She portrayed one of Britain’s most well-known overbearing Jewish mothers on screen, but Friday Night Dinner star Tamsin Greig has voiced doubts about her suitability for the role. 

Ms Greig indicated in an interview that, as a Christian, it was inappropriate for her to have played the part of Jackie Goodman in Channel 4’s long-running sitcom about a Jewish family living in north London. 

“I think, given our sensitivity today about these issues, I probably shouldn’t have been in that show,” she told the Telegraph.  

“We are much more conscious today than we were when that show was first aired.  

“For instance, Cleopatra has long been on my list of roles to play but I have to step back from that now, because Cleopatra needs to be played by someone who looks like they may have come from that area of the world. That’s absolutely right. But I’ll keep Lady Macbeth on the list.”

 The show ended after six seasons following the death of cast-member Paul Ritter, who played Jackie’s husband.

Ms Greig, 55, who has some Jewish ancestry, was speaking to the Telegraph today ahead of appearing as theatre agent Peggy Ramsay in a revival of Alan Plater’s play Peggy for You at the Hampstead Theatre.  

The issue of Jewish representation has sparked debate in recent years, with actresses Maureen Lipman, Miriam Margolyes and other artists signing a letter in 2019 accusing a musical of “jewface."

More recently, comedian Sarah Silverman echoed a growing chorus of criticism, as she told her podcast in October that if a “Jewish female character is courageous or deserves love, she is never played by a Jew.”