Inside ITV star Siobhan Finneran’s private life and romance with fellow TV detective
The British actor is the lead of a new thriller.
Siobhan Finneran, lead of ITV’s new thriller Protection, appears to have struck up a sweet romance with another popular TV detective.
The British actor, 59, has been involved in several staple shows, from BBC’s hit crime drama Happy Valley opposite Sarah Lancashire to Downton Abbey’s grouchy Miss O’Brien.
If you are an avid TV watcher, you will have come across something the Bafta-winning actor has featured in, whether it’s Alma’s Not Normal, Time, The Recokning or Benidorm.
Her latest role is as a witness protection officer whose life is torn apart when a family she is protecting falls under attack – bringing the ghosts of her past, present and future home to roost.
All this to say that the six-part heart-pounding crime drama is familiar territory for the Lancashire-born actress.
Here’s what we know about the acclaimed actress’s life away from the limelight.
She stars in the new ITV thriller, Protection (Picture: Matt Squire/ITV) Who is Siobhan Finneran’s partner?Siobhan was married to star of police procedural Heartbeat, Mark Jordon, for 17 years before they got divorced in 2014.
In 2001, a few years after the pair married, Mark (also known for his roles in Casualty, Hollyoaks and Doctors) spoke about his then-wife in an interview with The Mirror.
‘She’s just so lovely. We met when I was 20 and she was a bezzie, bezzie mate for years. We didn’t realise that half of our fun was flirtatious,’ he said at the time.
The pair had even acted in Heartbeat together a few years previously. Recalling his proposal story, Mark once said he ‘took her down to London for a romantic weekend’ that involved a limo and her favourite music.
The Downton Abbey actor was married to Mark Jordon for 17 years (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)After the couple parted ways in 2014, Siobhan was romantically linked with Don Gilet – the new lead star of Death in Paradise.
The pair worked together on the 2017 ITV drama The Loch which centres around a murder in a small Scottish town. Since then, they have appeared on the red carpet together and were seen holding hands at the 2024 TV Choice Awards.
And although they have kept their rumoured romance low-key, Siobhan seemed to confirm the relationship in a recent chat with The Guardian.
As she recommended her favourite artist, Rudi Hurzlmeier, she reminisced on a sweet anecdote involving the TV detective.
Siobhan Finneran recently confirmed her relationship with Don in The Guardian (Picture: WireImage) They starred together in the ITV drama, The Loch (Picture: ITV)‘I found a card I’d been sent years ago, clearing out a drawer, and laughed as soon as I saw it again.
‘It’s a picture of a nun looking in a shoe shop, and a bloke next to her has got his hand on her bum. I showed it to Don [Gilet], my fella, and now one of my Christmas presents is a book of Hurzlmeier’s work,’ she said.
Does Siobhan Finneran have children?Yes, Siobhan shares two children with her ex-husband Mark. A daughter Poppy and son, Joseph who are both in their late 20s.
In a recent interview with The Guardian, she spoke a bit about taking a step back from acting to raise her children.
She said: ‘You sometimes look back and think, yeah, I made a decision not to work when the children were small.
‘But I don’t think I’d made a decision. I think there probably wasn’t a lot of work coming in, and that just fitted in quite brilliantly with the fact that I had two kids under the age of two.’
As for Mark, his role as a father is front and centre on his social media, with his Instagram handle reading markjordondad where he occasionally shares photos with his children.
Why did Siobhan Finneran leave Downton Abbey? Her exit from Downton Abbey sparked a lot of discourse at the time (Picture: ITV)Perhaps one of the biggest questions that came from Siobhan’s three season stint on the ITV period drama Downton Abbey was the reason behind her sudden departure.
The villainous lady’s maid, Miss O’Brien, was a firm fixture of the show, filled with snarky quips, a firm alliance with the scheming Thomas Barrow and plenty of disdain for poor and rich alike.
But, at the start of season four, viewers were informed that Miss O’Brien had abruptly left her post to follow Lady Flintshire to India.
Siobhan later shed some light on the reason behind her exit, and made clear it was entirely her decision to not renew her contract.
‘I signed up to do three series and that was all I wanted to do,” she explained.
‘I had great fun doing it but I just didn’t want to do it any more. I decided this before we even did the last series. When I stop loving something, I stop doing it.’
Protection airs at 9pm on Sunday, March 16 on ITV1 and will be available to stream on ITVX.
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