Adams was born in
Lincoln, Lincolnshire. A pupil of North Kesteven School in
North Hykeham, Adams trained at the
Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in
Wood Green,
London. Initially playing
Tara Palmer-Tomkinson in a docu-soap about
Prince William, she later appeared in
Doctors before playing
Mickie Hendrie in
Holby City from 2004 to 2006. Adams was cast in the role of Mickie alongside fellow
series six newcomer
Jaye Jacobs, who was cast as staff nurse
Donna Jackson. The pair's arrival in the show was heavily publicised and the subject of a documentary entitled
Making It at Holby, chronicling their casting process, which entailed seven weeks of auditions, including group workshops to allow the series producers to gauge candidates' personalities. Adams originally auditioned as Donna. However, the casting directors felt that she would be better suited to Mickie, the quieter character She and Jacobs were paired together during a three-hour workshop, and the producers detected an "instant spark" between them, leading to their dual casting. In 2004, her character had a lesbian liaison with Jacobs' character. The scene in which they kissed was edited to half its original length after being deemed too explicit for pre-
watershed broadcast. In the aftermath of the Mickie/Donna storyline, the BBC banned its actresses from appearing in raunchy photo-shoots, after Jacobs and Adams were photographed in intimate poses while dressed in nurse's uniforms for various "
lads' mags". In 2006, her ambitious character left for Newcastle Medical school to study to be a doctor. Adams subsequently appeared as the servant Eve in the
Robin Hood episode "
A Thing or Two About Loyalty". In 2009, Adams joined the cast of long-running BBC1 drama series
Hustle for its fifth season, playing the role of
Emma Kennedy, a new member of
Mickey Bricks' crew of con artists. She continued in the role of Emma for three further seasons of the drama. In an episode of
Series 6, Adams plays the role of
Kylie Minogue as a parody of Adams' resemblance to the Australian singer. In real life, Adams has been mistaken for Minogue. She had a small role in the 2009 biographical film
Bronson, about the prisoner
Charles Bronson, and appeared in the British science fiction thriller
Beacon77 in 2009 and as Wendy in
My Last Five Girlfriends in 2010. Adams appeared in the second series of
Death in Paradise, shown on the BBC in early 2013. She then starred as Padre Mary Greenstock in the
BBC Three comedy
Bluestone 42 for its first two series. In 2015 she played Nancy Webb in the third instalment of the
ITV period drama series
Mr Selfridge, and in 2020 Michelle Charr in the second series of the BBC daytime murder/police drama series
London Kills. ==Personal life==