Martin Freeman's honest four-word verdict on Amanda Abbington after split

Martin Freeman and left fans reeling after announcing their split in 2016. The actors were in a relationship for 16 years after meeting on the set of TV movie Men Only and share two children, Joe and Grace, born in 2006 and 2008 respectively. But their romance came to an end in 2016, with Amanda revealing they simply could not live together anymore. The Sherlock actress said: "Martin and I remain best friends and love each other, and it was entirely amicable.

There was no hostility, really, we just said that we couldn't live together anymore, so we put everything in place, he moved out to a flat in north London, I stayed at home and we've started a new chapter." She continued: "It is sad and it is upsetting, because you think you're going to be with someone forever, but you either do that or you break up, and we both came to the decision that splitting was best for us." Amanda added to : "We've been really lucky to make it such a clean break, especially for the kids."

The following year, Martin, 53, opened up about their separation and spoke about working alongside his ex in Sherlock.

"I mean, we're very friendly and it's all lovely and cool," he told . "Yes, we've not been together for a while. I mean we did the series not together. You know enough about me to know that I won't talk about it, but I'm all right, yes.

"I mean, we are honest to God [separating] in about as civilised a manner as I've ever heard of, you know. I love Amanda's work, but, yes, we're... you know, that's what happened. It's just one of those things. It happens, doesn't it? But we're cool."

After announcing their "amicable" split, the Black Panther star added: "I'll always love Amanda."

Hoping to put the past behind her, in (This Is Not A) Happy Room. It's been a turbulent year for the star after she became the centre of one of 's biggest ever scandals.

Back in 2023, Amanda abruptly quit the show and later accused her dance partner of "unnecessary, cruel and mean behaviour" during their time together. .

The scandal led to an investigation by the and saw Giovanni, 34, step down from Strictly after nine years. , who backed her decision to speak out.

"We talked about it at length for about 45 minutes, and he just said, 'I'm so sorry that you're having to go through this'," she told . "He said, 'you have my full support. I can't believe this. This is awful. You don't deserve it. I want to kill him.'"

Amanda went on: "He was very angry that this has been allowed because Martin also knew how much I love the show. He said 'It's so unfair, Amanda, because I remember you would always be like, 'I want to be in that show. You were so good in it.'"