She is most known for her roles as Twist Morgan in the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced, Lucy Barlow in the ITV soap Coronation Street, and Melissa Ryan in Waterloo Road.
Early in her career, she teamed up with lifelong friend, future Spaced star and writer Jessica Hynes in a comedy double-act called The Liz Hurleys.
After leaving university, she began a TV career with the 1950s Liverpool drama And The Beat Goes On (1994), the Galton and Simpson series with Paul Merton, Wing and a Prayer, Death Of A Salesman, and Dennis Potter's Karaoke / Cold Lazarus.
In 2014, she played Helen the down-trodden housewife in Jimmy McGovern's series Moving On for the BBC and was Hayley Blake, Connie Beauchamp's nemesis, in Casualty (2014–15).
Carmichael collaborated with Bib Gourmand winning chef Matt Williamson and Guardian food writer Claire Thomson[6] to create the food-theatre show The Table Of Delights,[7] which began as a gourmet tasting and performance experience for adults (Bristol Old Vic, 2013-2014).
[10] She directed singer and songwriter Kate Dimbleby's solo show Songbirds (Tobacco Factory, Bath Ustinov, UK Tour 2017) based on her acclaimed a cappella album.