In the 1960s she wrote short stories and radio script. Her first successes came in collaboration with Myra Taylor, whom she had met at a writers' workshop in Liverpool, before she embarked on a solo career. Carla and Myra would often meet at the Adelphi hotel in Liverpool to write.

Lane returned her OBE in 2002 in protest at the award of a CBE to Brian Cass, managing director of Huntingdon Life Sciences. HLS has been at the centre of numerous animal rights protests for its use of animals in the development and testing of drugs. Upon returning her award, she received a handwritten reply from Tony Blair who said that she deserved the honour and that it would be kept in case she changed her mind and wanted it back.

In 1997, she was deceived by Chris Morris and his satirical TV show, Brass Eye, into taking part in a fake discussion, where she claimed that before one of her pet guinea pigs died, it had "washed its little face". It remains unclear whether she actually said this, or whether it was the result of editing by Morris, who uses such techniques in other episodes.