Line of Duty and Ludwig star Anna Maxwell Martin spoke movingly this week about how her world was turned upside down when her ex-husband Roger Michell died four years ago.
Details have now emerged about how Michell, 65, a double BAFTA winner and director of Notting Hill, died and the consequences for the family.
His death from a heart attack occurred on the same day in September 2020 that he completed the final sound mix for what would be his final film, the Prime documentary Elizabeth: A Portrait in Parts, which was released posthumously.
According to his death certificate, issued two weeks later, a post-mortem examination showed that Michell died of a) acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) and b) left coronary atheroma (a buildup of fatty deposits in the coronary artery).
Hertfordshire’s chief coroner, Geoffrey Sullivan, certified the death, but no inquest was held.
Roger Michell, the ex-husband of Line Of Duty star Anna Maxwell Martin (pictured with him in 2013), died from a heart attack and a buildup of fat in his coronary artery.
Maxwell Martin, 47, spoke movingly this week about how Michell’s death left her feeling “financial terror”.
The pair (seen in 2008) first met when Michell directed Martin in the 2004 adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel Enduring Love. She was 26 years old at the time, while he was 48.
Maxwell Martin said he experienced a sense of “financial terror” with Michell’s sudden death, more than a year after the couple announced their separation.
The actress said her immediate priority was to protect her daughters, Maggie, 15, and Nancy, 13, as they faced an uncertain financial future.
Anna spoke as her new four-part true crime drama, Until I Kill You, premieres on ITVX on Sunday in which she plays nurse Delia Balmer, who endured a relationship with convicted double murderer John Sweeney.
Anna told the BBC’s Women’s Hour: “My husband died three years ago and things were really difficult in all aspects of our lives.
‘One of them was that there are many things that come with pain, and one of them is financial terror. “And then there are real practicalities around their children and their mental health, and supporting them, which is their priority.”
The pair first met when Michell directed Martin in the 2004 adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel Enduring Love. She was 26 years old at the time, while he was 48.
Father-of-four Michell had been living in Hitchin, Hertfordshire and his eldest son, Harry, informed the Record Office, the document said. Writer, director and actor Harry and his sister, theatrical agent Rosanna, were from Michell’s first marriage to actress Kate Buffery.
In an interview published just days before Roger’s death, Anna said the couple still got along well and planned to spend Christmas together.
Michell died at age 65 on the same day in September 2020 that he completed the final sound mix for what would be his final film, the Prime documentary Elizabeth: A Portrait in Parts.
This week she told Woman’s Hour how it took her a long time to come to terms with his death.
She said: ‘Looking back, I was probably in a state of shock, fear and heightened state for a long time, actually, until very recently…
‘I don’t know anyone who has gone through what my children have gone through. So I just focused on them, and I didn’t really start crying for Roger until probably six months ago.’
She compared the experience to losing her father Ivan when she was just 24 years old.
‘I have been down this road before, of pain and sudden, traumatic death. I’ve done it before and in some ways I could get up and do it again.
“It was horrible having to watch my kids go down that road, but I’m pretty brave, I’m pretty strong, and I think I’m pretty skilled, I hope, at navigating life. And I thought, ‘I’ve got to keep the engine running.’
Describing her first experience of loss, she explained: “When it happened to me and I was 24, I felt very alone. I was very isolated because no one had gone through what I had gone through. I didn’t know those people.
“And then when it happened with Rog, I saw it more as, ‘We all have to stick together for the kids.’
She noted that as a woman in her 40s, she was grateful for “having the best friends and the best people around me.”
And he added: “You will have stopped making mistakes in that area of your life.” And I really did, I had exceptional friends, an exceptional support network.”
When Anna announced her split from Michell in 2020 in an interview with the Mail on Sunday’s You magazine, she said: ‘Our marriage is over and we’ve been separated for quite some time.
‘I haven’t really talked about this because it’s not fair to everyone involved.
‘There are four children to think about. It’s taken an enormous amount of time, but we’re all getting through it in a healthy way.’
The actress said her immediate priority was to protect her daughters, Maggie, 15, and Nancy, 13, as they faced an uncertain financial future.
Michell’s sudden death came more than a year after the couple announced their separation, although they remained on good terms. They are seen in 2012.
Michell’s best-known film was Notting Hill, the romantic comedy written by Richard Curtis and starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant in 1999. The film was a huge commercial success and was nominated for three Golden Globes.
Her other films included 2002’s Changing Lanes with Ben Affleck and Samuel L Jackson, Peter O’Toole’s final film Venus, and two films with Daniel Craig: The Mother in 2002 and an adaptation of Ian McEwan’s Enduring Love in 2002. following year. .
Michell had been in talks to direct Craig in the 2006 James Bond film Quantum of Solace, but jumped ship shortly before production, citing concerns about the script.
He also stopped directing Captain Corelli’s Mandolin after suffering a heart attack in 1999, shortly after the release of Notting Hill.