Adams originally auditioned as Donna, however the casting Directors felt that she would be better suited to Mickie, the quieter character and "mild mannered" counterpart to Donna's "sassy staff nurse". She and Jacobs were paired together during a three-hour workshop, and the producers detected an "instant spark" between them, leading to their dual casting. In 2004, her character had a lesbian liaison with Jacobs' character. The scene in which they kissed was edited to half its original length after being deemed too explicit for pre-watershed broadcast. In the aftermath of the Mickie/Donna storyline, the BBC banned its actresses from appearing in raunchy photo-shoots, after Jacobs and Adams were photographed in intimate poses while dressed in nurse's uniforms for various "lads' mags". In 2006, her ambitious character left for Newcastle Medical school to study to be a Doctor.

She also had a small role in the 2009 biographical film Bronson, about the notorious prisoner Charles Bronson, and in a British science fiction thriller Beacon77, which was shown at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. In 2010, Adams appeared in the movie My Last Five Girlfriends as Wendy. In July 2012, it was confirmed by the BBC, that Adams would be starring in the new series of Death in Paradise which is due to be released in the UK in early 2013. Adams then starred as Padre Mary Greenstock in the BBC Three comedy Bluestone 42 for its first two series.

Adams was born in Lincoln, Lincolnshire. She married long-term partner, fashion Photographer Chris Kennedy, in a ceremony at Hackney Town Hall in February 2011, after proposing to him on a trip to Bruges.

In 2009, Adams joined the cast of long-running BBC1 drama series Hustle for its fifth season, playing the role of Emma Kennedy, a new member of Mickey Bricks' crew of con artists. She continued in the role of Emma for three further seasons of the drama, the most recent of which (Season 8) aired from 3 February 2012. In an episode of Series 6, Adams plays the role of Kylie Minogue as a parody of Adams' slight resemblance to the Australian singer.