As it turns out, it didn't take too much to woo Fiona Hutchison back to OLTL as Gabrielle Medina. "Gary [Tomlin, executive producer] and I had breakfast, and I said, 'Do you have a storyline? If you don't, it was great seeing you, have a nice life.'" The soap vet chuckles. Hutchison loves soaps and is thrilled to be returning (as of May 11) to the role she originated in 1987, noting that the circumstances just haven't been right before. "I've either been on another show, or they didn't have a head writer who had the vision, or they didn't have the money," she explains. Those "other shows" have been ATWT (ex-Celia) and GL (ex-Jenna). "What can I say? I'm always pleased to go in front of a camera. I'm a born-again ham." In addition to her soap roles, Hutchison has been busy with films, TV appearances and her own production company. For one film role, as a cancer-striken patient, the actress shaved off the long tresses that had been such a staple of Gabrielle's emotional reactions in the past. "Oh," sighs Hutchison dramatically, "it's going to be quite an accomplishment to do the character without the hair acting. I thought about hair extensions, but you know, it's so bloody typical of Gabrielle to come back with the same hairstyle as Blair." On the home front, Hutchison has also been busy raising her children, Trevor (age 3) and Hutch (age 4 ½), with her husband and fellow OLTLer John Viscardi - who was not jealous that he wasn't always asked to return. "He worked with [then-Executive Producer] Linda Gottleib; need I say more?" winks Hutchison. "He's had better experiences."

     So, what's in store for schemer Gabrielle, last seen heading off to Statesville Prison (she refused to finger Carlo Hesser for his crimes when he threatened her son)? "I've been sworn to secrecy," she explains. "Suffice it to say that Gabrielle will be entwined with quite a few characters, physically as well as emotionally. Why should that change?"