Beacham began appearing on British television in 1967 and made her big screen debut in the 1970 film The Games following this with roles in Tam Lin (1970) with Ava Gardner, and The Nightcomers (1971) opposite Marlon Brando.

Following the cancellation of Dynasty, Beacham starred as the title role in Sister Kate (1989–1990), Iris McKay in the American teen drama Beverly Hills, 90210 (1991–1994), and as Dr. Kristin Westphalen in Steven Spielberg's NBC science fiction series SeaQuest DSV (1993–1994).

Beacham returned to the UK to play Phyl Oswyn in the ITV prison-based drama series Bad Girls (2003–2006), Martha Fraser in the long-running ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2009, 2022) and also on reality television competing in Strictly Come Dancing (2007) and Celebrity Big Brother (2010).

Beacham, one of four siblings, was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, England,[2] the daughter of Joan (née Wilkins), a housewife, and Alec, who was an insurance executive and later became the managing director of the Grosvenor estate.

[4] Initially aspiring to become a ballerina, Beacham's dreams were cut short when her instructors told her that she would be unable to continue due to her partial deafness.

Leaving school aged 17 in 1964, Beacham travelled to Boulogne-Billancourt in Paris, France, to study mime with Étienne Decroux with the goal of teaching dance movement to deaf children.

During an interview, thinking Barnet sounded uninteresting, she told a reporter from the Northern Echo she was born in Casablanca, where her favourite Bogart/Bergman film was set.

Levine attempted to pressure Beacham to pose nude for Playboy, saying that if she did, then he would guarantee her an Oscar nomination for her role in the film.

Horror would be a genre that Beacham appeared in often during this period, and she was subsequently cast as Jessica Van Helsing in Hammer's Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) alongside Peter Cushing.

The same year, she made a British-Italian film, Super Bitch (1973), which was originally released in the US as Mafia Junction and in the UK as Blue Movie Blackmail.

[9] From 1981 to 1982, Beacham featured as a member of the ensemble cast of the BBC series Tenko, about a group of women prisoners of war held captive by the Japanese after their invasion of Singapore in 1942.

Reuniting with Dynasty producer Aaron Spelling, Beacham also had a recurring guest role in the popular teen drama Beverly Hills, 90210, playing Iris McKay, the estranged mother of Luke Perry's character Dylan.

In total, Beacham appeared in six different television series produced by Spelling, including Dynasty and its spin-off, The Colbys,[10] The Love Boat, Beverly Hills, 90210, Burke's Law, and Charmed.

In 1992, Beacham starred opposite Christopher Plummer in the film Secrets, and followed this with a role in the television miniseries To Be the Best with Anthony Hopkins.

Later in 1993, she signed on to play Dr. Kristin Westphalen in the NBC science fiction series seaQuest DSV, produced by Steven Spielberg.

In 1995, Beacham starred in the play The Father alongside Edward Fox and in 1996, she starred in the BBC drama No Bananas which was set during World War II, and later appeared in the music video for Simply Red's single "Never Never Love" alongside Rula Lenska and Billie Whitelaw.

Later that year, she competed in the 2007 series of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing with professional partner Vincent Simone, though she was eliminated early in the competition (the second of fourteen celebrities) on 14 October 2007.

In November 2008, it was announced that Beacham had joined the cast of ITV's Coronation Street portraying Martha Fraser, a love interest for Ken Barlow (played by William Roache).

In August 2018, Beacham took part in the television series The Real Marigold Hotel in which she and other celebrities including Susan George and Stanley Johnson tour around Udaipur in India exploring the Indian culture.

[24] In October 2022, Beacham had a role in the action thriller film Renegades alongside Lee Majors, Danny Trejo and Patsy Kensit.

[33][34] In 2009, Beacham was involved in launching the Sense National Deafblind and Rubella Association Fill in the Gaps campaign[35] which aims to give the elderly the support they need to maintain a good quality of life.

[2] She dated Marlon Brando after starring with him in The Nightcomers (1971)[43] and later had relationships with Eric Clapton[44] and Imran Khan in the 1980s, then a cricketer, later a politician who became Prime Minister of Pakistan.

[50] On 25 September 2022, Beacham was confronted by a burglar inside her London home who threatened her with a crowbar and stole items including her mobile phone, purse and jewellery before fleeing the property.