MacColl began her career in the late 1970s, making her debut in the French romantic drama ''
, directed by Just Jaeckin, in which she received a small role. In 1975, she starred in a touring production of Death of a Salesman'' in her native Britain. The same year, she was in the company of the . In 1979, she received her first leading role in
Lady Oscar, a historical drama directed by
Jacques Demy based on the Japanese
manga The Rose of Versailles by
Riyoko Ikeda. According to MacColl, because
Lady Oscar was not widely released in Europe, her career stalled: "I met all kinds of incredible French directors and of course they all knew Jacques. And they would all say: 'Oh, you’re the girl who played the lead in the Demy film that never came out?' So, they all knew who I was, but that really didn’t help me."
Gates of Hell trilogy She appeared in the first of director
Lucio Fulci's
Gates of Hell trilogy,
City of the Living Dead. MacColl was hesitant to do
City of the Living Dead, because she felt the screenplay was badly written. "It seemed to me like a series of special effects without a story," she said in an interview in 2011. She called her agent to seek his advice. He told her to "take the film, because nobody is going to see it anyway." MacColl says her agent turned out to be wrong about that. and
The House by the Cemetery (both 1981). She was asked by Fulci to star in his next film
The New York Ripper, but she declined. She also starred in the Swiss short comedy film
Employé du mois. In 1988, she starred in
Pierre Bourgeade's play
The Eagle and the Serpent in London. MacColl has had a successful career in television. In 1978 she made her television debut in the French series
Il était un musicien. Her credits include the mystery series
Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, the short-lived
BBC series
Squadron, the mini-series
The Last Days of Pompeii,
Dempsey and Makepeace,
The Hardy Boys, and the French soap opera
Plus belle la vie. ==Personal life==