She applied to multiple theatre schools but was rejected,[9] until she obtained a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) at the age of 21.

[6][10] Peake has appeared in many television and stage productions, including Victoria Wood's dinnerladies, Channel 4's Shameless, in the lead role of barrister Martha Costello in the BBC's legal drama Silk and alongside John Simm in the BBC drama The Village, depicting life in a Derbyshire village during the First World War.

[11] Following career advice from Victoria Wood, between the two series of dinnerladies, Peake lost so much weight that an explanation had to be written into the script for her character, Twinkle.

Entitled simply Beryl, it was commissioned by the West Yorkshire Playhouse, where it ran in June and July 2014 to coincide with the start of the Tour de France in Leeds.

[22] Peake also features as a crazed stalker in the music video for "Sweet Saturn Mine"[23] by The Moonlandingz; a collaborative effort by Eccentronic Research Council and Fat White Family in 2015.

All of her performances at the Royal Exchange have been directed by Sarah Frankcom with whom she also collaborated on The Masque of Anarchy in 2012 for the Manchester International Festival.

[30] In 2016, Peake resumed her partnership with Royal Exchange Artistic Director, Sarah Frankcom, to star as Blanche Dubois in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.

[33] Peake starred as the eponymous protagonist in the 2018 film Funny Cow alongside a cast including Paddy Considine and Stephen Graham.

[34] Peake starred in, and won critical acclaim for, the lead role of Winnie in Samuel Beckett's Happy Days at the Royal Exchange Theatre in May 2018.

Adapted from her earlier radio drama,[36] Queens of the Coal Age looks at the 1993 pit closure protests by miners' wives in northern England.

[39] Peake stars as Miss Fozzard in the 2020 BBC remake of Talking Heads, recreating a role originally played by Patricia Routledge.

[43] In January 2014 Peake won the first Bolton Socialist Club Outstanding Contribution to Socialism Award for using her work to oppose the government's "crippling austerity measures".

"[49] In November 2019, along with other public figures, Peake signed a letter supporting Corbyn, describing him as "a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism, xenophobia and racism in much of the democratic world", and endorsed him in the 2019 general election.

The Independent amended the original article to add a note that "the allegation that US police were taught tactics of 'neck kneeling' by Israeli secret services is unfounded".

When Jewish groups demanded she delete the tweet, Long-Bailey refused to do so, leading to her sacking from the Shadow cabinet by Starmer.