Sometimes when you play the same character for a long period of time, you need a change. Any interesting role I'm offered is a challenge for me.

At the time I was also interested in changing my image a bit, actually, I'm still interested in doing that. The American public know me as Sable Colby and nothing more. I know that in England people know me from many different things - the theatre, Tenko, Connie, etc. - where I have played many types of characters. That's what actors really like: to be themselves and, at the same time, many other people.

So when the opportunity arose to do Napoleon And Josephine: A Love Story, I thought, 'Yes, I accept.' It was a really big production and we shot in Paris. I was on vacation from The Colbys and thought, 'Great, the kids will have a chance to see Paris.' And they came with me on location.

Jacqueline Bisset and Armand Assante were working the whole time. 'Don't ever play a leading role,' I told myself. Because I had all this free time to do what I wanted, and Jacqueline and Armand didn't have a free second!

When Phoebe, Chloe and my sister Janet went back home, I found myself a bit lonely in Paris. So, what do you need when you're all alone in the big city? A friend. And my friend from Napoleon And Josephine was Anthony Perkins.

Anthony and his wife, Berry, were my 'laughing companions'. We used to go to museums, exhibitions and the theatre together. It was superb. Except on the set. When we would do a scene together, he would keep on making me laugh. He's a wonderful person. I should love to have him direct me in a film, because I think he is a great director.

I think I accepted the role of Thérèse (besides having the chance to get back to Paris and to play a different type of character) simply because of who she was. You don't really get to appreciate her in the series. In the TV story she is just "Josephine's best friend". But Thérèse was incredible.

In real life, in history, Thérèse was like Madonna in our society... an outrageous figure. Textbooks don't tell it this way, but I am convinced she invented the Empire Line, and I tell you why.

Thérèse was a woman of very loose morals. She had ten children by ten different fathers. So how could someone be a trend-setter if she was always pregnant? The answer is: the Empire Line. Those dresses with the high waistline that billow out loosely from the bust down. Absolutely perfect for disguising pregnancy!

Thérèse had a beautiful bust, so she lowered the cut of her dresses and put the waistline in the place that best suited her, and invented that style of dress, which later became fashionable all over Paris.

When we were filming in France, the newspapers criticised Jacqueline and me for wearing such low-cut dresses. And I thought, 'If we had really been true to history we would have spent most of the time topless!'

Thérèse, in real life, actually went to a party one day completely bare-breasted. She just walked calmly down the street from her house to the place where the party was. Naturally, she was followed by a whole flock of curious people, who obviously didn't take their eyes off her...

Anyway, life goes on, and after The Colbys was over, I went on. It was a good opportunity to do different things, which was exactly what I did.

I needed to see my dear England, my longed-for London, and as soon as they offered me the opportunity to do The Rover (1988) with Jeremy Irons, I thought, 'Great! I'll spend Christmas at home.' I had worked with Jeremy some years ago in An Audience Called Edouard (1978), so I knew it would be a pleasure, which it was.

But I hadn't broken off me ties with California. Naturally, I still had my agent in Los Angeles, so it wasn't surprising that a new offer soon came up: Troop Beverly Hills. We made it during the screenplay writer's strike in Hollywood. I can't say much about it because I had a very small part, but it wasn't bad. It was a comedy, and I love doing comedies. It was also great fun to work with Shelley Long.

And then Czechoslovakia came on the scene. I was offered a part in The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, which I accepted. I hope it will do well. I really enjoyed making it.

It's a children's story and I play Letitia, an unrepentantly nasty governess. Poor Letitia is so nasty that she's funny, she makes you laugh. She isn't like Sable, who you feel sorry for every now and then. No, this woman is just terrible. Even her name is terrible - Letitia Slycarp. Those words, 'sly' and 'carp', make you think of someone long and thin, so I shaved my hairline back to make my face look thinner. I didn't eat anything but vegetables during the entire time we were there (three months) - I even ate a carrot or two from Chernobyl. So I really took on the perfect skinny look for the role!

The girls were with me there for a while, too. And everything was going very well. I didn't know what would happen with my life when I finished that film and, frankly, I wasn't worried about it. 'Something will happen,' I told myself. And something did happen, quite soon...

Anyway, there I was in Czechoslovakia. It was terribly cold - something like 22 below zero - and snowing like crazy. And I got this unexpected call from California.

"Stephanie, we would like you to come back to work on Dynasty."

Well, I started to get visions of palm trees, sunshine, the ocean... Of course, I was planning to go back to California anyway, but this threw a different light on things.

There is an old story about Dynasty that is quite curious. Before I ever started with The Colbys, when I made those first two episodes on Dynasty... a few weeks later an American magazine did a survey. One of the questions was: "Which character do you miss most from the series?" And Sable Colby won. Between one programme and the other there was a very brief period of time, and the viewers didn't know I was coming back...

I returned to Los Angeles and went to see them. "We're very interested in having you become one of the family again," they said. I replied, "I must think about it."

It was some time before I made my decision.

Besides the fact that I missed the people I had worked with - and Sable, of course - I wanted to have a really good reason for returning - as an actress.

It was clear, however, that the possibility of confronting one bitch (Alexis) with another (Sable) was quite attractive. It would have been interesting for any actress. When you get right down to it, Alexis needed someone who could be her "match", someone with whom she could really fight.

This transplant was fairly logical. So what's happening with The Colbys? Well, the boys can be living their lives out on the sidelines somewhere. Jason and Francesca, happily married, live in... shall we say South America? And Sable? Sable is a divorcée now. She lives alone and, frankly, she could join the family quite easily again, if she wants to... and if the producers want her.

Once it was established for the audience that Sable and Alexis are cousins, and they hate each other because of some old story out of the past - a still unknown story - something nasty that happened years ago that has taken on bigger proportions with time... well, the whole thing takes shape. Also, Alexis' husband has just been killed and Sable is recently divorced, so they are at a perfect time in their lives to do nothing but hate each other... and the rest of the world, while they're at it!

It also appears that Sable has some "secret information" about Krystle Carrington.

So with all of this intrigue, and a few more secrets I can't reveal, the stage was all set for me to return to Dynasty. Frankly, I felt like the cherry on the cake.