Not That I’m Bitter by Helen Lederer review

The comedian and actor’s memoir, rich in laughs and wisdom, celebrates her knack for being in the right place at the wrong time

Funny woman Helen Lederer honed her craft doing standup on the alternative comedy circuit of the 1980s, sharing bills with the likes of Ben Elton, Rik Mayall and Jenny Eclair, before landing roles in sitcoms including Girls on Top and Absolutely Fabulous. Since then, she’s appeared in reality TV shows, pantos, ads. There have also been books, this latest of which strives to explain why, when so many of her contemporaries went on to become household names, Lederer herself still requires an introduction.

A hectic, now-and-again hair-raising survey of her life and career, it begins with a mother who worked at Bletchley during the war only to become trapped by 1950s domesticity, and a Czech-Jewish father who arrived in the UK as a refugee and continually felt the need to earn his place in British society.