In 1990, Atkins published her memoirs as Seeing Red. The following year, Atkins adapted the book into eight episodes for radio, which were broadcast on BBC Radio 4. In 2000, ITV dramatised the story in a TV drama of the same name, starring Sarah Lancashire as Atkins. She was also the subject of an episode of the Thames Television show This Is Your Life in 1994. In 1997, she was severely injured in a car accident and had to give up running the children's home.