She has written and performed several highly successful one-woman shows - her one-woman show ‘STILL CRAZY’, a sell out at the Edinburgh Festival in the 90’s, transferred to the Purcell Rooms, followed by a national tour concluding at the Donmar Warehouse. Her most recent show ‘I MIGHT AS WELL SAY IT’ was also written and performed by Helen and received rave reviews at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018.

 

As a commissioned writer on BBC Radio she has written and starred in two series of ‘LIFE WITH LEDERER’ and ‘ALL CHANGE’ ('Pick Of The Week' BBC Radio 4). She has also been writer and presenter of ‘HOME TRUTHS’, and regularly written and presented on ‘PICK OF THE WEEK’, while being a panellist on ‘THE NEWS QUIZ’, ‘QUOTE UNQUOTE’, ‘JUST A MINUTE’, ‘SAY THE WORD’, guest reviewer for ‘KALEIDOSCOPE’, ‘FOURTH COLUMN’, ‘BOOKED’, as well as a literary panellist for ‘SPEAKING VOLUMES’, ‘A GOOD READ’, ‘OPEN BOOK’ and ‘GREAT LIVES’.

 

Other writing: Helen is the agony aunt for MY WEEKLY MAGAZINE, has written for travel sections in MAIL ON SUNDAY and THE INDEPENDENT, was regular wine columnist in The SUNDAY EXPRESS, and has written features and short stories for ‘Girls Night In’ Harper Collins, ‘The Erotica Review’ Mammoth Press THE SCOTSMAN, THE EXPRESS, WOMAN’S WEEKLY and more recently 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 forward to ‘AND I’D DO IT AGAIN’ - by the eccentric explorer Aimee Crocker (Head of Zeus). She is currently the regular humour columnist for BEST magazine, writes a regular guest column in the I NEWSPAPER as well as guest columnist for ‘FUNNY OLD WORLD’ in WOMAN’S WEEKLY.

​

Her published books include ‘COPING with HELEN LEDERER’ (Angus and Robertson), ‘SINGLE MINDING’ (Hodder and Stoughton) and ‘FINGER FOOD’ (Accent Press).

 

Her comedy novel ‘LOSING IT’ published by Pan Macmillan was NOMINATED FOR THE BOLLINGER EVERYMAN WODEHOUSE PRIZE in 2015. Helen read the audiobook version of ‘LOSING IT’ with excellent reviews and praise for ‘LOSING IT’ in the press. Her memoir ‘NOT THAT I’M BITTER’ was published in April 2024 by Mirror Books and is receiving five star reviews. The paperback with new chapters of behind-the-scenes secrets of being on BBC TV The Pilgrimage and the passing of Tony Slattery is published April 10 2025. She also has read this for the audiobook version. Read more in The Guardian. 

 

Helen has enjoyed reading Jacqueline Wilson’s award-winning children’s stories for BBC Audio including ‘THE WORRY WEBSITE’, ‘A CLEAN BREAK’ and ‘LOLA ROSE’. She has also recorded ‘THE ADVENTURES OF MS. WIZ’ and ‘MY NAUGHTY LITTLE SISTER’ and Roald Dahl’s ‘THE MAGIC FINGER’ - among others.  

 

Helen has been a judge for the Costa Book Awards and The Roederer Best Wine Writer Awards, while being both host and judge for The Romantic Novelist Award. She was a judge for the Women’s Prize For Female Fiction – and set up her own Comedy Women In Print Prize in 2018 in order to celebrate and enable witty women’s writing to make it more visible, and create a platform for women’s wit - procuring a publishing offer from HarperFiction for the winner of the Unpublished Fiction category. Since then, CWIP has enabled more than 27 authors to become published and acquire agents. Judges include Marian Keyes, Maureen Lipman, Lolly Adefope, and Joanna Scanlan. CWIP partners with universities and TV companies to offer meaningful support. CWIP’s ‘Witty Wednesdays’ on Instagram is a literary micro-vodcast for new and established authors. CWIP The Story So Far with Jo Brand, Sharon Horgan, Meera Syal and Other Amazing Witty Women.  

​