Legendary Coronation Street star Maureen Lipman, 79, has lashed out at the BBC, Keir Starmer and fellow thespian Miriam Margolyes over their stance on Israel and the Jewish community. The star, who has played Evelyn Plummer in the long running ITV soap since 2018, didn't hold back as she aired her views in a new interview.

Reflecting on the current situation in the UK she said it had previously been "unthinkable" that something like the Manchester synagogue terror attack in October last year could happen, as she decried the current hatred being aimed at the Jewish community in the UK. However she is not holding out any hope the Prime Minister will intervene. "Oh, poor dear Keir Starmer. I'm sure he would like to say to the Jewish community, ‘We have your back,’ but he can’t because there are so many Muslims in this country, so he’d be handing over votes to the Greens," she said.

She also blasted the BBC's handling of the Israel-Hamas war, which has been ongoing since October 7, 2023. "The BBC is biased," she insisted in a chat with The Telegraph.

"Over 36,000 Iranians protesting for freedom were massacred by the regime in January. That seems to be forgotten – but if one Palestinian child dies, then [chief international correspondent] Lyse Doucet is flown in to report on it.

"Nobody goes into the shelters underground where Jewish children are trained to lie on the floor when the sirens go off," she fumed.

The star has also been invovled in an ongoing feud with fellow Jewish actress Miriam Margolyes over the issue due to their opposing views. Margoyles has been vocal with her feelings about Iserael calling it a "vicious, genocidal, nationalist nation, pursuing and killing women and children".

The Harry Potter star acknowledged the two women had fallen out in a 2024 interview with Saga magazine saying: "Jewish people regard me with loathing, as someone who betrayed my nation and aligned myself with the Devil.

"That is also the opinion of my erstwhile friend Dame Maureen Lipman, who is horrified by my attitude."

Maureen previously took a swipe at the veteran thespian in The Specator last year and she used the new interview to further fuel the fire she described the 84-year-old as an "unwell person".

Referring to the actress as a "shock jock" and a "potty-mouthed controversialist" she said Miriam feels her job is "to shock everyone around her."