Helen Lederer, the actress, required a loan to pay her taxes during her time on Celebrity Big Brother

Stand-up comedian, writer and actress Helen Lederer, 70, has enjoyed roles in TV shows such Girls On Top and Absolutely Fabulous. 

In 2015 her comic novel Losing It was nominated for the P. G. Wodehouse Comedy Literary Award, while in 2018 she launched Comedy Women In Print to recognise witty women writers, both published and unpublished.

Since 2004 she’s been married to GP Chris Browne and they live in south-east London. 

She has a daughter, Hannah, 35, from her first marriage to former Observer newspaper editor, Roger Alton.

Her memoir, Not That I’m Bitter, is now out in paperback.

Here she tells Richard Barber about her weakness for black coats, her gratitude to dishwasher tablets and why she won’t buy any more gadgets.

Star quality: Stand-up comedian, writer and actress Helen Lederer has enjoyed roles in TV shows such Girls On Top

What did your parents teach you about money?

My older sister, Janet, and I were given pocket money when we were young but, when we reached our teens we each got a monthly clothes allowance of 10 shillings.

I was particularly keen on small pretend Pan Am shoulder bags and Mary Quant tights. I also ran errands and washed the car for half-a-crown.

Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?

I’ve never been in a position when I didn’t have a roof over my head.

My mother, Jeanne, worked at the Board of Trade but gave it up when she got married – you had to in those days – and my father, Peter, was a civil engineer, born in Czechoslovakia but raised in England from the beginning of the war.

He died suddenly of a heart attack at 52, but my mother would never have seen me in the gutter.

I’ve borrowed money in my time, and sold things. The life of a freelance is always rather chancy, but I’ve never had to sleep outside Debenhams under canvas.

Have you ever been paid silly money?

In 1995 I was offered £70,000 to star in a TV advert for Finish dishwasher tablets. It was a job that took a day and a half – one day to say my lines, then a half-day to show my hand inserting the tablets. This was 30 years ago, so it was an astonishing amount to be paid.

What was the best year of your financial life?

Well, 1995 was pretty good and 2017 wasn’t too bad – I was invited into the Celebrity Big Brother house for which I was paid a six-figure sum.

I spent some of it on a set of wicker garden furniture on Chelsea’s King’s Road. The trouble was I got through all the money and had to take out a loan the following year to pay my tax bill.

The most expensive thing you bought for fun?

Those days are well gone but I did buy a posh coat from DKNY in Bond Street with the money from the TV ad. I still wear it. I also bought a Max Mara black coat, stupidly similar to the DKNY one. All my clothes are black.

What has been your biggest money mistake?

So many. There was a stage when retail therapy and anxiety were somehow bound up together. For a long time I thought that if I bought something nice it would make me feel better. But it never did.

I have a weakness for gadgets, which is stupid because I can never make them work. I once bought an expensive juicer which involved preparation and chopping and then having to get rid of all the gunge afterwards. I more or less fell at the first hurdle.

Best money decision you have made?

Using the small legacy my father left me when I was 21, which I put towards a flat in Finsbury Park [in North London]. It was modest but got my foot on the bottom rung of the property ladder.

What property do you now own?

A house in south-east London which I bought with my husband on equity release and which is far too large for just the two of us.

My mother died three weeks before I married for a second time in 2004. The combination of her legacy, the sale of the house I then owned and Chris’s house made it all possible. If you can use your property to manage the vagaries of infrequent fees, why not let it work for you?

Will you pass your money down or spend it all?

Chris and I intend pooling our money and dividing it between his children and my daughter Hannah.

Having a laugh: Helen starring in Absolutely Fabulous with Joanna Lumley

Do you have a pension?

Yes, a modest one set up for me by an accountant when I was earning pretty well in the 80s and 90s and from which I derive a little money each month.

If you were Chancellor what would you do?

Exactly what seems to be happening – a rethink on the removal of the winter fuel allowance. It hit one of the most vulnerable sectors of society and didn’t raise a huge amount of money.

No one thinks less of you for changing your mind, and there must be other ways of raising income. Like taxing the wealthy a little more stringently, for example.

What is your number one financial priority?

I’m certainly no businesswoman so I can’t say I ever think about a financial priority.

I like being able to buy a round – I hate meanness. But writing my memoir is the best thing I’ve ever done: it sold well and gave me a kind of confidence. It’s earned back my advance – now the jury is out to see what royalties might come my way.

In the meantime, I’m looking forward to three months’ solid work – and regular wages – in Fawlty Towers.

• Helen appears in Fawlty Towers, at London’s Apollo Theatre, from June 24 (fawltytowerswestend.com).