[2] Born in Oxfordshire, Carroll's parents were John F. Carroll, a flying instructor with the Royal Air Force, and actress Hazel Bainbridge (born as Edith Marion Bainbridge; 25 January 1910 – 7 January 1998).
[4] Subsequently, she trained in provincial repertory, joining the Wimbledon Repertory Company after leaving school,[5] and made her debut in London's West End aged 20,[5] when she took over the role of Marion from Barbara Ferris in Terence Frisby's long-running comedy There's a Girl in My Soup, opposite Donald Sinden and Clive Francis.
[6] Her other stage roles from the late 1960s to early 1980s included parts in His, Hers and Theirs with Gladys Cooper; The Pleasure of His Company with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.; Peter Pan (as Wendy) with Dorothy Tutin; with Jean Kent and David Jason as the often skimpily clad Frances Hunter in No Sex, Please – We’re British; Charley’s Aunt with John Inman;[7] and as Anne Meredith in Agatha Christie's Cards on the Table (1981).
[5] Carroll appeared subsequently in many productions around Britain and on television in Callan, The Duchess of Duke Street (1976), Wodehouse Playhouse, (1978), Malice Aforethought (1979), Lovejoy, (1991), and Casualty (2001).
[citation needed] They had two children, Tam and Amy Williams, also actors, before divorcing in the late 1970s.