After studying for a teaching diploma at the Central School of Speech and Drama, Maureen O'Brien became a founding member of the Everyman Theatre in her native Liverpool. About three months later she was persuaded to audition for the part of Vicki on Doctor Who. She was reluctant to accept the role, but did so partly to be with her London-based boyfriend (later her husband). It was a decision she later regretted as, although she liked the people she worked with, she did not enjoy the job and the enormous publicity it brought her. After leaving Doctor Who she worked as a supply teacher at a girl's school in Kennington, then returned to the theatre. This was followed by a three-year spell in Canada. Since returning to the UK in the mid-seventies, she has had further success in theatre, TV, radio and film, and as a writer of crime fiction.