How Amanda Abbington met Jonathan Goodwin: 'I was on top of him like a rat in a drainpipe'

Actress Amanda Abbington and stuntman Jonathan Goodwin first connected on Twitter in 2012. "We were both a couple at the time, but admired the work on the other and we sometimes liked each other's tweets", explains Amandine. Years later, when they were both single, their messages gradually became more flirty. But it wasn't until August 2021 that they discovered a deeper connection between them.

"I was living in Las Vegas at the time and we started talking about past relationships," says Jonathan. They immediately felt connected by the challenges they had faced in their personal lives and decided to swap numbers. “I was on top of him like a rat in a gutter. I had been imagining it for a few years,” Amanda laughs.

The next day they had a seven-hour phone call and admitted they were both in love . "I had never considered returning to the UK before, and I actually changed my mind on that call," says Jonathan. "I kind of knew I had found my person the moment we hung up." Amanda recalls thinking he had "a beautiful voice" and that she enjoyed the way he made her laugh. After the call, Amanda sent a series of voice notes. "She called me 'sweetie,' then got all embarrassed and tried to back out. She was like Hugh Grant from Four Weddings and a Funeral," Jonathan explains. "I thought, 'Damn it. Holy shit, Amanda Abbington likes me." "I was filming in Vienna and had some free time," she says. "I was like a giddy schoolgirl, constantly texting him while he was at work," she says. At the end of August, Jonathan traveled to Vienna to meet Amanda in person for the first time. “At that moment, I knew I was going to ask her to marry me. I had already planned it, even though we had only been talking for a month," he says.

When they saw each other, they shared a "big hug" "It was the most amazing, natural thing in the world,” Amanda says. Within 30 minutes of that hug, the couple were engaged. “I cut out the shape of the ring box in the middle of a book of Shakespeare sonnets, to get her inside. Under the box, it was written: "Will you marry me?" He admits his romantic gesture may have been too complex, as it took Amanda a few minutes to figure out what was going on. But, like Jonathan, she knew instantly that he was "the only one". After their first 48-hour date, saying goodbye at the airport was painful. "We realized we couldn't be far from each other after that," Amanda says.

Two weeks later, Jonathan flew to UK to meet Amanda's family and they enjoyed three nights together. He then traveled to Atlanta, where he was shooting an extreme stunt. But before Amanda could visit him, disaster struck.

Jonathan was involved in a life-changing accident during a stunt rehearsal, which left him paralyzed from the waist down. "On the morning of October 14, I noticed he had received a phone call, which was weird because we were still texting," Amanda said. "It was a voicemail from his stunt coordinator telling me to call him ASAP." She was told her fiancé was in "very poor condition" and had been taken to intensive care. “I phoned his sister, who told her parents. As a family we tried to speak to Jonathan, but he was in critical condition and there was hardly any information for hours,” she said. -spacefinder-role="supporting" data-spacefinder-type="model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement" class="dcr-a2pvoh">