Inside Martin Freeman's marriage breakdown with Strictly star Amanda Abbington

Martin Freeman is a much-loved British actor who has been gracing our screens for many years after finding fame in Ricky Gervais' The Office for his role as Tim Canterbury.

The actor, 53, who is set to appear on The Jonathan Ross Show on Saturday, April 12, didn't easily find work after his time spent on The Office, however he did go on to explore the world of film, first starring in productions such as Ali G Indahouse in 2002 and Love Actually, 2003.

It wasn't until 2010 that his world completely changed when he was cast for the role of Bilbo Baggins in The Lord Of The Rings sequel. For his performance in the first part, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, he was won awarded Best Hero at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards and Best Actor at the 18th Empire Awards.

Following his award-winning work, he further landed the role of Everett K. Ross, in 2015, for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), appearing in Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Back in 2000, before Martin had hit the big screen, he met actress Amanda Abbington while filming Men Only. There was no doubting their onscreen chemistry which was electric from the start and applauded by critics.

The duo then famously starred alongside one another as husband and wife Dr John Watson and Mary Morstan in BBC drama Sherlock, with Benedict Cumberbatch at the helm as Detective Sherlock Holmes.

Their off-screen relationship blossomed and they went on to welcome two children together, first a son Joe and then a daughter Grace. To outsiders, it would seem they had everything going for them as a pair, with a sweet family and a lavish home in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, which wasn't too far from Amanda's childhood home.

However, in 2016, their marriage was over and the Sherlock actress was said to be devastated over their split, despite the pair both confirming they exited the relationship on mutual and good terms.

For Amanda, it was love at first sight when she first met Martin, previously commenting on Woman's Hour podcast: "I was having my makeup done and Martin walked in. Everything else just melted away. When he left I said, 'Who is that? Please tell me he hasn't got a girlfriend!'"

But after they'd called it quits, Amanda was left feeling "deeply troubled" and battled with her mental health. It was widely reported at the time that Martin's rise in Hollywood was the catalyst for their split.

Speaking to the Sunday Times Magazine, Amanda said: "When we broke up nobody knew, we didn't tell anybody except for a few key people because they had to know, because of the logistics of hotels and stuff.

"It took six months for it to get out and a lot of that was while we were working on Sherlock... We were professional and we were going to get on and make a show and be civil to each other."

The former Office actor has preferred not to go into detail about his marriage breakdown but did confirm they had parted ways in 2016, telling the Financial Times: "I'm not with Amanda anymore. It's very, very amicable - I'll always love Amanda."

Amanda then followed up providing more context, stating to the same publication that they "just couldn't live with each other any more", despite the pair still having a lot of respect for each other.

Since their split, the former couple have both moved on. Martin has been romantically linked to French actress Rachel Mariam, who is a 30-year-old scriptwriter and producer.

Amanda is engaged to stuntman Jonathan Goodwin, with the pair said to have first crossed paths on X - formerly Twitter - back in 2012.

The Jonathan Ross Show will air on Saturday April 12 at 9:20pm on ITV.