Whitehouse's television career began in 1972, appearing in the TV play "An Awful Silence". In 1977 became co-host of the TV chat show "Two on One" with Ray Woolf. For eight years, Whitehouse was a regular panellist on the advice show "Beauty and the Beast", hosted by Selwyn Toogood. She had acting roles in New Zealand's first TV soap opera, "Close to Home", as well as "Country GP", the third season of "Gloss" (1989), "Marlin Bay", and a 30-minute monologue in the series "Face Value" (1995).