She appeared in several television mini-series, including Germinal (1970), The Jewel in the Crown (1984), The Charmer (1987), The Buccaneers (1995) and Berkeley Square (1998), and had a recurring role on the sitcom My Family (2003–2007).

[1] Her parents were teachers, related to the social anthropologist Edmund Leach; she attended Oswestry Girls High School in Shropshire.

[13][14] She played a leading role as smitten Joan Plumleigh-Bruce in the six-part ITV 1987 production of The Charmer which starred Nigel Havers.

[15] Her film roles included David Essex's mother in That'll Be the Day (1973), Ghost in the Noonday Sun (1973), the television remake of Brief Encounter (1974), S.O.S.

[16] In 1995, Leach participated in the popular BBC miniseries The Buccaneers a five-part television adaptation of Edith Wharton's unfinished novel.