Noele Gordon was never like this!  Meet the new boss of Crossroads, Gabrielle Drake - the sexy actress with a saucy past.

 

Gabrielle is to join the 20-year-old ITV saga in May.  She plays a mystery woman who takes over the motel.

 

But Gabrielle, 39, won't be revealing as much of herself as she has in the past.  In her younger days she appeared in movies like Young Playmates, the X-rated Au Pair Girls and There's A Girl in My Soup.

 

Gabrielle - married to painter Louis de Wet - refused yesterday to say whether she appeared topless in There's a Girl in My Soup.

 

After a photo session, she ignored reporters' questions and sped off in a car.  Later, a Crossroads sokesman said:  "We believe she was topless in the film - but so what?"

 

Gabrielle is best known to TV viewers for her role as Jill Hammond in BBC's The Brothers.  She has also appeared in the Kelly Monteith Show.

 

Although Gabrielle will run the motel following the sacking of actor Ronald Allen, who plays Crossroads boss David Hunter, producer Phillip Bowman says:  "She is not to be the new Meg Mortimer."