Miriam Margolyes embroiled in 'racism' row with Andi Peters as she uses offensive slang term to describe his skin colour forcing This Morning bosses to intervene

Miriam Margolyes has become embroiled in a 'racism' row with Andi Peters as she used an offensive term to describe his skin colour on This Morning on Thursday. 

The actress, 85, known for her outspoken nature, was promoting her book Miriam's Full English when ITV bosses were forced to intervene after she referred to Andi as 'high yalla'.  

The term, which can also be spelled 'high yaller' or 'high yellow' is a dated and often offensive slang term used to describe a black person with a light complexion in the US. 

Miriam added she 'welcomes everybody' and her book is about inclusion, but viewers on X accused her of being racist after the uncomfortable conversation.  

After impersonating Christine Lampard's Northern Irish accent, Miriam turned to Andi as she asked: 'But what accent would be normal for you?'

'This is normal. This is what I am,' replied Andi, as Miriam continued: 'Oh, you're a mix, aren't you? You've got a black daddy and a white mummy.' 

'No, no, no. Both my parents are black,' confirmed Andi, before he joked: 'What have they put on me, am I a lighter shade than normal?' 

Miriam continued: 'Both parents are I think you're what I would call a "high yalla." That's what they call it in America. Oh, when someone isn't deeply black, right?'

'I didn't even know there were shades,' said Andi, as Miriam added: 'There are shades.'

As producers began to worry about the direction of the conversation, producers issued a warning to Andi through his ear piece as he said: 'Oh, okay. They're getting nervous now. They're getting nervous now.'

'Don't be nervous,' reassured Miriam, 'We welcome everybody. That's what I want to write about in my book. It's about inclusion.'

The exchange has since been removed from the ITVX version of the interview. The Daily Mail has contacted both ITV and Miriam's representatives for comment. 

Viewers were outraged as they wrote on social media: 'Miriam Margolyes just sounds like a run-of-the-mill racist here. It’s very uncomfortable viewing.'

Another wrote: '"Both your parents are black? I think you're high yellow - that's what they call it in America!" Well, yes, if you happen to live on a plantation in 1845. 

'We don't actually call it that any more, on account of it being super racist'; 'Imagine being called a slur that hasn’t been heard, in English, for like a hundred years';

'I assure you that is not what we call anything in America.'; 'No filter, not really a funny woman. Why do we still have her on TV?'

'This isn't run of the mill racism. It's 19th century American racism.' 

However others penned: 'What is racist about that?'; 'Ignorance maybe but this isn't racism'.

It isn't the first time Miriam has caused controversy for her outspoken language. In 2024, the BBC pulled a comment by Miriam from the radio after the Harry Potter star said that Charles Dickens' Fagin was 'Jewish and vile' on air.

The Jewish actor was speaking to Front Row about her earliest experiences with the novelist amid her Edinburgh Fringe run of Margolyes & Dickens: The Best Bits, in which she brings to life the author's most colourful characters in a one-woman show.

And in a response to a question from BBC Radio 4 presenter Kirsty Wark about the character that stuck in her head as a child, she responded with the Oliver Twist villain.

The broadcaster removed the comment from the programme – saying that it should have been challenged at the time.

The eccentric grandee sparked laughter among the audience as she said: 'Oh, Fagin. Without question. Jewish and vile.'

She added: 'I didn't know Jews like that then – sadly, I do now.'

One of English literature's most despised characters, Dickens used anti-Semitic tropes of Victorian England to create the character of Fagin, the London crime lord who ruled over a band of child pickpockets.

The manipulative criminal is explicitly Jewish in the book, with Miriam saying in another interview last month that he is 'not only extremely funny but horrible, evil, a complete a***'.