Brabin is known for her roles as clumsy waitress Sandra playing opposite David Jason in A Bit of a Do, Tricia Armstrong in Coronation Street from 1994 to 1997, and as Ginny in three series of Richard Harris's Outside Edge. She appeared in EastEnders as Roxy Drake, The Ghost Hunter as Mrs Oliver, Love + Hate as Gaynor, and in an episode of Midsomer Murders. In 2008, she appeared in a series of commercials for supermarket chain Sainsbury's playing "Sarah", a mother-of-two and Sainsbury's employee who does her weekly shopping at the store. In 2014, she appeared as Lyndsey Bernstein in , Pam in Undeniable, and as Carole in Emmerdale.
Film
In 2012, she played Maggie, a mother who comes to realise she is one of a race of aliens, in artist Shezad Dawood's first feature, the sci-fi art-house film Piercing Brightness.
Theatre
Brabin played Linda, Sharon and Annie in Simon Beaufoy's play The Full Monty, an adaptation of his screenplay for the film, directed by Sheffield Theatre's Daniel Evans. The play opened at the Sheffield Lyceum to excellent reviews, followed by a national tour and a West End run at the Noël Coward Theatre. The production was nominated for the Best New Comedy at the Laurence Olivier Awards in 2014. Brabin's previous theatre performances include the lead role in Shelagh Stevenson's The Long Road at Curve in Leicester directed by Adel Al Salloum and Joy in Meat written by Jimmy Osbourne for London's 503 Theatre.
Writing
Brabin has written for Heartbeat, Family Affairs, Crossroads, The Story of Tracy Beaker, and Hollyoaks, on which she worked for two years. She has written for Shameless for Company Pictures and for three series of Seacht – nominated for Best Youth Programme Irish Film and Television Awards in 2011. With her mentor Elizabeth Karlsen, the producer of Made in Dagenham, she was involved on the romantic comedy feature Father August for the prestigious She Writes programme, with Minkie Spiro attached to direct. Brabin wrote an episode of Doctors which was screened in December 2012.
Political activity
Brabin publicly endorsed the Labour Party at the 1997 general election, writing an article for the Labour-supporting Daily Mirror newspaper explaining that her father-in-law had died on a hospital trolley while waiting to see a doctor. In May 1998 she appeared in a Party Political Broadcast for the party appealing for people to join it. Brabin was the lead member of a group of nine actors to write to The Observer explaining that while they continued to oppose the Blair government's military intervention in Iraq, they still "strongly support the re-election of a Labour government". She canvassed for the Labour Party in the Kirklees council election in 2012. When Jo Cox was selected as Labour candidate for Batley and Spen, Brabin joined her campaign against the closure of libraries in the constituency.
Parliamentary career
In August 2016, Brabin said that she was considering standing in the Batley and Spen by-election, caused by Cox's murder. On 19 September, she was shortlisted along with Labour activist Jane Thomas. Brabin was selected at a meeting on 23 September. The Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats, Green Party and UKIP did not field candidates as a mark of respect to Cox. On 20 October 2016, Brabin was elected with an increased majority of around 10,000. She was then sworn in on 24 October. Brabin made her maiden speech in the House of Commons on 2 November, paying tribute to her predecessor, whom she described as "inspirational". The speech won applause from fellow MPs. Brabin retained the seat in the 2017 general election, with a majority of just under 9,000 over the Conservative Party candidate. On 3 July 2017 she was appointed as Shadow Early Years Minister by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Brabin was re-elected as the MP for Batley & Spen in the 2019 General Election, with a majority of 3,525. She was appointed as shadow culture secretary in January 2020 after the previous holder, Tom Watson stood down at the 2019 general election... She was replaced as shadow culture secretary in Keir Starmer's Shadow Front Bench announcement but made Shadow Minster for Cultural Industries.
