Viki Lord

Viki Lord has been through it all: rape, murders, multiple personalities, being stranded on a desert island with Dorian, her arch nemesis. Just when she decides to escape it all and start anew in Paris, Texas, practically the entire town of Llanview comes to Paris too for their own interrelated reasons.

Erika Slezak, who has portrayed Viki since 1971, tells me: "It's a very cleverly constructed story. There's good reason for all of them to be out there. The whole time, we spend trying to avoid each other and not be seen by one another."

Viki also has a burgeoning relationship with Charlie, who we've seen has a connection to Llanview. "This is a very complicated, well-constructed story, but Charlie does have a connection with us that we (the characters) don"t know about yet. As he goes back and forth between Llanview and Paris, we'll begin to see more."

Brilliant actress

The setting off point for Viki that put her on this course to become a new woman, a waitress in a small town, had a lot to do with Dorian. Erika explains: "The last scene Robin (Strasser, 'Dorian') and I had together was back at Asa's funeral, and she's like, 'What are you going to do with the rest of your life, you wimp? You're so boring.' And it sets Viki off on a whole new path."

And while there might be no love lost between Viki and Dorian, the same cannot be said for their portrayers, Erika and Robin. Erika has nothing but the highest praises for Robin. "The scenes I get to do with Robin are always wonderful. Those are some of the best scenes because Robin is such a brilliant actress and I love working with her. If I see that I have scenes with her, I am always so happy.

"Theirs is a relationship that is so mysterious, and it'll never end, and they'll never get over it, and it'll never be resolved. And this is a good thing, because we have our nice moments, but we mostly have our nasty moments."

Split personalities

Other moments Erika looks forward to playing are those of Viki's split personalities, he egos. Her mai is Niki, a character who has made quite a few appearances throughout the years. Erika says: "Some of the most fun story lines I get to play involve th absolutely far and away, because they are just so different. Niki, she just pops out once in a while, and she's just delightful. And it's such fun to be total trash. You know, to be Viki, and then to be Niki.

"But all the others, to create the other characters because they were all very different - Tori and Jean and even Tommy and Princess - to be given that kind of a challenge. To start from scratch and create something is one thing, but this is completely different, and that is by far the most challenging."

Aside from th it is difficult for Erika to pick a favourite scene or storyline. "I've loved so many of the stories over the years. And I love this current one. I like being a waitress."

Then she adds with a grin: "It's what I do at home."

- Cindy Elasky