An historian, she is the daughter of actor Peter Hughes and wife Erica and sister of cricketer turned journalist Simon Hughes.
She was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to History. She is a historian, author and broadcaster.
Her husband is Adrian Evans, the producer of Archaos in the UK and the director of the South Bank Thames Festival. The couple have two children.