McCall worked for the BBC for twenty years and in around 2000 she settled down to being a full-time writer. In 2006 she published a biography of
Agnes Jones, the Irish nursing pioneer who was inspired by Florence Nightingale and reformed the Liverpool workhouses. Her plays have been professionally produced in the UK, Ireland, the US, and
Australasia; her awards include the UK National Lottery Award for Heritage 2011 for
We Were Brothers; two Epic Ireland awards in 2013 for
Every Bottle has a Story to Tell; two Meyer Whitworth nominations, for
No Goodbyes (2008) and
We Were Brothers (2010); and the
Tyrone Guthrie Scriptwriting Award (2006–07). Much of her work is based on historical fact or social activism. Her screenplay credits include
Agnes (Ambient Light/GSCA 2006), based on the life of the Irish nursing pioneer
Agnes Jones, and
Jam (Brassneck Productions). McCall is also a director and founding member of theatre groups
Handful Productions and
Postscript, and co-founded the Derry Writers' Group. She served on the Irish Executive of the
National Union of Journalists. ==References==