| Helen Cunningham | |||||||||||||||||
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| Hollyoaks character | |||||||||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Kathryn George | ||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1997–2004 | ||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 8 September 1997 | ||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 20 February 2004 | ||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Jo Hallows | ||||||||||||||||
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Helen Cunningham (also Richardson) is a fictional character from the British soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Kathryn George. The character debuted on-screen during the episode broadcast on 8 September 1997. Helen was centric to several storylines including her marriage with Gordon Cunningham (Bernard Latham), dealing with the suicide of her son Lewis Richardson (Ben Hull) and her daughter Mandy Richardson's (Sarah Jayne Dunn) abuse at the hands of her ex-husband, Dennis Richardson (David McAlister). Producers also created an advanced maternal age storyline for the character, where she becomes pregnant with Gordon's child and gives birth to Tom Cunningham (Ellis Hollins). In 2003, writers featured Helen in an infidelity story with Tony Hutchinson (Nick Pickard). Helen and Tony, who is younger engage in a sexual affair which nearly ruins her on-screen partnership with Gordon.
She was deemed a mainstay of the soap during her tenure. George was written out of Hollyoaks in 2004, following Latham's decision to quit the show. Helen made her final appearance during the episode broadcast on 20 February 2004. Helen and Gordon were killed off in a car crash story. Writers revisited the story in 2017, when the crash was revealed to have been caused by Milo Entwistle (Nathan Morris), who was then a new character in the series.