Miriam Margolyes has outraged audiences by calling a popular Charles Dickens character “Jewish and vile” during an interview with the BBC.
The Jewish actor, 83, who is best known for her role as Professor Pomanoa Sprout in Harry Potter, was recording a live episode of Radio 4’s Front Row programme when she made the comment.
Speaking to Front Row presenter Kirsty Wark at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival about her one-woman show, Dickens’ Women, which focuses on the works of Charles Dickens, Margolyes was asked which character had captured her attention most when she was young.
In front of a live audience, Wark asked Margolyes who was “the first [Dickens] character who stuck in your head as a child?”
Margolyes replied: “Oh, Fagin. Without question. Jewish and vile,” to which the audience laughed and she added: “I didn’t know Jews like that then – sadly, I do now.”
Fagin is one of the antagonists in Dickens’s 1838 novel Oliver Twist. In the preface, he is described as a “receiver of stolen goods”.
Margolyes comments were met with outrage on social media, with one person writing on X/Twitter: “Imagine turning on Radio 4 and hearing Miriam Margolyes describe a character as “Jewish and vile” – and the phrase gets a laugh from the audience, rather than an apology from the host.
“Goes to show [that] being Jewish doesn’t make you immune from perpetuating antisemitism.”
Meanwhile, other users defended Margolyes comments, with one person writing: “She’s talking about Dickens and Fagin. You saying he wasn’t Jewish? You saying he was an alright guy? You read Oliver Twist?”
The Independent has contacted Margolyes representatives for comment.
A spokesperson for the BBC told The Independent that the actor’s remark was an “unexpected comment made during a live broadcast” and acknowledged that the statement “should have been challenged at the time”.
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Confirming the audio has been pulled from the broadcaster’s streaming platforms, the BBC added: “We have taken swift action to remove it from the programme and it is no longer available.”
Back in April, Margolyes – who recently released a new travelogue Miriam Margolyes: A New Australian Adventure with BBC Two – filmed a video, shared by The Jewish Council of Australia, condemning the Israel-Gaza war.
In the recording, Margolyes stated “Hitler has won” because of the conflict and shared how “ashamed” she is of Israel.
Calling for a ceasefire, the 83-year-old said: “I have never been so ashamed of Israel as I am at this moment.
“To me, it seems as if Hitler has won. He’s changed us Jews from being compassionate and carrying into this vicious, genocidal, nationalist nation, pursuing and killing women and children.”