Corrie newbie ‘already bonked co-star’ in real life so didn’t mind on-screen romp
Beloved actress Helen Lederer makes her Corrie debut this week and once had to strip off for a sex scene, but she wasn’t phased as she'd “already had” the male co-star in real life
Helen Lederer’s on-screen romp with a co-star wasn’t their first sexual encounter together.
The actress, 69, is a firm-favourite in the TV world – having made appearances in the likes of Naked Video, Hollyoaks and Celebrity Big Brother. She also became a household name on Absolutely Fabulous as Catriona.
And this week, Helen is making her soap debut playing Elspeth in Coronation Street. The new character is set to catch the eye of soap icon Ken Barlow (William Roache).
But away from the showbiz world, Helen once enjoyed a brief fling with the late comedy icon Rik Mayall. The pair met each other at the Edinburgh Festival in the early 1980s.
Over the years, their paths crossed and they worked together on a slew of projects before Rik sadly died aged 56 in June 2014. The pair appeared in the likes of The Young Ones, Happy Families and the sitcom Bottom together.
Their past romance helped the pair during a sex scene in the 1992 Bottom episode ‘Digger.’ Helen played a Moldovan seductress Lady Natasha, who stripped off and had sex with Rik’s virgin character Richard ‘Richie’ Richard.
Speaking about the sex scene, Helen revealed on the Talking Bottom podcast, hosted by Angela Pearson, how she felt about the sex scene. She giggled: “Well, it’s interesting when you look back.
“I took myself very seriously in those days and because I was always on my own. I would just turn up and try to do the job.”
She added: “I’d already connected with Rik before, off-screen, from Edinburgh. So I knew him in that way, so it was a case of just being professional.”
Although her romance with Rik was brief, Helen had nothing but kind words to say. She said: “What I loved about Rik was that he was a very modern man. A sort of gentleman and he would just give a nod and a wink to any past.
“He wouldn’t hide anything, whereas some men would. He was just so open.” She then went on to tell The Mirror that they “fraternised deeply at that [Edinburgh] festival”.