In 1964, she joined the BBC's Radio Drama Company by winning the Carleton Hobbs Bursary.
[1] Shanks starred as Margaret Hale the heroine in North and South, in 1975, opposite Patrick Stewart as John Thornton.
In the theatre Rosalind took leading roles including in repertory, at the National Theatre (during Lord Olivier's time in charge), in a world tour of "Shakespeare's People" with Sir Michael Redgrave, and in the West End with Judi Dench and Sian Phillips directed by Sir John Gielgud.
Her literary recital work is extensive with a repertoire of over forty programmes on such figures as D. H. Lawrence, Dylan Thomas, Henry James, Keats, Shelley and “The Female Shakespeare”, Gabriel Woolf’s programme on George Eliot.
Her recitals with musicians include “Facade” (Sitwell/Walton), “Wood Magic” (Elgar) and “The Road to Prague” (Mozart).