Maxine Peake 'ignored' while selling Big Issue

Actor Maxine Peake said she was "surprised how people just ignore you" while taking a real-life role as a Big Issue seller in Manchester.

The stage and TV star joined regular seller Monica outside the Royal Exchange Theatre to sell the magazine as part of Vendor Week, an international event which will see people around the world take a turn at street-selling for an hour.

Peake, who appeared in Silk and The Village, said she found it hard to deal with the number of people who walk past without speaking, adding that she did not know how Monica coped with it "without losing [her] temper".

The Manchester event will also see poet Lemn Sissay, DJ Clint Boon and Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd sell the magazine.