Maureen Lipman unleashes blistering response to ‘cowardly’ actor who quit London play over pro-Israel stance

“I am asking for him to have the courage to face me and tell me what he thinks it is I should do, or think, or say,” she said.

Ms Lipman insisted she had no intention of imposing her beliefs on anyone. “He has to wake up and smell the grass. I have worked with actors for 60 years who often don’t share my politics. I don’t ask them, and they don’t ask me,” she added.

Mr McCarthy, best recognised for appearances in the BBC’s The Fall and Call the Midwife, had been due to perform alongside Ms Lipman in Stan Zimmerman’s Right Before I Go, which opens at the Soho Theatre on September 5.

The Northern Irish actor revealed his withdrawal in a social media post last week. “Because of views she has publicly and repeatedly expressed regarding Israel and Palestine, I did not feel comfortable personally promoting her involvement,” he wrote on Instagram.

He stressed that he neither sought to have Ms Lipman removed from the cast nor expected fellow performers to follow his lead. A subsequent exchange with the play’s creator, Zimmerman, apparently cemented his resolve to depart.

Mr McCarthy has not been publicly outspoken on Middle Eastern affairs.

Ms Lipman expressed bewilderment at Mr McCarthy’s stance, noting that just six weeks earlier he had attended the opening night of Allegra at Richmond Theatre, where she was the lead.

He even posed for a photograph in front of a poster bearing her name prominently.

“I would love to know what has changed in the last six weeks. Has he become radicalised, and by whom?” she said in The Times.

The Olivier Award winner extended an offer of direct conversation, saying she wanted “to extend the olive branch and get a proper understanding of his problem with me.”

She characterised herself as “simply a working woman of a certain age who believes that the state of Israel should be allowed to exist,” adding: “I am an actor, not a politician.

“There is very little I can do to influence Bibi Netanyahu, nor would I want to.”

Ms Lipman has faced sustained hostility from pro-Palestine campaigners during her recent theatre work.

Performances of Allegra in Aberdeen and Glasgow drew pickets, while the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign published an image depicting the Jewish actress with devil horns and a pitchfork, prompting a Police Scotland investigation into a potentially antisemitic social media post.

She has also needed to hire private security for touring dates owing to threats and abuse.

Several public figures rallied behind Mr McCarthy’s decision. Actors Dan Buckley, River Medway, and Star Wars: Andor’s Denise Gough voiced support on Instagram, as did comedian Luisa Omielan.

Writer and performer Robin Ince praised McCarthy’s stance, saying: “You will embolden others.” RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star Divina DeCampo called Mr Lipman’s positions “abhorrent.”

GB News has contacted Mr McCarthy’s representatives for a comment.