There was no obvious sign of a wedding ring, or any affection. Walking side by side — although with a large, symbolic gap between them — actress Amy Nuttall and her husband Andrew Buchan were spotted out and about this week, running errands near their home, sending a message to onlookers they were giving their troubled marriage another go.
Amy, 41, who recently appeared in the hit ITV drama Mr Bates vs. The Post Office, had first called time on her 11-year marriage to Andrew, 45, who’s best known for his role in ITV drama Broadchurch, in December 2022 after learning of his affair with actress Leila Farzad, his co-star in the BBC show Better.
Heartbroken at his deceit, she confronted him and threw him out of the family home in Buckinghamshire, which they shared with their two children.
Actress Amy Nuttall first called time on her 11-year marriage to Andrew Buchan after learning of his affair with a co-star on BBC show Better
They were back together the following July, but the reunion only lasted a month before Andrew packed his bags again.
Stoic and dignified, the ex-Emmerdale and Downton Abbey actress refused to be drawn on the subject of her husband’s betrayal.
But in typical understated style, she gave an interview to the financial pages of a Sunday newspaper last month in which she subtly revealed they were back together again.
When asked to quantify her earnings, she replied: ‘Generally speaking, in the last financial year — what can I tell you? — below a hundred grand, but I’m married, so it all goes into one pot.
‘So it’s not as scary because I can lean on that.
‘I’m the joint owner of our comfortable family home…’ thereby confirming that she and Andrew are very much ‘on’ again.
A week later the couple were seen enjoying a day out in Windsor together with their children in tow, as well as Nuttall’s father, Andrew.
One friend said: ‘Things aren’t exactly great but both Amy and Andrew are trying to make it work.
‘They deeply loved one another once and are trying to recreate that. They have two young children to stay together for, too, so they are trying to get on with it.
‘It must be difficult though, Andrew really did have a proper, full-on affair and to forgive and forget after that is tough.’
Few would disagree. Indeed, the fact that Amy has taken Andrew back for a second time has prompted fans of the actress to wonder if she is a borderline saint or a put- upon doormat.
The truth is, Amy has fought hard for her marriage and is anything but a passive victim.
When the story broke of his affair with co-star Leila, 42, who is also married, Andrew was said to be incandescent with rage, and did everything in his power to keep it out of the newspapers.
Andrew had cheated on Amy with Leila Farzad, who was married to James Maizels at the time of her affair
He had hoped to keep his private life, and his indiscretions, firmly out of the limelight.
But, after discovering he’d bought a pair of risque knickers shortly before Christmas — which were not in her size — Amy was said to have confronted him, furiously.
After kicking him out, she endured a torrid Christmas, as she worked out her next move.
‘The penny started to drop over a period of time. He was away a lot, which wasn’t unusual because of the nature of his work, but at one point Amy realised he had been staying in hotels very near to home — and wondered why.
‘She tried to keep her feelings in check over the festive period to allow her family to have a peaceful Christmas, asking friends to hold off from telling anyone else.
‘But by the following February things had soured again, she was furious and so she decided to tell some friends it was over, some then spoke to the press. ‘Amy even detailed how she had found knickers intended for Leila, and that was how she discovered he was cheating in the first place.
‘Amy told media industry friends that she was happy for that to come out.’
When the reports were published, Buchan engaged lawyers to fire off legal letters to the press — but tellingly, says a friend, ‘they were sent from him, not from the two of them as a couple’.
A friend told the Mail: ‘Andrew has lived for many years with a reputation as a really committed family man and an adoring husband to Amy.
‘Of course, when he began the affair he had hoped that it would never, ever be made public. He spent time away and thought he wouldn’t get caught.
‘Then Amy found the knickers . . .’
The story was one of the most jaw-dropping celebrity love triangles for some time.
Amy and Andrew married in September 2012 in their home county Lancashire, five years after meeting through friends. They were besotted and quickly became one of the most recognisable couples on the red carpet.
Before settling down with Andrew, Amy, who was catapulted to fame on ITV soap Emmerdale in 2000, had a colourful love life, dating the likes of Welsh television presenter Steve Jones and Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay.
Meanwhile, Leila, best known for her role in the drama, I Hate Suzie, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA, was married to James Maizels at the time of her affair, and the pair have a ten-year-old daughter. Just weeks later, however, she returned to her husband.
Five months after the bombshell, Amy and Andrew also gave their marriage another try.
It was claimed that Amy had set her husband seven strict rules to follow after their reunion in order to rekindle their relationship. Known as the ‘777 method’, they included having full access to one another’s phones, having a date night once a week and going on a couple’s holiday every seven months.
Amy apparently also forbade all out of work contact with any co-stars, and demanded that Andrew keep in contact via FaceTime whenever working away. It wasn’t successful, however, and a month later it was revealed that they’d split again, apparently after Andrew failed to stick to the rules.
There was further heartache for Amy when her mother, Elaine, died last September, four months after she was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
She was said to have been her daughter’s ‘rock’ during her marital woes, and Amy honoured her by releasing the charity single, Thank You Mother, in March, teaming up with The Brain Tumour Charity to raise awareness and funds for the charity. One friend said: ‘When Amy lost her mum, it was not long after she split with Andrew after giving it another go. She was in a terrible state, and crying every day.’
Seven months later, Amy took Andrew back one more time.
As to what the future holds, friends of the couple are unsure as to whether they can put the past behind them.
A pal said: ‘You will notice that Amy didn’t have her wedding ring on this week, while Andrew did. You have to wonder what that actually means.
‘There is a lot of water under the bridge here and it is going to take time for things to go back to how they were, if indeed they ever do.’
Neither have been inundated with acting roles, although Amy revealed this week that she was offered an opportunity to star on last year’s Strictly, an offer she politely declined. Speaking of her decision, she said: ‘Never say never, but I don’t think it’s for me. I’m more the audience side of things — I enjoy watching it.’
Andrew, meanwhile, made his screenwriting debut on ITV drama Passenger.
If their reconciliation doesn’t last, Amy may well find herself without the support network she relied on previously because sources say that some of her friends have ‘washed their hands’ of the situation after she took her husband back.
‘Many of Amy’s friends think she’s mad to take him back yet again,’ one tells me. ‘They’re exhausted by her leaning on them and then ignoring all advice. She was in bits when she discovered what had been going on and she needed them.
‘With Andrew there is always some explanation about why it’s going to be different this time, something they’ve put in place or something he’s promised. It’s the same old story. We are waiting with bated breath to see if that old story tells itself again.’
