An English actress, born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom, to an actress and tap dancer mother and a businessman father. She studied at the Drama Centre London. She began her career as an actress in the theater and then successfully transitioned to television. She began her television career in 1972 with a role in the series Thirty-Minute Theatre. In 1991, she married actor Sir Ian Holm, and they appeared together in the fantasy miniseries The Borrowers (1992). They were separated in 2001.