Other credits include the Hammer film Prehistoric Women (1967), the horror movie The Corpse (1971), and the 1972 Hammer Horror film Demons of the Mind (in which fellow All Creatures actor Robert Hardy played the role of Zorn).

Hignett was born in Madras, British India, to Horace Arthur Du Cane Hignett (c. 1874–1923) and Ellen Kate Allen, who died in childbirth.

[citation needed] Hignett died in 1980, aged 64, shortly after the third series of All Creatures was filmed.

Her All Creatures co-stars Robert Hardy, Christopher Timothy and Carol Drinkwater attended the funeral.

Her death was written into the script of the 1983 Christmas Special, and her memory was honoured by the four remaining central characters.