Phoenix's big break came in 1948, when she played Sandy Powell's wife in the Mancunian Film Studios film "Cup-tie Honeymoon", followed by a summer season in Blackpool with Thora Hird in the show "Happy Days". Exposure led to more serious work with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East. She also worked as a writer for ventriloquist Terry Hall and comedian Harry Worth. Some undistinguished film work followed in "Blood of the Vampire" (1958) and "Jack the Ripper" (1959) and in 1960, she returned to Manchester with her ambition all but spent.