Sue studied English and Drama at Birmingham University where she met Victoria Wood who she has appeared with many times over the years in Screenplay: Happy Since I Met You (1981) Housewife, 49 (2006), Dinnerladies (1998), Screen One: Pat and Margaret (1994) and Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV (1985) (in different roles).She was initially a teacher but has had a long career on television and the stage since the early 1980s in, among others, Juliet Bravo, Bergerac, Making Out, The Bill, Common as Muck, Heartbeat and Doctors.Sue appeared in two roles in Coronation Street (1960) with a twenty-five year gap between them: in August 1980 she played neglectful mother Mrs Fletcher and in March 2005 she returned as Jean Harris, the mourning mother of the recently murdered Tommy Harris.