Amanda Abbington & Jonathan Goodwin: their whirlwind romance from first date proposal to heartbreaking phone call
SHE was one of the hot favourites to win, but actress Amanda Abbington had admitted she is "unable to continue" on her Strictly journey.
Her decision to quit after missing Saturday night's show for 'medical reasons' has left fans - and her pro-partner Giovanni Pernice - gutted.
Amanda, 49, was a consistent high scorer during her time on the competition - and was cheered on most weeks by her devoted partner Jonathan Goodwin.
She began dating the Britain's Got Talent daredevil five years after her "painful" split from Martin Freeman.
Here we take a look at their whirlwind romance.
Amanda was married to her Sherlock co-star Martin - with whom she shares children Joe, 17, and Grace 15 - for 16 years before their shock break-up in 2016.
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The couple kept quiet about their separation for six months, with Amanda telling magazine they "still get on really well" but "just couldn't live with each other any more".
Earlier this year she opened up about the split, admitting it left her "hating herself" - and she even contemplated taking her own life.
"I was a bit of a mess," she told the . "I was sat there as I was driving, in my head, and I haven't said this since I started therapy six years ago, 'You could always kill yourself'.
"And that was what my mantra used to be. If you've let people down and upset somebody or if you're not being the best you can or you're a bad mother, or you're not stepping up with your acting, you can always kill yourself."
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In September Amanda told Red magazine it was "one of the darkest moments of my life" - but it also marked "the beginning of an extraordinary journey of self-discovery".
Engaged on first date
Amanda and Jonathan had followed each other on social media since 2012, but only began flirting years later when they both found themselves single.
Jonathan was living in Las Vegas at the time, and after exchanging messages on Twitter they swapped numbers in August 2021.
After a seven-hour phone call, the pair were smitten and Jonathan was already considering moving back to the UK.
Speaking to the last year, Amanda admitted she'd "fancied him for a few years" and was "on him like a rat up a drainpipe".
They met for the first date in Vienna, where Amanda was filming, and Jonathan proposed within 30 minutes of their first hug.
The stuntman, who reached the final of BGT in 2019, said he'd already made up his mind he was going to ask her to marry him despite the fact they'd only been chatting for a month.
He popped the question by cutting the shape of the ring box out of the middle of a book of Shakespeare’s sonnets, so it fitted inside, then wrote 'Will you marry me' beneath the box.
Horror accident
Jonathan flew to the UK to meet Amanda's family two weeks later before travelling to Atlanta in October 2021 to film an extreme stunt for America's Got Talent: Extreme.
But during rehearsals the act went badly wrong and he suffered life-changing injuries.
While trying to escape from a straitjacket suspended upside down 30ft in the air, he was crushed between two suspended burning cars before falling to the ground, hitting his head.
Jonathan - who needed emergency surgery - sustained third-degree burns, internal organ injuries, fractures to his ribs, legs and shoulders and lost his left kidney.
Amanda received a voicemail from his stunt coordinator letting her know he was in a bad way, and she alerted his family.
Before undergoing spinal surgery, Amanda received a heartbreaking phone call from her fiance, during which he thanked her for the time they'd had together, "in case he didn’t see her again".
"There was a lot of sharp broken bone on an artery which could have been severed," he told the Guardian, adding he wanted to give Amanda "an out".
Amanda told The Time she "honestly thought that was the last time I’d hear his voice", and said breaking up was never an option for her.
Having pulled through the operation, Jonathan is now wheelchair-bound.
Jonathan told Loose Women earlier this year: "It's such a massive change, it's like becoming an adult baby. I wouldn't wish it on anybody but I think that with all the physical challenges I've had in my life I'm uniquely adapted to dealing with it."
He added he is "incredibly lucky to be here" as he "should have died on the operating table".
During an appearance on Lorraine, Amanda said: "I forget he's in a wheelchair, he's independent and strong.
"He's genuinely my hero, I don't know what I'd do without him. He's so supportive and gorgeous."
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The couple now live together in Hertfordshire and it's believed they're still planning on getting married.
For help and support, contact Samaritans on 116 123 or visit .
