Matthew Ashford is a fan favourite in his role as Days of Our Lives' hapless, helpless, energized go-getter, Jack Deveraux. He causes no end of trouble for the ladies in his life, especially for Jennifer and Greta. A Jack-attack could happen at any moment! You never know what might transpire when Jack's around, and Ashford likes it that way! I recently spoke with Ashford from the set of Days about the all-important events taking place this month during November sweeps.

Elaine Loring: Could it be that Jack and Jennifer will find themselves together again?

Matthew Ashford: We're trying. The tables have been turned. I am pursuing her relentlessly and she is avoiding me and running away. That's what I used to do, and we've found a way to do it in the opposite way and yet, get no closer! There are real obstacles. It's great fun. Melissa Reeves is just wonderful to work with and very natural. You can sometimes go into a scene not quite knowing where it's going to go and it goes a whole different direction. What else could you ask for?

We have a preconceived notion, and then we come in and put it all together and something entirely different may come out of it. I've gotten a lot of response and I'm happy about that.

E.L. - Could Jack and Jen ever re-marry?

M.A. - As for them getting married, I don't know. They're trying, but there are significant problems. Missy feels under the gun 'cause she's always saying no, (as Jennifer), and has all these mean statements about Jack, but every one of them is true!

I proposed to her and she said, 'No - cannot do - no can do!' And then I came back and tried again and thought, maybe if I just grab you and kiss you -- yeah, that'll do it! That'll do the trick! I'll try just about anything at this point. This is going to take a lot of work! It's complicated because she's trying to have her life make sense and then there's this kid between them that continues to tie them together along with their own connection. It's not going to go away and neither is he. I think that's what people are happy about.

E.L. - How have you enjoyed the storyline involving lying to Greta about Jack's sexuality?

M.A. - I'm lovin' it! It's never been done before. I guess there have been characters on shows who said they were gay, but no one has ever said they were but they weren't! He's so lame! He just came up with this big lie and thought -- yeah, that'll help! And it's just created so much trouble!

E.L. - Greta sprung into action to set Jack up with some men!

M.A. - Yeah, she got this bright idea in her head. Now she's become a matchmaker! She has her own thing going on now and I try to stop it, but I can't protest TOO much or it'll blow my cover! And I need her desperately to help me work out this thing to possibly get Jennifer back. So, why we don't just all throw in the towel and head in different directions, I don't know.

E.L. - Will Jen find out that you've told Greta you're gay?

M.A. - Oh no! I can't even imagine at this point what's going to happen there. A part of me is embarrassed for my character and for that eventual time when it all hits the fan with Greta and with Jennifer because, I've been told by both of them to my face -- 'YOU HAD BETTER BE TELLING THE TRUTH! YOU'D BETTER NOT BE DOING THIS AGAIN, OR THAT'S IT! THAT'S THE END!'

It makes me kind of quiver a little bit and I think, oh, what am I going to do? I don't have anything to stand on! The character takes one step further and says, okay, now we're just flying by the seat of our pants on a wing and a prayer! That's exciting in a sense because I think, I am in so much trouble now, if this all falls down, that I want to see what happens! I don't know.

E.L. - So Jack is set up?

M.A. - Yes. Someone new. A friend of Greta's -- the Princess makes a lot of friends! It's a friend of a friend and somebody she thinks -- maybe this will work! It's pretty fun. There are two different guys and one is more flamboyant than the other and it's interesting because, even finding characters, people who know who they are and people who don't -- my guy, I mean Jack, doesn't quite know who he is.

He'll do or be anything to get what he wants -- to get Jennifer back. But in doing so, he has opened himself up for all sorts of trouble.

E.L. - Fans have always loved this special couple. Jack and Jennifer have something unique. But they're going through a lot of changes right now.

M.A. - We took a turn, Missy and I, away from the other path. The path less taken. I continued to put up fairly strong resistance to a relationship with her and it forced her to become more the aggressor and to have to come out of her shell. She was more innocent before and I was supposedly the more worldly, but it forced her to kind of do the chasing, when it would have more naturally been the other way.

It forced her in some cases to be the stronger character, where in other cases, I would have been. We established two characters who are both flawed. And from what I could tell, it just resembled a lot more people and couples that fans knew and recognized.

It's written in such a way that I can be the aggressor, but there's been so much underneath that. She doesn't trust much of anything I say and it's very interesting because I can say anything. I could turn to her now and say, I love you -- something I could never say before -- but now, I can say it. In the past, I barely uttered a word and meant everything!

Now, I can talk about it all day and she just looks the other way.

So the obstacles remain the same. They have tremendous obstacles to being together.

E.L. - Can they be overcome?

M.A. - Well, that continues to be the question. They probably should be apart, but I can speak for Jack on this. When Jennifer's not around, Jack wonders where she is. And I think it begins to speak about connections -- the kind of lifelong connections we have to people who are so deep in us, they're part of us. And yet, they may not be with us now. They may not be our significant other, but they are a deep connection, and it's spooky. It's a little scary sometimes -- those kind of connections.

E.L. - You spent a number of years away from Days. Melissa did too.

Did you have any feeling that one day you would work together again on Days? The fans had been hoping for it since Melissa's return.

M.A. - I had hoped. I kind of knew that it would be better if we were back at the same time. The writers recognized there was a timing and a place for that to work out and we kind of came back. We had all this old garbage that keeps coming out about things I did and do, and it kind of makes your head spin. And yet, at the same time, you think, well, why can't they just go elsewhere?

But think of it. There are so many people who are not married to that person anymore, but they have so much business with that person. That person is a part of their life. They have children together. They have a history together. That person is maybe the only person who was actually with you at that point when something happened in your life, and I think there's something strangely comforting about that for all of us.

We can all look and think of a person or a couple of people in our lives who had a massive impact on our lives. And maybe we're not standing right next to them right now, but do you hate them? Do you love them? Do you miss them? Do you think about them no matter what? One way or another, that's a connection and it's very powerful.

And I think we're all drawn by that. In our relationships -- mother, father, my old girlfriend did this, my first boyfriend did that, and everyone else has to tow the line.

It's powerful stuff and for that reason, I start bringing that stuff up about Jennifer's father, Bill. They've written some things that are so honest. We go on about Africa and the hijinks, but there are some serious relationship issues being brought up about being together. Being there for your mate and bringing on your family stuff and putting it on the person you've married or you're with.

These issues -- they're not really solved -- just brought to the table. We have been allowed, through the creativity of the writing team and producers and through the generosity of the fans to bring out a lot of these things and say, it's OK to tell this part of the story. Because, at a certain point, who knows -- maybe she's going to go off with somebody else and then I'll go off with somebody else too or vice versa. But I'll never stop thinking about her. I'll never stop wanting to see her. And that's scary in a way. That makes for a lot of scary, dangerous feelings. But isn't this the place we should be exploring that, rather than in real life! That's really what it's all about -- having these tremendous obstacles to overcome.

I remember on the old TV show Hill Street Blues, the Captain, Daniel J. Travanti, his ex-wife was a major character in the entire series. She always showed up and always had something to talk about -- something to do or something she needed. That hit me. This relationship doesn't go away. That's very much a part of life. There's a lot of room for drama and passion and feelings and unresolved angst and all those good things.

E.L. - Is Jennifer going to start seeing other men?

M.A. - Jennifer has started eyeing people for the possibility of dating. So nothing is set. I personally can't tell which way it's going to go. I know we're connected, for good or ill, but where it's headed? It keeps me turning the pages and looking ahead. I'm enjoying the writing. I'm having a lot of fun.

E.L. - Matthew, thanks for your time and for being so honest. A lot of fans will appreciate what you have to say about the complexities of relationships.

M.A. - Send my love to everyone up in Canada! I'll come up there hopefully sometime in the not too distant future.