Helen Fraser was born 15th June, 1942 in Oldham. As an actress she first made an impact in the 1963 British film Billy Liar and a successful career followed with parts on both film and television and in straight dramatic roles and in comedy. She had a regular role for many years, and was best known before the 1990s, in The Dick Emery Show in sketches involving the comic's portrayal of Lampwick, in which she played his long-suffering daughter. Although her "straight" roles included Z Cars, No Hiding Place, Hunter's Walk and The Wednesday Play, she also appeared in almost every well-known sitcom of the 1960s and 1970s including The Likely Lads, Doctor in the House, The Dustbinmen (starring Graham Haberfield), Doctor in Charge and Man About the House.
It was in this latter acting context that she appeared in two episodes of the Coronation Street spin-off Pardon the Expression in 1965 as shop assistant Hilda Norton and one year later in a second season episode of the same series as Rita Parker. Thirty-two years later she appeared in the "parent" programme as hypnotherapist Magenta Savannah who was consulted by Jack Duckworth in an effort to stop smoking but he conned her and everyone else that her treatment had regressed him into a previous life.
One year after this, in 1999, she first appeared in probably her most famous role as Sylvia "Bodybag" Hollamby, the bitter and twisted warder in the Brian Park-produced prison drama Bad Girls in which she acted opposite Debra Stephenson before her own debut on the Street.