In the mid-1980s, Cook co-authored and edited the leading film studies text book The Cinema Book for the British Film Institute (BFI). From 1985 to 1994 she was Associate Editor and contributor on the BFI magazines Monthly Film Bulletin and Sight and Sound, before becoming a lecturer at the University of East Anglia. In 1998 she was appointed the first Professor of European Film and Media at the University of Southampton. Since her retirement in 2006, she continues to publish books and articles on film.