After touring schools with
Brian Way’s Theatre Centre company, she spent two years in rep at
Oldham Coliseum, followed by engagements in theatres all over the country. In 1974, Fergusson made her television debut with a few episodes in popular soap
Crossroads playing Caroline Herbert, an old girlfriend of main character Roy Mollison, and appeared as Mrs Tremayne, a colonel’s wife, in an episode of
All Creatures Great and Small four years later in 1978. In theatre, she appeared in the stage show of popular long running
sitcom Last of the Summer Wine in the 1984 summer season, playing Marina, an ageing blonde bombshell complete with peroxide blonde hair, false eyelashes and short skirt. The character was so popular with audiences that Marina was written into the television series, and she made her first appearance in 1985, and continued to play the character in every episode until the show's cancellation in 2010, appearing in a total of 216 episodes. Fergusson's show
She Knows You Know!, in which she portrayed the
comedian Hylda Baker, performed at the
Vaudeville Theatre, was nominated for a 1998
Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Entertainment of the 1997 season, and she was part of the cast of the touring play
Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners. After
Last of the Summer Wine ended, Fergusson appeared in several television series, including ''
This is England '86 and three episodes of Doctors. In 2010 she took on the role of Dorothy Hoyle in Coronation Street'', having previously played Gary Mallet's mother in 1999 and Dr Lowther's sister-in-law Helen Ashcroft in 1987. She reappeared in 2011, and was part of a large kidnapping storyline involving her husband Alan,
John Stape and
Chesney Battersby-Brown. ==Personal life==