Hughes was educated at the private Notting Hill & Ealing High School, in Ealing. She won a scholarship to read Ancient and Modern History at St Hilda's College, University of Oxford, achieving a 1. After graduating she travelled through Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Television

• Breaking the Seal (2000).
• Mysteries of the Ancients (2002).
• The Spartans (2002) - produced by Lion TV, three 60-minute episodes.
• Ancient Discoveries (2003) - produced by the History Channel.
• Seven Ages of Britain (2003) ... a social history from the Ice Age to the Industrial Revolution.
• The Minotaur's Island (2003) - produced by Lion TV.
• The Minoans (2004) - produced by Lion TV.
• Helen of Troy (2005) ... produced by Lion TV.
• When The Moors Ruled In Europe (2005).
• the Dawn of Democracy (2007). Former title Athens: the Truth about Democracy.
• Engineering Ancient Egypt (2008).
• The Roman Invasion of Britain (2009).
• The Bible: A History - (2010) Channel 4: one episode (4 of 7) titled Daughters of Eve.
• Time Team (2010) Channel 4: season 17, episode 1
• Atlantis: the Evidence (2010): A Timewatch special about the lost continent being the volcanic island of Santorini

Radio

• Amongst the Medici - 3 parts, BBC Radio 4, February-March 2006.
• Byzantium Unearthed - 3 parts, BBC Radio 4, October 2008
• Great Lives - Sappho episode 2 of series 22, BBC Radio 4, 10 August 2010

Books

• Goddess, Princess, Whore, 2005. ISBN 0-224-07177-7.

Hughes' father is the actor Peter Hughes and her brother is the cricketer and journalist Simon Hughes. Her husband is Adrian Evans, the producer of Archaos in the UK and the director of the South Bank Thames Festival. They have two children.

She is a patron of The Iris Project.