The mode coupling in a helical fibre with a circular cross-section undergoing perturbations is investigated in the Serret-Frenet frame. The coupled-mode equations have been derived and are compared with the conventional ones. Applying the coupled-mode equations to a helical fibre with an elliptical core deformation, we obtained, for the first time, a rigorous analysis of the transmission characteristics of the fibre. The numerical examples show that the mode ellipticity and elliptical birefringence increase as the core ellipticity increases and also vary as the pitch or the core offset change.