He is one of the most sought after protagonists and also known for being a charming guy off screen.
However, friends say Happy Valley star James Norton is quietly suffering his heartbreak after splitting from fiancée Imogen Poots.
I’m told the couple, who shared a house in east London, split before Christmas after ‘splitting’.
The pair have been working almost constantly, with James, 38, filming the Bob Marley biopic One Love, which premiered in Los Angeles and London this week.
He plays Island Records founder Chris Blackwell.
IHappy Valley star James Norton is quietly suffering his heartbreak after splitting from fiancée Imogen Poots. Imogen was last seen with James in March 2023.
The pair have been working almost constantly, with James, 38, filming the Bob Marley biopic One Love, which premiered in Los Angeles and London this week.
Imogen, 34, spent time in New Mexico in 2022 making the drama Outer Range with James Brolin and is now on the Northamptonshire set making Hedda, a new adaptation of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler.
In an interview last year to promote the Happy Valley finale, he said of his busy life as an actor: “It comes at a cost because you don’t see each other much, but we’re willing to pay that for the benefit of having someone in your life close to you.” you, who understands, who forgives, who will give up their Sunday to do an annoying self-recording (audition)’.
They got together after meeting during a performance of the play Belleville at the Donmar Warehouse in 2017 and got engaged in February 2022.
Imogen was last seen with James after the opening night of A Little Life, an adaptation of Hanya Yanagihara’s novel, in March 2023.
However, there has been no sign of her at any of the One Love premieres, in Jamaica, Los Angeles or London.
The couple also appear to have unfollowed each other on social media, with Imogen not among those liking any of Norton’s recent Instagram posts about the film.
Spokespeople for Imogen and James did not respond to requests for comment this week.
James, who went to Ampleforth College before reading Theology at Cambridge, recently completed Joy, a Netflix film about the first ‘test tube baby’ Louise Brown.
He is now making Playing Nice, a four-part ITV drama about parents who discover their children were accidentally switched at birth. James is an executive producer of that show through his own company, Rabbit Track Productions.
The couple also appear to have unfollowed each other on social media, and Imogen is not among those who like any of Norton’s recent Instagram posts about the film.
In an interview last year to promote the Happy Valley finale, he said of his busy life as an actor: “It takes a toll because you don’t see each other much” (James pictured).
Imogen and James met when they starred together in Belleville at the Donmar Warehouse during the summer of 2017.
They got engaged in February 2022 (pictured together in January 2020)
Of the Happy Valley finale, which saw escaped prisoner Tommy Lee Royce in a final confrontation with Sergeant Catherine Cawood, played by Sarah Lancashire, he said: “That scene with Sarah was one of the most special scenes I’ve ever filmed. The whole set was silent, like I was in a church.
‘She was spectacular and I felt like she was doing a good job. I usually walk off the set and say, ‘Oh no, I screwed up!’ It is awful! I hate myself. The rubbish of life!’
In the final scenes of Happy Valley, Cawood called his sister Clare and told her that he had had one last meeting with Tommy. We had another little fight. I won, obviously. I think I might have singed one of your crochet blankets.