Helen Lederer I REMEMBER...

Known for her colourful character roles, Helen Lederer, 63, has lit up our screens since the Eighties. She looks back on her favourite roles and family memories…

- Joy Persaud

…WE USED TO GO TO HAMPSTEAD AND ENJOY DIFFERENT EUROPEAN FOODS. My grandparents came to England in 1939 from Czechoslovakia. They were a very close family, which was understandable, having started their lives again in a new country. We were the first people I knew to have croissants and ham in their home. Where I grew up, in Eltham, I don’t think any of my mates had the same kind of food that we got from my grandmother.

…WE WERE ALLOWED TO DO OUR OWN THING. I had one friend at school whose mother thought we were dangerously liberal but we weren’t as liberal as my best friend because her parents allowed them to paint murals on their wall, which I thought was the bee’s knees. My sister had frightening, bright orange walls in the Mary Quant era—oh my God, the worst colours.

…I HAD A SHELF ABOVE MY BED THAT I USED TO GRAFFITI THE NAMES OF BOYS I LIKED ON. Then, one time, my sister’s boyfriend came to stay. He had to sleep in my bedroom and he revealed all this knowledge. I was outed by my future brother-in-law of all my crushes when I was a teenager.

…LEARNING THAT MY MOTHER WORKED AT BLETCHLEY. She did quite important work deciphering intelligence and she then worked at the Board of Trade until she married. In another generation, I’m sure she would have carried on working in the civil service. She was always busy.

My memory is of somebody very competent, and when my father died, she had a few female friends and they would go off and do these interesting holidays. I have always been full of admiration for her.