Trans actress becomes SECOND performer to quit London play over co-star Maureen Lipman involvement

“I was really looking forward to returning to the project, so this is not a decision I have made lightly,” the soap star wrote.

“However, following the casting of Maureen Lipman and having recently become aware of public comments made by her, I no longer feel the next stage of production aligns with my own personal values and beliefs.”

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Hesketh added: “I don’t believe anything will ever change if we don’t stand by our morals when it matters.”

The 28-year-old did not clarify what comments specifically Dame Maureen had made that didn’t “align” with their “personal values and beliefs”.

Hesketh’s exit follows that of Gerard McCarthy, who withdrew from the production last week after Dame Maureen was announced as part of the London cast.

McCarthy, known for roles in The Fall and Call the Midwife, explained on Instagram that he had privately raised concerns about promoting Dame Maureen’s involvement given her repeatedly stated positions on Israel and Palestine.

“I simply chose not to use my own platform to promote someone whose political views are at odds with my own,” McCarthy wrote, stressing that he had not sought to have the Coronation Street actress removed from the cast.

Dame Maureen responded to McCarthy’s departure with a blistering response. The 80-year-old Bafta-nominated actress labelled his Instagram post “virtue-signalling” and described his decision to leave without speaking to her directly as “cowardly.”

“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, urging the actor to “grow up.”

The Olivier Award winner insisted she had spent six decades working alongside performers who held different political views. “I don’t ask them, and they don’t ask me,” she said in The Times.

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She also offered to meet McCarthy in person, saying she wished “to extend the olive branch and get a proper understanding of his problem with me.”

Dame Maureen expressed particular bemusement at McCarthy’s position, pointing out that just six weeks before his withdrawal, the actor had attended the opening night of her production of Allegra at Richmond Theatre.

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

The actress, who has previously faced pickets from pro-Palestine campaigners and been forced to hire private security during touring dates, characterised herself as “simply a working woman of a certain age who believes that the state of Israel should be allowed to exist.”

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She clarified that she was “not a politician”, adding: “There is very little I can do to influence Bibi Netanyahu, nor would I want to.”

As well as the Israel-Hamas conflict, Ms Lipman has been outspoken on issues such as gender and single-sex spaces, and has previously jumped to the support of JK Rowling.

The Harry Potter author regularly faces abuse from trans activists for her views on gender and biological female rights.

In 2022, Dame Maureen told Reader’s Digest: “I am an actress, not an actor and, if somebody tries to take the word ‘woman’ away from me, I shall be very cross.

“If you have to kick a** at someone like Joanne Rowling, who’s literally taught a generation to read, something’s not right.”

Stan Zimmerman’s Right Before I Go is a suicide awareness play built around genuine notes left by public figures, military veterans, bullied teenagers and members of the LGBTQ+ community, concluding with a message of hope.

Each performance is followed by a discussion between the cast, audience and a mental health professional.

GB News has contacted Dame Maureen’s representatives for comment.