Abigail

Born

1946-07-23

Birthplace

London, England, UK

Biography

Abigail became Australia's 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 Burgher/Eurasian ethnicity. Abigail came to Australia in 1971 and played female lead in "There's 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 show's producers left suddenly in June 1973. The role of Bev was hastily recast, with the new actress taking over mid-episode. 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 bit-parts closely following the contours of her sex-symbol image in various sex-comedy 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 super-efficient 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 spin-off series with Elaine Lee though the new series was never picked-up. Retired from acting and lived on a banana plantation in Queensland. Publicly criticized the increasingly overt sex-scenes 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. Abigail's 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 long-running 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 sex-comedy roots, Abigail's Chances character was a sex-therapist named Bambi Chute.