Last seen driving his Range Rover out of SoHa (South Harlesden) in a fury in the hit BBC comedy series Amandaland, Peter Serafinowicz is now seeking pastures new in real life as well.
I can disclose that the talented actor and comedian has separated from his wife of 23 years, Sarah Alexander, a star of the popular BBC sitcom Coupling. The pair have two children, a son and a daughter.
‘It’s very sad, but the split is recent,’ a source tells me.
Serafinowicz, 52, played Johannes Van Der Velde, the extrovert South African boyfriend of social climber Amanda, played by Lucy Punch in Amandaland, which has been commissioned for a second series.
The Liverpool-born actor, whose Hollywood roles include the voice of Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Garthan Saal in Guardians Of The Galaxy, is the new host of the American game show Million Dollar Secret, billed as Netflix’s lavish answer to The Traitors.
His wife, 54 (pictured with him, right), hit the headlines in 2001 when, aged 30, she began a relationship with the veteran actor Gerald Harper, then 70.
Harper, whose daughter is eight years older than Ms Alexander, was a star in the 1960s and 1970s as TV’s Adam Adamant. In 2002, she left him for Serafinowicz, whom she later married.
Serafinowicz, who once had his own eponymous television comedy show, is also famed for his impressions of Donald Trump, whom he redubbed in a sassy camp voice, which became an internet sensation.
Peter Serafinowicz has separated from his wife of 23 years, Sarah Alexander (both pictured)
Serafinowicz, 52, played Johannes Van Der Velde, the extrovert South African boyfriend of social climber Amanda in Amandaland
Although his character was Amanda Punch’s boyfriend in Amandaland (both pictured above), he confesses he’d rather be paired with the actress who plays her mother, Dame Joanna Lumley.
‘We all have a vision of what we think Joanna Lumley would be like if we met her,’ he explains. ‘And somehow she manages to completely surpass those expectations.’
School was no laughing matter for comedian Harry Hill. Recalling his time at Joan of Arc school, near Hawkhurst in Kent – which has since burnt down – Hill, 60, says: ‘The nuns used to hit us.
‘One hit us with a rolled-up newspaper, so I’d listen to Radio 4 in the morning, praying that it was a slow news day so the newspaper would be a thinner one.’
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex leaving the Thanksgiving Service for HRH Queen Elizabeth II in June 2022
Meghan and Harry speak together as they applaud while attending the annual One Young World Summit at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester on September 5, 2022
Money will keep Prince Harry and Meghan together for the foreseeable future, Princess Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell predicts.
‘Despite pressures on their marriage and lifestyle, I personally think there are no signs of divorce because Harry would lose too much,’ he claims.
‘Meghan and Harry have a common goal to make themselves as rich as possible in as short a time as possible.
‘I think that balance works together for the sake of their brand, their marriage.’
Burrell, 66 – whom Diana referred to as her ‘rock’ – knows all about the love of money, of course, having been accused of ‘a cold and overt betrayal’ by Princes William and Harry for revealing their mother’s confidences in his 2003 book, A Royal Duty.
Many actors find giving interviews to publicise their work a chore. But Rosamund Pike, 46, is amazed anyone’s interested at all.
‘There’s a tremendous arrogance in actors assuming that, because films are in popular culture or theatre or television, that somehow we’ve got a right to talk about our work,’ the former Bond girl says.
Helen George (pictured, right) plays Trixie Aylward in Call The Midwife
She recalled living in a west London basement flat and being woken by police in the small hours
She’s self-medicated on alcohol and energy tablets – and inadvertently almost incinerated herself by setting her apron alight.
But reality was once far more chilling for Helen George than anything faced by Trixie Aylward, her Call The Midwife character.
Recalling living in a west London basement flat, she says she was woken by a knock on the door at about 2am from the police.
‘They said, “We’ve had reports from neighbours that you’ve been crying and screaming for help”. I said, “I was asleep, what is this?”’ adds Helen, 40.
Feeling panicky, she couldn’t sleep. More police visits followed – always at night, prompted by reports of screaming. Thinking she was going mad, she began recording herself while she slept.
Finally, the police were with her when they heard screaming. She explains: ‘My neighbour, with his boyfriend. He had “a very high-pitched voice…”’
Jason Isaacs pictured with Michelle Monoghan
Sam Nivola, Charlotte Le Bon, David Bernad, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Parker Posey, Mike White, Walton Goggins, Lisa, Sarah Catherine Hook, Leslie Bibb and Jason Isaacs attend the Los Angeles Premiere of HBO Original Series ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 at Paramount Theatre on February 10, 2025
Is the acclaim Jason Isaacs is receiving for his performance in The White Lotus going to his head?
I ask because the Liverpudlian has dared to make a foul-mouthed criticism of the most commercially successful film director of all time.
Referring to Steven Spielberg’s 1991 box-office hit Hook, which stars Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman, Isaacs, 61, says: ‘Spielberg made a film about grown-up Pan. Who gives a f***?’
Isaacs, pictured, adds: ‘He’s a brilliant film-maker, but there’s a reason he says it’s the only film he regrets making.’
The actor starred in the 2003 film Peter Pan, but laments: ‘It was a terrible flop.
People thought, “I’ve seen the cartoon, or seen Spielberg’s [film]”.’
