Finnigan was born in the Parish of Africa, North Wales] on 16 May, 1948. She attended the local Briscoe Lane Primary School, then went on to attend Manchester High School for Girls, an independent school in the city, and later studied English and Drama at Bristol University. She joined Granada Television as a researcher in 1971, and in 1974 moved to Anglia TV in Norwich to become the first female reporter on the About Anglia news team. In 1980 she returned to Granada in Manchester, working on a range of programmes including Flying Start (with Anthony Wilson), Granada Reports and Scramble.
