STEPHANIE'S SABLE SUREFIRE SUPERSOAP

Well I can confirm that I have now sat through copious amounts of that often ridiculed supersoap spin off The Colbys.

The Colbys started on Dynasty if that makes sense at the start of the 85 - 86 season. Fallon Carrington had returned from the dead and was alive and well in California. Who does she bump into but heir apparent to the Colby empire, Miles Colby. At the same time, Jason Colby gets in touch with Blake Carrington about a pipeline deal he wants to work on him with. Cue introductions of the Colbys of California. Jeff Colby (this one from Denver with the most animated eyebrows on television ever) is persuaded by Constance Colby with her whiter than white hair to start a new life running Colby Enterprises in California alongside Jason, her brother. Meanwhile at the Carrington mansion in Denver, Blake's holding a party to celebrate the pipeline and all the Colbys turn up except Miles who is hot and heavy with Fallon who doesn't remember being Fallon at all and is calling herself Randall Adams. It's a rainy night in Denver and Blake Carrington is confused enough as it is as his wife Krystle isn't herself. Well she wouldn't be considering that very afternoon, she'd been hit over the head at Delta Rho after spotting her double Rita Leslie. Sammy Jo was planning on getting her inheritance and decided to substitute Krystle for Rita in order to get it, but that's a whole other story entirely. Anyway, Jeff spots Fallon in Miles' car and with that he's off for a new life in California and starting on a new show.... The Colbys.



The family consists of

JASON COLBY played by Charlton Heston. The patriarch of the clan, he's been told he has months to live. Charlton signed on as he had full script approval and worked his own scripts.

CONSTANCE COLBY played by Barbara Stanwyck. Jason' sister who has given up her half of Colby Enterprises to Jeff. She adores Jason and is very protective of him. Stanwyck called the show "The biggest pile of garbage I ever did". So Connie's dispatched around the world at the end of the first season and dies off screen.

JEFF COLBY played by John James. A Dynasty alum who has wild eyebrows. He is sure Fallon is alive and part of his contract was that when the Colbys finished he could spin back to Dynasty - which he did.

FALLON COLBY played by Emma Samms. Samms took Pamela Sue Martin's role and totally changed it. She headed back to Dynasty with John James at the end of the second season and only in season 9 of Dynasty did she become the Fallon we knew from previous seasons.

FRANCESCA COLBY played by Katharine Ross. Jeff's mother and lover of Jason. She's like Krystle in almost every sense. Katharine was in The Graduate and wasn't that much older than John James so had to be aged with makeup.

MILES COLBY played by Maxwell Caulfield. He is hot hot hot and very fiery on screen. Constantly in just tight shorts. He is married to and was at the time, to Juliet Mills who had a bit part as Rosalind Bedford, Alexis' cousin in Dynasty the previous year to The Colbys starting.

MONICA COLBY played by Tracy Scoggins. The company lawyer. Monica is business minded but has some dark secrets that come out in season 2 allowing her to show her poor acting skills. She turned up on Dynasty's final season reprising her Monica role. Then went on to do Lois & Clark, two Dallas movies and now appears in a gay drama/soft porn Dante's Cove.

BLISS COLBY played by Claire Yarlett. Bliss is the youngest of the clan and falls in love a lot. She's had bit parts since in The West Wing. That's all.

ZACH POWERS played by Ricardo Montalban. Zach is Jason's biggest rival. He has high drama and is very camp. Montalban was previously in Fantasy Island and made an appearance on Melrose Place.

SABLE COLBY played by Stephanie Beacham. Sable is like Alexis in many ways. The show bitch. British accent and icy stares galore with a killer wardrobe. Sable is very British and her sister Francesca is very American in accent. Sable also spiced up Dynasty's final season causing her cousin Alexis no end of trouble. Stephanie has since had a major role in British drama Bad Girls as one of the Costa Cons.

So with such a stellar cast, the show couldn't fail?! Right?!! Wrong. It was cancelled after two very glamorous seasons. Some good storylines involved Sable trying to declare Connie incompetent. I would have blamed the scriptwriters. Miles raping Fallon and then Fallon getting pregnant. Sable getting shot then falling down a flight of stairs. Sable running Connie over. Monica's love child returning. Jeff's father and Francesca's husband Philip returning at her wedding to Jason. But for everyone of them, there's a poor story like Bliss and the ballet dancer who defects by pirouetting off a building. Jason turning out to be Jeff's father and some guy dying in season 1 and every male character taking the blame.

Barbara Stanwyck jumped ship at the end of season one and Katharine Ross couldn't keep up with the triumphant Stephanie Beacham as Sable. Their scenes together showed how in control Stephanie was. Stephanie's scenes with Barbara Stanwyck are a delight and if Barbara was 20 years younger I could see a few catfights going on!

The final episode left a lot of open ended questions. Frankie and Jason were in a crash, Sable was driving off with Monica's child. Rumours had abounded the set for weeks apparently about the cliffhanger and the cast thought it a joke when it was mentioned about Fallon being abducted by aliens. Emma Samms couldn't believe it but it's all there on screen. Fallon is in the Mojabe desert when her car breaks down. She sees a light in the sky and is drawn to it. A spaceship lands and some being greets her and she walks into the vessel and is whisked away for god know's what.

Her storyline was resolved the following year on Dynasty as Jeff discovers her back in the desert talking about being abducted by aliens so decides the best thing to do is to go back to Denver and Dynasty. Their storyline's continued to be far fetched there but nothing quite like Fallon's UFO abduction which has gone down in history. The one great spark from the Colbys was Stephanie Beacham's portrayal of Sable meant that to revitalise Dynasty's last season, she battled wits and wars with the indominatable Alexis Carrington and Joan Collins. It signalled a new Dynasty and if it had continued I'd have loved some more catfights and bitching between the two. The Colbys did turn up again, Monica reappeared in Dynasty's last batch of episodes and managed to discover she was not Jason's daughter but the result of a rape. Miles, her twin brother wasn't mentioned until the Dynasty Reunion when he was back in Fallon's arms in California. The only Colby there who helped arch enemy Jeff out of a hostage situation in Switzerland. It was also an opportunity for Maxwell Caulfield to have his top off again.

The Colbys is a great viewing with so many wicked outfits and some great twists. It's no Dynasty but sits quite happily as a true 80's Supersoap on it's own. I'd recommend it to anyone in need of a glamour fit or just if wanting a bit of high campery. Look no further than Stephanie Beacham in The Colbys!