In 1986, she reached number four in the UK Singles Chart with "Anyone Can Fall in Love", a song based on the theme music of EastEnders.

She has also starred in the West End as Mama Morton in the musical Chicago (2003) and Gertrude in Hamlet (2005), making her RSC debut in the 2012 revival of The Merry Wives of Windsor.

She has also been reunited with fellow EastEnder Leslie Grantham in the Sky production called The Stretch and Five's Horror series Urban Gothic (2000).

Dobson featured in the film London Road in 2015 and appeared alongside Simon Callow in the Gold comedy series The Rebel in 2016.

[citation needed] On 20 January 2023, it was announced that Dobson would be guest starring in the fourteenth series of Doctor Who as the mysterious Mrs Flood.

She also appeared in the revived Tom Stoppard musical Rough Crossing and played a holocaust survivor in My Lovely Shayna Maidel.

[11] From September 2016 to January 2017, Dobson appeared as Madame Morrible in the musical Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London.

[12] In May-June 2018, Dobson starred in Katy Brand's new comedy-drama 3 Women at the Trafalgar Theatre, playing the role of Eleanor alongside Debbie Chazen and Maisie Richardson-Sellers.

[19] Dobson was nominated for a 2003 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for her performance in Frozen at the Royal National Theatre: Cottesloe.

[21] She is a patron of The Match Girls' Memorial[22][23] and of the theatre charity the Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America.