Born in Kent, England, and educated at the St. Joseph's Convent Grammar School, she worked as an actress and presenter in Australia and New Zealand before becoming a well-known face on British television in regional and children's programmes. After a stint presenting the BBC One afternoon show Pebble Mill at One between 1974 and 1979, during the 1980s she became one of the United Kingdom's best-known newsreaders on that channel and also hosted the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest.