One of the most famous presenters of Play School (1964) she has recently devoted her life to charity work. As well as sitting on the Board of Governors of Britain's National Film & Television School, she was awarded the OBE by the Queen for services to broadcasting and charity in 2001.
As of 28th May 2010, she is formally known as Baroness Benjamin of Beckenham, in the county of Kent, upon her elevation to the peerage of the United Kingdom in the Dissolution Honours List published that day (the list names those individuals receiving Honours from the Monarch at a time following the dissolution of the UK Parliament), after nomination by the Liberal Democrat party. On 28th June 2010 Lady Benjamin took her seat as a Life Peer in the House of Lords, the upper house of the UK Parliament, where she has said she "...will be devoting much energy to the well being of children and young people".