She had joined the company after working in the theatre, including the D'Oyly Carte company famous for their productions of Gilbert and Sullivan operas. At Granada she led a team of five people in selecting and dressing the cast for the new serial, whose scripts and production she greatly admired. She had been brought up in Manchester and instinctively knew how each character would dress, sometimes obtaining costumes from her own background, such as the grey coat worn by Violet Carson as Ena Sharples which had belonged to her husband's grandmother and Valerie Tatlock's wedding dress which had been worn by Edna's sister at her own nuptials. Some of the actors supplied elements of their own clothing such as Minnie Caldwell's hat which had been the property of one of Margot Bryant's aunts.