{"id":258461,"date":"2026-01-22T19:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T19:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/258461\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T19:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T19:06:09","slug":"my-secret-split-by-emilia-fox-he-proposed-to-her-every-day-and-she-always-said-yes-now-silent-witness-actress-breaks-her-silence-on-her-heartache-over-life-changing-relationship-end-and-wh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/258461\/","title":{"rendered":"My secret split, by Emilia Fox. He proposed to her every day and she always said yes. Now Silent Witness actress breaks her silence on her heartache over\u00a0‘life-changing’ relationship end – and what’s next"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oh no! For a minute there, Silent Witness fans, life looked peachy. Last time we tuned in, Nikki Alexander and Jack Hodgson, TV\u2019s most meant-for-each-other couple, were finally getting their happy-ever-after. And off-screen the adorable Emilia Fox, who\u2019s played Nikki for 20 years, had found her someone special too.<\/p>\n

To recap, season 28 saw pathologist Nikki and her forensic scientist counterpart Jack (David Caves) newly married and dancing in Trafalgar Square. It was teased on Instagram by Emilia in a white hazmat suit and a mini veil, but when it came to the actual wedding Nikki had flowers in her hair, a white dress shimmering with glass beads and some pertinent lines about the mysteries of the human heart.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Emilia, 51, who\u2019s had a fair bit of turbulence in her private life<\/a>, was blissfully happy with handsome TV producer Jonathan Stadlen. It had been a whirlwind love affair, \u2018life-changing\u2019 she said after they first got together in 2021. \u2018You can never say for definite, but I feel so hopeful.\u2019 He proposed to her every day just for fun and she always said yes.<\/p>\n

But now, just as Nikki settles into wedded bliss, Emilia\u2019s own relationship is over, she reveals. She\u2019s been single for a year, spending 2025 coming to terms with her secret split from Jonathan. It\u2019s a plot twist worthy of, well, a top-rated TV drama.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s been a year of change,\u2019 the mother of one admits. \u2018At the beginning of 2025 we separated. It\u2019s really sad when relationships finish, and particularly one for which we both had lots of hope. The end of a relationship, no matter why it happens, or even if it happens in the best way\u2026 well, you\u2019ve thought your life was going to be one thing, and then it\u2019s something else. How you cope is about the attitude you take.<\/p>\n

\u2018You can see life\u2019s dents as harmful, or choose to think they make us who we are. So my attitude is that I take all the good things that happened \u2013 I have nothing but lovely things to say about Jonathan, and I feel lucky to have been on that path with him \u2013 and accept it\u2019s time to look to a different future.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Emilia <\/p>\n

Emilia Fox with TV producer Jonathan Stadlen. They had a \u2018life-changing\u2019 whirlwind relationship after meeting in 2021, she says… but reveals she has been single for a year<\/p>\n

\"Her <\/p>\n

Her happiness had been mirrored on screen, where her Silent Witness character Nikki marry her forensic scientist counterpart Jack (played by David Caves)<\/p>\n

It sounds as if it\u2019s been pretty traumatic. \u2018It\u2019s OK,\u2019 she says. \u2018I\u2019m OK. In fact, I\u2019m better than OK. I feel good. I think with relationships, the older you get the more experiences you have, the more you appreciate things, and I appreciate what we had together. The ending doesn\u2019t take away from how lovely it was. Since we parted, I\u2019ve put into practice all the things I know make me feel better, and that\u2019s helped me reach a more positive place.\u2019<\/p>\n

Why did they break up? \u2018The why is a harder one,\u2019 is all she\u2019ll say, keen to respect her former partner\u2019s privacy. Was it mutual? \u2018Er, yeah.\u2019 She doesn\u2019t sound entirely convincing, but she\u2019s not offering any clues as to which one of them broke it off.<\/p>\n

So, how has she helped herself? She brightens, back on firmer territory, and runs through a long list: time, friends, her mum and dad (she\u2019s a member of the Fox acting dynasty, the daughter of actors Edward Fox and Joanna David), talking, a change of scene, work, nature, and finding something to laugh about.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019ve had a year and time does its work, it does its healing. When you say that to a teenager, they don\u2019t understand. Even in your 20s it\u2019s hard to believe, but in my 50s I know time has the power to make me feel better.<\/p>\n

\u2018Rose [her 15-year-old daughter, doing her GCSEs this summer] and I have had great girly times together. We went to Majorca, and to Ibiza in the springtime, when it\u2019s really quiet and there\u2019s such an abundance of wild flowers.\u2019 A classic change of scene? \u2018Yes,\u2019 Emilia smiles.<\/p>\n

\u2018Then I\u2019ve got amazing friends, thank God. The best. And, of course, my family, Mum and Dad. Plus I was lucky because I was working and you don\u2019t talk about relationships at work. So I focused on Silent Witness and on being enveloped in the warmth of Signora Volpe, that was really helpful too.\u2019<\/p>\n

Signora Volpe is Emilia\u2019s other crime-busting show in which Sylvia Fox, a British spy retired to Italy, turns detective among the olive groves and medieval streets of Panicale, Umbria. The cosy escapism that makes it an inter-generational treat sounds as though it has been a balm for Emilia\u2019s heart too.<\/p>\n

\"Emilia <\/p>\n

Emilia Fox at last year’s Bafta awards ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall… her chic bob hairstyle caught the eye<\/p>\n

\"Emilia <\/p>\n

Emilia says of her break-up with Jonathan Stadlen: ‘With relationships, the older you get the more experiences you have, the more you appreciate things, and I appreciate what we had together’<\/p>\n

\"Dr <\/p>\n

Dr Nikki Alexander and Jack Hodgson in some of the first images released this week of the new season of the drama, which starts next month<\/p>\n

\u2018Talking, without a doubt, makes you feel good,\u2019 she goes on. She learned that from her years in therapy and has had it underscored by her friendship with TV criminologist and Birmingham City University emeritus professor David Wilson. Emilia makes the true-crime series In The Footsteps Of Killers for Channel 4 with him and they were recording an episode of their podcast, If It Bleeds It Leads, when she first met Jonathan, who\u2019d come to research a new project of his own.<\/p>\n

\u2018David always says the three things guaranteed to make you feel better are talking, being in nature and laughing. That stuck with me, the need to find someone to laugh with, or to go and see something that makes you laugh. It\u2019s simple, but a good thing to hold on to.\u2019<\/p>\n

Is she currently single? \u2018I am, yes.\u2019 But not swearing off men forever? \u2018No, no, I would never do that, I wouldn\u2019t be that extreme. But I have really appreciated having time to myself, to collect myself, and be on my own. It\u2019s been good for me. The last year has been a healing time.\u2019<\/p>\n

Emilia\u2019s love life has been part of the gossip economy since she was an emerging star at the turn of the century. In 2000 she was engaged to comedian Vic Reeves, whom she met filming Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased). In 2005 she married Hollywood A-lister Jared Harris, son of Richard Harris, divorcing after five years. She then turned to international peace campaigner Jeremy Gilley, from whom she parted in 2011. He is Rose\u2019s father and there have been other relationships, including one with celebrity chef Marco Pierre White.<\/p>\n

Stadlen, however, seemed to be \u2018The One\u2019 set to give Emilia the kind of long-term domestic stability Silent Witness has brought to her working life. As for Nikki and Jack, well, season 24 of the show (2021) ended with their first smooch and season 25 (2022) opened with them heading into a Liverpool hotel room together. By season 26 (2023) they were officially a couple, and their engagement was the finale of season 27 (2024) when Jack, truly on brand, produced a ring box from inside an evidence bag. Their wedding, broadcast in February 2025, was the climax to the last season, causing a fan frenzy and ushering in a new era for the venerable show.<\/p>\n

Silent Witness, now 30 years old, is the world\u2019s longest-running crime drama with all 28 series available on BBC iPlayer and a list of guest stars that reads like acting royalty: Emily Mortimer, Idris Elba, Nicholas Hoult, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jodie Comer, Jim Carter, Martin Compston, Eddie Marsan, Tamsin Egerton, Jason Watkins, John Hannah and Daniel Kaluuya.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been unafraid of innovation since its earliest days when Amanda Burton played Nikki\u2019s predecessor, the formidable pathologist Sam Ryan. As well as Nikki, who took over from Sam in 2004, and Jack now returning as husband and wife, series 29 shifts the action from the Lyell Centre in London to the newly opened Sir William Bowman Centre of Excellence in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

Some things haven\u2019t changed, of course. There\u2019s still a murder to solve and a post mortem to conduct and a storyline that captures the zeitgeist. This season will examine the polarising impact of social media, the rise of AI and the digital distortion of our reality.<\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s a lot to look forward to,\u2019 promises Emilia. \u2018I like the idea of two scientists, who only deal in facts, learning about love and emotional chemistry. David Caves and I have a very, very emotional storyline together.\u2019<\/p>\n

Beyond the juggernaut of Silent Witness \u2013 she\u2019s already filming for next year \u2013 Emilia has a third series of Signora Volpe heading to air and, since she\u2019s always loved mysteries and puzzles and has made her career in \u2018crime\u2019, surely she\u2019s a shoo-in for The Celebrity Traitors?<\/p>\n

\u2018Even thinking about that question has made my heart rate rise,\u2019 she squawks. \u2018I don\u2019t think I could handle the pressure of not telling the truth. Even as a child I didn\u2019t like sardines, or wink murder. Plus I laugh when I\u2019m nervous, I have a terrible poker face.\u2019<\/p>\n

That said, she might like to play a killer in a drama one day. \u2018The complications of a different kind of mind at work, so unlike my own, that would exciting,\u2019 she says, and she wouldn\u2019t mind doing a bit of comedy either. An action role? \u2018Oooh, I don\u2019t know they\u2019d want me,\u2019 she laughs.<\/p>\n

Does she ever wake up in the night and wonder if Nikki might one day be the corpse on the Silent Witness mortuary slab? \u2018It\u2019s quite possible,\u2019 Emilia says wryly, \u2018but I\u2019d only find out when I read the script!\u2019<\/p>\n

Silent Witness returns on Monday, February 2, 9pm, BBC1 and iPlayer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oh no! For a minute there, Silent Witness fans, life looked peachy. Last time we tuned in, Nikki…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,539,93,61,60,1489],"class_list":["post-258461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-dailymail","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tvshowbiz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}