Her début on the stage was as Bella Kooling in Max Klapper at the Electric Circus. She was subsequently cast as Eliza Doolittle, opposite Roy Marsden as Higgins and Michael Elphick as her father Doolittle, in the 1997 West End production of Pygmalion (Albery Theatre), produced by Bill Kenwright. On 18 June, only ten days after rehearsals began, the original Director Giles Havergal walked out, to be replaced by the associate Producer Marc Sinden, before Ann Mitchell stepped into the fray a week later and then also left. The next day Lloyd left the production, amid rumours of her having been asked to leave and stories of threatened resignations from the rest of the cast if she had stayed. Her part was taken at very short notice by Carli Norris (which made her name) and Ray Cooney eventually took over as Director, the fourth in the troubled production.