Amy Nuttall, the Downton Abbey and Emmerdale actress, is reportedly back with her husband after he walked out on their 11-year marriage and two children in February.
Andrew Buchan embarked on an affair with his co-star Leila Farzad during filming of the BBC crime drama Better. The chemistry between the two on set had been ‘electric’, apparently.
Well, I’m sure it came nowhere close to the sparks that flew once Amy discovered what her husband, best known for his turn in Broadchurch, was really up to when she thought he was away working.
Failure to separate the fantasy of steamy roles from everyday life is an occupational hazard for some actors. Take Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie on the set of Mr & Mrs Smith, when he was still married to Jennifer Aniston. Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe while filming Proof Of Life. Or, most famously, Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, who was Mark Antony to her Cleopatra.
All too often, the ensuing scorn falls most heavily on the heads of the women involved, not the cheating husbands. A widely quoted source on the set of Better described Leila, a married mother of one, as giving the appearance of ‘being single’ and called her the sort of woman ‘you would be better not to leave alone with your husband’.
Amy Nuttall, the Downton Abbey and Emmerdale actress, is reportedly back with her husband Andrew Buchan after he walked out on their 11-year marriage and two children in February
, I’m sure it came nowhere close to the sparks that flew once Amy discovered what her husband was really up to when she thought he was away working
That kind of narrative belongs to the 1950s, when the women — either the one left at home or the mistress — were blamed for a man who let his trousers do the thinking. Both Buchan and Farzad surely knew what they were doing and the risks they were taking.
Not surprisingly, their fling didn’t stand the test of time and Farzad returned to her husband. Sex, deceit and betrayal are not known to be ties that bind a couple together for the longer term.
Betrayal in any relationship is painful and difficult enough, but when it is so public — on front pages and showbusiness websites — it must be doubly humiliating.
Initially, a devastated Amy demanded a divorce and friends said she wanted ‘a new start’. Instead, Buchan is back at the marital home and telling pals the couple are ‘healing’.
So has Amy done the right thing? In taking him back, I am sure she wasn’t just thinking about herself as the spurned wife but as a mother of two young children. Having Dad back home must have been something they desperately wanted.
What I suspect is that she put aside her own hurt feelings and, with the immediate shock and pain receding, decided her marriage was worth another chance.
As for her errant husband, I reckon that once passion was spent, the familiar comforts of home, the well-tuned contentment that comes from a long-term partnership and day-to-day contact with his children, were what he yearned for.
Both Buchan, pictured here still with his wedding ring on, and Farzad surely knew what they were doing and the risks they were taking
NADINE DORRIES: What I suspect is that Amy Nuttall put aside her own hurt feelings and, with the immediate shock and pain receding, decided her marriage was worth another chance
Those of us who have made it past the decade mark in a marriage know how much of the interaction between husband and wife flows around the children. Their wants and needs, their worries and achievements, take priority. That is real family life, not on-set fantasy.
Yes, it is often boring, difficult and stressful. There are always dishes to be cleared, washing to put on and someone to be chauffeured somewhere.
But within that mundane routine there is stability and a deep-rooted love which can become taken for granted and so allow lust to fill the void.
I hope Amy and Andrew, two hugely talented actors, do work it through. But a word of caution to Mr Buchan: he may be wearing his wedding ring, but it’s notable that she is yet to start wearing hers. He has work to do.
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Harry & Meghan? Watch this space!
Whatever you think of Prince Harry and the drama surrounding the Royal Family since he met Meghan Markle, I have enormous sympathy for King Charles, who lives with the daily worry of a son who seems troubled, over-therapised and perhaps, as the late Queen observed, ‘a little too in love’ with his wife.
Today, Harry is finally expected at the High Court — he failed to turn up yesterday — and will relive details of, among other things, his seven-year romance with Chelsy Davy when he gives evidence in his phone-hacking trial against Mirror Group Newspapers.
Whatever you think of Prince Harry and the drama surrounding the Royal Family since he met Meghan Markle, I have enormous sympathy for King Charles
Back in California, meanwhile, Meghan is reportedly reviving her lifestyle blog, The Tig — launched when she was a jobbing actress — in a bid to mirror the success of Gwyneth Paltrow and her website Goop.
Love her or loathe her, as a controversial royal wife Meghan is one of the most famous women on the planet and has the potential to become a ‘mega-influencer’ on social media, with high-end brands battling for her endorsement. Industry insiders say she could earn up to £300,000 per Instagram post.
Interesting, isn’t it, that as Harry is back in London, agonising afresh over past troubles and trying to lay the blame for his personal pain at the door of someone, somewhere, Meghan is forging ahead on her own? Watch this space!
Well done to Elon Musk for seeing sense and overruling his woke employees at Twitter to air a controversial documentary — What Is A Woman? — in full, free, for 24 hours last week, attracting more than 110 million views.
As part of the trans debate — and critical of aspects of trans activism — conservative commentator Matt Walsh had toured the U.S. and Africa to ask a seemingly simple question that so many people today struggle to answer.
The result was originally broadcast on subscription-only service The Daily Wire a year ago. Plans to stream it via the service’s Twitter feed last month were thwarted when Twitter executives asked for scenes to be re-edited because of two incidences of ‘misgendering’ trans people.
Walsh & Co refused and when the documentary went out, in a limited format, it was flagged with the warning that ‘This Tweet may violate Twitter’s rules against Hateful Conduct’. A free speech row erupted and Musk, having allegedly backed the censure initially, intervened.
The tech tycoon, who has an estranged transgender child, Vivian, even went so far as to say that ‘every parent should watch this’.
I agree. It makes riveting viewing.
Spare a spot for hedgehogs
Unmown grass is unsightly but I take comfort from the fact that hedgehogs, now on the Red List as mammals threatened with extinction in the next 20 years, will benefit (File iamge)
In yesterday’s Mail, Harry Wallop rejoiced that No Mow May was over so he could restore his shaggy lawn to neatly clipped perfection. But not everyone agrees. Yes, unmown grass is unsightly but I take comfort from the fact that hedgehogs, now on the Red List as mammals threatened with extinction in the next 20 years, will benefit.
Long grass provides a gourmet takeaway for the little creatures — a feast of bugs, especially earwigs and beetles.
I’m leaving a quarter of my lawn permanently unmown and have persuaded a friend to do the same. In the world of hedgehogs, every little helps.
Four in ten women prefer their menfolk to do the barbecuing, according to a survey. What on earth were the other six thinking?
Every mother of sons knows that little boys are pyromaniacs — and nothing changes as they grow up.
When the FA Cup final kicked off this weekend, the men in my family downed tools and abandoned the grill to watch it, and I almost had a panic attack.
My advice to all women: never even go near a BBQ, let alone light one. It really is a man’s job.
