The first five years of her career were spent in rep and the theatre. One of her first theatrical engagements was in a play
Collapse of a Stout Party, written by
Trevor Peacock; in 1965, she appeared in
The Philanderer in Manchester. In 1966, she joined the RSC, the same year as
Trevor Nunn and
Terry Hands, with appearances as Katharine to
Ian Holm’s
Henry V and also Castiza in ''
The Revenger's Tragedy. She was at the Bristol Old Vic from 1967–69, where her plays included Blithe Spirit, Comedy of Errors, Venice Preserved (with Alan Bates, Bernard Hepton and Alan Webb), Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton by Dennis Potter, and a musical of Nancy Mitford’s book The Pursuit of Love written by Julian Slade. She returned to Bristol in 1982, playing Lady India in Anouilh’s Ring Round the Moon''. Her television work has included playing the heroine Cora in
The Last of the Mohicans in 1971, the children's science fiction series
Escape Into Night as governess Miss Chesterfield in 1972 and the 1974-75
Doctor Who serial
Robot, as leading villain Hilda Winters. She appeared in two films for television in the 1970s,
When Day is Done, co-starring with
Edward Woodward, and
Lives of our Own. Her TV series have included
This Year, Next Year about Yorkshire hill farmers, (for which she wrote the lyrics to the show's theme song - "
I Could Be So Good for You"),
Jemima Shore Investigates,
The House of Eliott, and
Campion. She has appeared in most of the soaps of the time –
Coronation Street,
Emmerdale Farm,
Casualty,
Holby City,
Crossroads and
EastEnders, where she played the part of Edwina Dunn, the mother of
Laura Beale, who was played by her daughter Hannah. == Personal life ==