More War than Peace!

After his kiss with another British star, actor’s ex tells of ‘acrimonious’ split

WORKING on the opulent set of War and Peace, their relationship may have felt just like an on-screen romance.

But Jessie Buckley has admitted that her split from co-star James Norton was not quite so picture perfect.

The actress, 28, said their break-up after two years together was ‘acrimonious’, putting it down partly to the difficulty of dating a fellow actor.

While in a relationship, the stars acted in the BBC’s lavish six-part dramatisation of Tolstoy’s War and Peace, which came out in 2016. Norton, 32, played Andrei Bolkonsky, while Miss Buckley took on the role of his sister Princess Maria Bolkonskaya.

When they broke up last summer, they kept the news under wraps – but in December the Mail revealed Norton was dating his new co-star Imogen Poots.

In exclusive pictures, Norton was seen kissing the actress during a Christmas shopping trip in London. Miss Buckley refused to say whether the actor – tipped to be the next James Bond – had left her for Miss Poots, but said the relationship had ended badly.

‘We have broken up, yes,’ she said. ‘It was acrimonious, but it’s a tough job to have a relationship and he is a great man and we are great friends. That’s it. How diplomatic can I sound?’ Explaining the breakup, Miss Buckley told The Times: ‘If you are away for a year filming, you are just not physically around at points.’

It emerged yesterday that Norton is to leave his role as crime-fighting clergyman Sidney Chambers in Grantchester. Filming Break-up: James Norton and Jessie Buckley were co-stars. Inset, Norton kissing Imogen Poots in December will begin on Norton’s fourth and last series in June, with a new vicar to be announced soon. He recently starred in the BBC series McMafia, playing the British-raised son of Russian mafia exiles.

Norton and Miss Poots, 28, met while starring as a couple in the play Belleville at London’s Donmar Warehouse.