Before training at the Rose Bruford College, in April 1976 she appeared in GAS with the National Student Drama Festival which won the Royal Shakespeare Company's inaugural Buzz Goodbody Award and The Festival Judges' Awards. Dibley came to public attention playing Elaine in ITV's The Two of Us, a sit-com about a co-habiting couple, opposite Nicholas Lyndhurst. In 1993, Dibley played the part of Linda in The Gingerbread Girl a series about a single mother trying to raise her daughter. She then played Lorna Cartwright in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. However, it was reported that she decided to quit the show, because she was uncomfortable with the plans for her character, where the script writers proposed Lorna became a prostitute and then end up getting raped. Dibley agreed an exit strateg