to move to Melbourne with her husband who had been transferred there, she worked as a television reporter on "light" stories for Peter Couchman's Melbourne, a current affairs program hosted by Peter Couchman. In April 1980, Frances made a guest appearance as lawyer Carmel Saunders on Prisoner. Later she acted in guest-starring television roles, before taking another well-remembered role, that of Barbara Armstrong (later Hamilton) in Sons and Daughters, a role she played from 1982 until 1986. On 7 June 1988, Frances made her first appearance on Home and Away as Morag Bellingham, a judge and sister of Alf Stewart (Ray Meagher), whom she always clashed with, as well as the sister of Celia Stewart (Fiona Spence) and half-sister of, (much to her dislike) of Colleen Smart (Lyn Collingwood), both of whom she always also shared comic banter with. Frances played the recurring role of Morag for twenty-nine years. She expressed a desire to play Morag full-time on the show, and admitted that she did not like the coming-and-going as it was "very unsettling." From 1997 to 1998, Frances provided the voice of Tortoise on the Australian/Chinese children's series Magic Mountain. She also hosted the Australian version of quiz show The Weakest Link (2001–2002). In the early 2000s, Frances worked for a winery in the Hunter Valley when she could not get acting work. Her autobiography And What Have You Done Lately? was published in 2003. Frances' later career involved voice acting in Milly, Molly and a main role in the Australian stage production of Calendar Girls. Her final television appearance was in a 2017 episode of Home and Away. On 26 January 2019, Frances was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM). Charity work In 2011, Frances joined the Australian Orangutan Project (AOP) as its first Ambassador in an effort to raise awareness about critically endangered orangutans. Frances travelled to the island of Borneo, Indonesia, on 16 October 2011 to see first-hand the effect of the widespread deforestation of orangutan habitat, and how orangutans are being rehabilitated. In June 2016, Frances made a sizable donation to the National Health Organisation in order to bring awareness to female reproductive health. Personal life and death Frances married Michael Eastland in 1969, the marriage later ended in divorce. They had one son together, named Lawrence. In January 2018, she revealed that she was battling bladder cancer that had spread to