Denise got the taste for acting herself when she took part in a school production of Finnegan’s Rainbow and realised that acting was something she was good at. Her father and drama teacher encouraged her to attend the Mountview Theatre School in London which she attended from 1976 to 1979. Following graduation her first work was mainly in the theatre with a part in the West End and many productions for the Live Theatre Company in Newcastle. Her television debut was in 1981 in the Tyne Tees Television series Barriers. Over the next few years she appeared in several series associated with the North East of England such as Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Spender and Byker Grove but her big break came with a starring role in Soldier Soldier in 1993, during which time she released a record, You Don't Hav