She emigrated from London in 1968 and became one of Australia's significant sex symbols of the early 1970s, promoted as a sultry blonde siren in the vein of Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot.
[3] Educated in France, she started her career in her native United Kingdom, appearing in such productions as Robin Hood and the Continental Theatre.
She arrived in Australia to study civil engineering whilst acting part time, but made a major foray in to show-business when, in 1968, she was given the chance to appear as the female lead in a local theatre production of the British comedy There's a Girl in My Soup .
She first became well known in Number 96, as an original cast member and as artist's model Bev Houghton, with her character providing fleeting nude glimpses.
In 1974, Abigail would perform a striptease in the burlesque comedy "The Legend of San Peel" in The Barrel Theatre, a well-known strip palace in Kings Cross,[4] while struggling to find serious acting jobs.
Her new character, the oft-divorced Eve, would potentially appear in a spinoff series, Fair Game, with Elaine Lee and Lynette Curran.
In 1988, she appeared in the film Breaking Loose, followed by a co-starring role in Elly & Jools playing Country & Western singer wannabe, Dulcie Dickson.
[4] Also in 1973, Abigail made an attempt, one of the first soap stars to do so (prior to Kylie Minogue) at a popular music career and scored a hit with a cover of Serge Gainsbourg's "Je t'aime... moi non plus", which reached the top 10 in Australia.
Abigail was twice married; first to her manager actor Mark Hashfield (who also appeared on Number 96 as Alan Cotterill and whom she starred alongside on The Young Doctors).
In March 2011, Australian current affairs program Today Tonight produced a story on Abigail, claiming that she had fallen on hard times and was living as a squatter in a derelict church.