McAuliffe was born in 1955 in Surrey, southern England. She is an English television and stage actress and writer. She is best known for her role as Sheila Sabatini in the sitcom Surgical Spirit.
She is married to Don MacKay, crime reporter for the Daily Mirror.
McAuliffe is a patron of Action for Children's Arts, an organisation dedicated to the promotion of creative arts among children under 12.
Between 1989 and 1995, she starred as obstreperous surgeon Sheila Sabatini in the ITV sitcom Surgical Spirit, her most high-profile acting role to date. More recently, she appeared in the long-running soap opera Coronation Street between 2001 and 2002.
She has also had a number of stage roles, and most recently appeared as the evil Baroness Bomburst in the West End production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Her other stage appearances have included Oedipus the King.
McAuliffe appeared as the voice of James Bond's BMW in the 1997 film Tomorrow Never Dies.
One screen role was in the second of a three-part episode of British science fiction drama Doctor Who, screened on 23rd June 2007.
Her most recent role of T.V was in My Family, as the judge in the episode: Life Begins at Fifty. It was awesome! baby!
McAuliffe has also turned to writing, having published her first novel, The Crime Tsar, based loosely on Macbeth, and a children's story, Attila, Loolagax and the Eagle, both in 2003.
