Helen played the dippy ‘Catriona’ in ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ alongside Jennifer Saunders in the TV series and more recently ‘The Movie’. She created the ‘Girl at the Bar’ in the BBC comedy sketch show ‘Naked Video’ and is known for her unique wit and observational humour. A comedy writer with a portfolio that includes writing and performing her own material, not only as a stand-up comedian but also as a comedy novelist.
Helen was part of a group of early 1980’s comedians, including Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, the late Rik Mayall and Ben Elton who made their names at London’s Comedy Store. She was a guest on ITV’s ‘Saturday Night Live’ with her solo comedy act as well as performing at the first ‘Just for Laughs’ comedy festival in Montreal with Lenny Henry. TV appearances span such shows as ‘The Young Ones’, ‘French and Saunders’, ‘Happy Families’, ‘One Foot in the Grave’, ‘Bottom’, ‘Love Soup’, ‘Harry Enfield and Chums’ ‘Miss Marple’ ‘Hollyoaks’ ‘Midsomer Murders’ and ‘Coronation Street’ . Children’s TV includes the ‘Miss Bowline-Hitch’ along with Bernard Cribbins for CBeebies’ ‘Old Jacks Boat’. She starred as Rich Aunt Ruby in ‘Horrid Henry: The Movie’.
On BBC radio she has written and performed her own comedy series ‘Life with Lederer’ and ‘All Change’.
Theatre work includes ‘Educating Rita’, ‘The House of Blue Leaves’ and Ionesco’s The Bald Prima Donna’. West End includes Alan Bleasdale’s ‘Having a Ball’, ‘The Vagina Monologues’, ‘Calendar Girls’, and ‘The Killing of Sister George’, as well as various fringe plays including her One woman Show at The Kings Head. Her first comedy novel ‘Losing It’, published by Pan Macmillan, was nominated for the PG Wodehouse comedy literary prize. Helen set up her own Comedy Women In Print Prize (CWIP) in 2018 in order to celebrate and enable witty women’s writing and create a platform for women’s wit – https://comedywomeninprint.co.uk/. Her memoir ‘NOT THAT I’M BITTER’ is Published by Mirror Books and is also on audio.