgherEurasian ethnicity Abigail came to Australia in 1971 and played female lead in Theres a Girl in My Soup in Perth Moved to Sydney and got noticed in a TV commercial in which she played a Marilyn Monroe type bombshell opposite Phil Silvers Landed the role of Bev in Number 96 Was an original cast member and one of the most popular stars of the series though Abigail quickly tired of the monotonous storylines for Bev she was a shy virgin and the scriptwriters conspired to simply throw her into bed with a series of men and after several public disagreements with the shows producers left suddenly in June 1973 The role of Bev was hastily recast with the new actress taking over midepisode Abigail was the only major star of the series not to appear in the movie version released in 1974 Abigail had difficulty gaining many serious roles after leaving the series and appeared in several bitparts closely following the contours of her sexsymbol image in various sexcomedy films of the mid 1970s Later appeared in several comedy roles on the stage played a prim French teacher in school based drama Class of 74 1974 and a superefficient secretary in the early episodes of hospital soap The Young Doctors 1976 Was finally lured back to Number 96 in 1976 briefly playing a new character called Eve who was to appear in a proposed spinoff series with Elaine Lee though the new series was never pickedup Retired from acting and lived on a banana plantation in Queensland Publicly criticized the increasingly overt sexscenes and violence featured in the later episodes of Number 96 In 1984 after a long absence from the limelight was cast as comic heroine Caroline Morrell in television soap Sons and Daughters 1982 by producers desperate to revamp the show after the departure of the series most famous character Patricia Pat the Rat Hamilton portrayed by Rowena Wallace Abigails character was a great success and the show survived a further three years with Caroline quickly becoming one of the central characters She continued with the series until its demise in 1987 Later appeared in guest roles on TV shows such as the longrunning series Neighbours 1985 and was added to the cast of floundering series Chances 1991 in a last ditch attempt to spice up its quickly fading popularity In return to her sexcomedy roots Abigails Chances character was a sextherapist named Bambi Chute