Goddard grew up in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex and attended Clacton County High School and the Rose Bruford College in Sidcup, Kent, from 1986 to 1989.
One of Goddard's first television roles was as unscrupulous Journalist Clare Moody in the 1994 episode "To Be a Somebody" of the ITV drama Cracker. She played Belinda Ashton in the ITV detective drama Lewis in 2008, and also starred as Suze Littlewood in the comedy Gimme Gimme Gimme, her best known role. Goddard appeared alongside her husband Philip Glenister in the third series of BBC One drama Ashes to Ashes in 2010.
Goddard met her husband, Philip Glenister, best known for his role as Gene Hunt in TV drama Life on Mars, at a birthday party for Jamie Glover in 1997. They married in 2006. The couple have two daughters, Millie and Charlotte, born in 2002 and 2005 respectively.
