Before joining Tiswas, James was an actress, appearing in the films To Sir, with Love (1967), Journey to the Unknown (1969), The Railway Children (1970), and Never Too Young to Rock (1975).
She appeared as one of Sidney Poitier's pupils in To Sir, with Love (1967), credited as Sally Cann, after her father, who was working on the film spoke to the director and got her the part.
[6] She appeared in Castle Haven (1969), a twice-weekly serial for Yorkshire Television, playing Jo Mercer, a woman newly married to a teacher.
"[8] She played the role of a "dolly bird" in the comedy Turnbull's Finest Half-Hour (1972), which was set in a fictional television station, and was one of the cast praised for their performances in Towler's review in The Stage.
[9][10] Her television roles included parts in Sanctuary,[11] Dixon of Dock Green,[12] Curry & Chips,[9] Journey to the Unknown,[13] Cousin Bette,[9] The Two Ronnies,[9] and The Black Arrow.
[14] James started her first presenting role in 1973,[15] for Saturday Scene, during which she interviewed pop stars, including David Essex and The Bay City Rollers in a quarter-hour long section of the show.
It was announced that James and Jim Davidson would be joining the show, alongside existing hosts Chris Tarrant and Trevor East, for the series starting on 10 September 1977, and that the programme would be broadcast in three additional ITV regions.
It included interviews with Kate Bush, Motörhead, Adam Ant, Bad Manners, Roger Daltrey and Kim Wilde among others.
Paul Taylor's Popular music since 1955 : a critical guide to the literature (1985) says that "The quality varies widely from serious dialogues to those in which the interviewer is not being taken at all seriously.
"[24][29] Marion McMullen of the Coventry Evening Telegraph wrote in 2003 that "Tiswas turned [James] into a cult favourite and 21 years later she is still remembered as the woman who first brought sex appeal to children's telly.
"[30] A piece in The Times in 1998 said "Kids at home adored the chaos ... while their dads admired the denim-clad charms of Sally James.
The programme, a version of the Japanese game show Trans America Ultra Quiz, started with 2,000 contestants, who were reduced to a final pair, by eliminating participants who answered questions wrongly, taking place at a variety of locations.