Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Patrick Stewart and Dame Julie Walters have joined some of the biggest names in British theatre to urge Boris Johnson to secure visa-free EU travel for artists.

The Brexit visa crisis, which is preventing British film and TV employees from working in the European Union without filling out reams of costly paperwork, is now starting to cause issues for spring shoots on the continent, according to The Production Guild of Great Britain.

In a letter from the Equity union, the new rules are described as a “towering hurdle” for the industry.

Julie Walters among signatories to letter saying post-Brexit changes a ‘towering hurdle’ to working in Europe