She was best known for portraying the roles of Cynthia Daggert in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale (2001–2002), Candice Smilie in the BBC school-based drama series Waterloo Road (2007–2009), and Gina Conway in the CBBC drama series Tracy Beaker Returns (2010–2012) and its spin-off series The Dumping Ground (2013).

She then later starred in Coronation Street as Rhona Summers for 3 episodes in 1997.

[5] Purcell posted images, videos and blogs on social media to show her own experience of the disease.

[6] In early 2020, Purcell was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer and was given a life expectancy of two years.

[7] She died from metastatic breast cancer which had spread to her liver on 23 December 2020, aged 57.