Television and film Burns's major television role was her performance in the cult television program
Prisoner, in which she played the tough but affable lesbian bikie character, Frieda "Franky" Doyle. Although only appearing in the first 20 episodes, her character attained cult status, resulting in her winning a
Logie Award for Best Lead Actress in a Series. Burns stated in a 2011 interview that she left the show due to very low pay and an increased workload as a result of the more rapid production of episodes. She also stated that it was her decision to be killed off as she did not want to be lured back. After Burns's departure from the series the producers released a telemovie titled
The Franky Doyle Story which they compiled using footage from the episodes in which Burns had participated. Burns, an experienced and versatile theatre actress, went to the UK and appeared in numerous
West End theatre productions and had roles in TV series such as
The Bill,
Taggart and
Heartbeat. Burns also appeared in films, particularly during the late 1970s and 1980s, including
The Mango Tree (1977),
Bad Blood (1981),
Starstruck (1982) and
Strikebound (1984) She performed for
La Boite Theatre. She was in a stage production of
Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman by Italian playwright
Dario Fo. In 2015, Burns played, in what turned out to be her final performance, the lead role of Winnie in
Samuel Beckett's
Happy Days for Queensland Theatre Company. Burns directed the Queensland Theatre Company productions of
The Road to Mecca (2002) and
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (2003), as well as her own adaptation of
Picnic at Hanging Rock (2013) at Brisbane Arts Theatre. ==Personal life and death==