The BBC has retracted a controversial radio remark by Miriam Margolyes after she described a Charles Dickens character on the radio as “Jewish and vile”.

The 83-year-old Jewish actress spoke about her first experience working with the novelist during her performance of “Margolyes & Dickens: The Best Bits” at the Edinburgh Fringe, in which she brings to life the most colorful and famous characters from his novels.

The comment came as the Harry Potter star spoke to Front Row host Kirsty Wark about the first Dickens character that ever “scared” her.

During the interview at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, BBC Radio 4 presenter Kirsty questioned the BAFTA award-winning actress about her solo performance and then asked which Dickens character had originally captured Miriam’s imagination as a teenager.

Miriam replied: “Oh, Fagin. Without a doubt. Jewish and mean. Unfortunately I didn’t know any Jews like that then, but I do now.” Although the audience laughed, the BBC decided to remove the comment from the broadcast.

A BBC spokesman said: “This was an unexpected comment made during a live broadcast and should have been challenged at the time. We took immediate action to remove it from the programme and it is no longer available.”

It came after Miriam was shocked to hear a story that “horrified” her during the final episode of her BBC Two series A New Australian Adventure. She met 14-year-old Abbie, who bravely set up The Rainbow Shoelace project, which offers support to people experiencing homophobia.

The teenager, who is openly queer, spoke about the harrowing reactions she experienced, including bullying at school and death threats. Abbie told Miriam: “I was terrified and any part of my pride quickly disappeared.”

A touched Miriam hugged her and replied: “This is terrible, I can’t stand it. They are just pathetic and you will not give up your project, you are you and you are changing the world and you are great.”

She further inspired Abbie, adding, “You have to accept that you have courage and that you have used that courage to develop an idea that will give courage to other people.”

After leaving Abbie’s house, Miriam was visibly touched by the teenager’s story and said into the camera: “I am really very sad and angry because Abbie told me something about this beautiful city that I didn’t expect.”

“She was bullied, so some things haven’t changed. There are stupid little bullies here. I was appalled by her story and have personally decided to reach out to her school to stop this problem. I just hope things get better.”