An English actress, who studied at Witney Grammar School, Witney, Oxfordshire England, then she joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She participated in episodes of Midsomer Murders, Inspector Lynley, and Taggart, in addition to playing recurring roles in First Among Equals and Fortunes of War. She is married to the well-known English actor Tom Wilkinson, and they have two daughters. In 2011, they played the roles of husband and wife Joe and Rose Kennedy in the mini-series The Kennedys. She also had a supporting role in the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, in which Wilkinson starred.