after the war, the rank organisation hired her husband to head gainsborough pictures, where she was in charge of the scenario department, writing scripts for a number of light comedies, including two for child star petula clark, "easy money" and "here come the huggetts" (both 1948). she occasionally assisted as a dialogue director, or re-shot scenes during post-production. her extensive work on "the lost people" (1949) gained her a credit as co-director, her first for a full-length feature. in 1951, her husband created london independent producers, allowing box more opportunities to direct. many of her early films were adaptations of plays, and as such felt stage-bound. they were noteworthy more for their strong performances than they were for a distinctive directorial style. she favoured scripts with topical and frequently controversial themes, including irish politics, teenage sex, abortion, illegitimacy, and syphilis, and several of her films were banned by local authorities.