 May began her career as a singer on the working men's club circuit in and around South Yorkshire.She featured in the television adaptation of Barry Hines's "The Price of Coal", a "Play for Today" first broadcast in 1977, and as Jimmy Kemp's mother in the Hines's scripted nuclear war drama "Threads" in 1984.She has also appeared in television series such as "Early Doors" and "Drop Dead Gorgeous", and radio programmes including "Ed Reardon's Week" and "The Blackburn Files".