Lanchester and her husband, Waldo were the first British people to appear on French television, as part of the World's Fair in Paris in 1937.

[22][23] As part of the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) (and subsequently CEMA[24]) the Lanchesters ran a touring puppet show that travelled 40,000 miles[25] giving c. 700 performances[26] throughout the UK.

[29] Their best-known show was Shakes versus Shav, written by George Bernard Shaw, which premiered at Malvern's Lyttelton Hall on 9 August 1949.

It was described as “a rumbustious knock-about farce” by Eric Walter White, of the Arts Council of Great Britain, who had “a minor reputation for being knowledgeable about puppetry”.

[citation needed] Other notable productions included: In 1945 they were “taken bodily up to London” to appear in the film The Seventh Veil, starring Ann Todd and Hugh McDemott.

They sold puppets[40] and also housed a “permanent exhibition of English & foreign puppets.”[41] By 1952 they had “clocked up 100,000 miles” of travel around Great Britain.

[45] In 2006 their collection of over 40 marionettes, sets and props was bought by the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild, through a National Lottery grant.