Her parents, Aileen Turner and Arthur Joseph Cunningham, were living in Turkey.
They moved to Alexandria when their father left his job at Lloyds and became the editor of the Egyptian Gazette.
She worked for Joy Whitby and they developed the children's TV series Play School which was the first programme shown on the new channel BBC2.
"But when actors realised it was the opportunity to have 15 minutes' solo experience on television, they began to queue up to get on it, and having done a Jackanory became a bit like having done your Desert Island Discs.
[5] In 1975 she co-wrote book 'Fabulous Animals' with David Attenborough based on crypto-zoology TV series of same name which she had produced.