Helen Lederer

Helen Lederer was part of a group of early 1980s comedians, including Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, the late Rik Mayall, and Ben Elton who made their names at London’s Comedy Store. She’s best known for her role as ‘Catriona’ in Absolutely Fabulous. 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. Her TV work includes The Young Ones, French and Saunders, Happy Families, One Foot in the Grave, Bottom, Love Soup and Miss Marple. Children’s TV includes Old Jacks Boat and as ‘Rich Aunt Ruby’ in Horrid Henry: The Movie.

A comedy writer with an extensive portfolio that includes writing and performing her own material, not only as a stand-up comedian but also as a comedy novelist. She wrote and starred in her own BBC Radio series Life with Lederer and All Change as well as publishing a comedy novel Losing It in 2015 which was nominated for the PG Wodehouse Comedy Literary Prize. Other books include Coping with Helen Lederer (Angus and Robertson), Single Minding (Hodder and Stoughton) and Finger Food (Accent Press).  Her memoir Not That I’m Bitter… is being published by Mirror Books in April 2024.

Helen launched her brainchild in 2018 – Comedy Women In Print to celebrate and support witty women writers. Helen is the agony aunt for MY WEEKLY MAGAZINE, has written for travel sections in MAIL ON SUNDAY and THE INDEPENDENT, was a regular wine columnist in The SUNDAY EXPRESS. More recently, she wrote for STORIES TO MAKE YOU SMILE published by Simon and Schuster, THAMES STREET (ShelterBox Book Club) and THIS IS HOW WE COME BACK STRONGER (Feminist Book Society). She also wrote the foreword to AND I’D DO IT AGAIN by the eccentric explorer Aimee Crocker (Head of Zeus).