[1] Bruce made her screen debut in the 1973 film Man at the Top, and on the London stage she was the second actress to play Magenta in the original production of The Rocky Horror Show, succeeding Patricia Quinn.

Regular or recurring roles in television series include Sandra Ling in Angels (1975–83), Janice Stubbs in Coronation Street (1978) and reporter Chrissie Stuart in Press Gang (1989–90).

Bruce is also recognisable to sci-fi fans for her performance as Brigadier Winifred Bambera in the 1989 Doctor Who serial Battlefield, her female Lister in Red Dwarf and her portrayal of Dayna Mellanby in the Blake's 7 audio drama The Syndeton Experiment.

Bruce played Gina in the 2002 film Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War and in 2008 she guest-starred in the Sapphire & Steel audio dramas Second Sight and Zero.

She also guest-starred in Old Wounds, a 2015 episode of Vera in which she played Beryl Doyle, mother of a murder victim found buried, having gone missing 30 years earlier.