She starred on television as Ma Larkin in The Darling Buds of May, as Laura Thyme in Rosemary & Thyme, Peggy Snow in Where the Heart Is and as Sister Evangelina in Call the Midwife.
She has also played parts in family films based on works by British authors, such as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda (1996) and as Aunt Marge in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004).