British actress Lisa Maxwell’s daughter Beau Jessup dies at 27 while studying in NYC

Beau Jessup, the 27-year-old daughter of British actress and former Loose Women panelist Lisa Maxwell, has died in New York City, Columbia Journalism School has confirmed.

The Ivy League institution, where Jessup was enrolled in the Master of Science program, announced her passing in a tribute posted to its website on Monday, November 9.

“Columbia Journalism School mourns the loss of Beau Jessup, a student in our M.S. program,” the statement read. “We extend our deepest condolences to her family, friends, classmates, and all who knew and loved her. The J-School is working with Beau’s family to offer support and assistance during this difficult time.”

No further details or cause of death have been publicly released.

Beau had been due to graduate next year with a masters degree (Instagram/lisaajaynemaxwell)

A Talented Writer and Cambridge Graduate

Jessup was on track to graduate from Columbia with her master’s degree in journalism in May 2027.

Alongside its announcement, the university published a previously unreleased interview conducted with Jessup in October for its Columbia News "Notebook" series, sharing the conversation with her family's blessing to honor her "far-too-brief life and experience at Columbia and in New York City."

In the interview, Jessup reflected on how growing up in the orbit of British television shaped her desire to pursue journalism and examine how public narratives are built.

“As the daughter of a television actress, I grew up with an unusual awareness of the distance between people’s lives and the stories told about them,” she explained. “I saw how journalism could illuminate someone’s experiences, but also how those experiences could be distorted, simplified, or transformed into a public narrative over which the subject had very little control. I was curious, from quite a young age, about who gets to tell people’s stories.”

Before relocating to New York, Jessup earned a Master’s in Writing for Performance from the University of Cambridge and penned her debut play, The Sandbag, a work examining "how family, memory, the body, and inherited narratives shape the stories we tell about ourselves." She told Columbia she hoped to report on people and culture after graduating while continuing to write for the theater.

Lisa Maxwell’s Close Bond With Her Only Child

Born in October 1999, Beau was the daughter of Maxwell, 62—widely known across the U.K. for her long-running role as Detective Inspector Samantha Nixon on The Bill—and her husband, Paul Jessup.

Maxwell frequently spoke with pride about her close relationship with her daughter. Reflecting on motherhood in a 2008 interview with PEOPLE, the actress described Beau as both her best friend and an endless source of amazement.

“As she’s growing up, she’s become more of a little mate to me,” Maxwell shared at the time. “We have so much fun together, and I’m constantly amazed by all the new things she’s learning to do. When I think back to how tiny and helpless Beau was when she was born, and compare it to the funny, clever little girl she is now, it’s just unbelievable. I’m so amazed that Paul and I created this little human being who’s so brilliant.”