For much of Helen Cunningham's early time in the Village she had the terrible misfortune of being saddled with a family intent on ripping itself apart. Helen had a tough time whilst she was married to Dennis Richardson (David McAllister), who had been abusive to her and had repeatedly raped their daughter Mandy. Helen was unaware of this until Mandy confessed to her brother Lewis. After Dennis was sent to prison for seven years, Helen found a new love interest in Gordon Cunningham (Bernard Latham). The pair slept together and Helen was shocked to realise that she was pregnant. Gordon did the honourable thing by asking her to marry him. They soon got married and Helen gave birth to baby Tom Cunningham (Ellis Hollins), but more tragedy came for Helen when she found out Lewis had attempted suicide and was slowly dying. This left Helen devastated and she found it hard to cope.