Helen Lederer looks back: ‘I met a man at my book launch and knew I’d marry him. And divorce him’

The comedian on Liquorice Allsorts, being in Absolutely Fabulous, and single motherhood in the 90s

Born in Wales in 1954, Helen Lederer is a standup comic, actor and author. Raised in south-east London, she broke into the alternative comedy scene in the 1980s as a regular at the Comedy Store. Lederer went on to appear in Britain’s seminal sitcoms – The Young Ones, Bottom, One Foot in the Grave, French and Saunders and Absolutely Fabulous. She has written the books Coping with Helen Lederer, Single Minding, and the novels Finger Food and Losing It. She has a daughter, Hannah, with her first husband, the former editor of the Observer Roger Alton. Her memoir, Not That I’m Bitter, is out now.

This was for the cover of Coping with Helen Lederer, a self-help parody written before people were doing self-help parodies. Inspired by Easy Entertaining, a book from the 1980s by Jane Asher, the image was my attempt to be the perfect hostess. I’m holding a tray of canapes including Weetabix, some kind of red jus, and Liquorice Allsorts on a skewer. There was one version of the photo, taken in a draughtier moment, in which a nipple was very much visible through the shirt.

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