As Mr Maddens in the hit Christmas film Nativity!, he played a jaded and unhappy primary school teacher who voiced his frustration at the children.
In real life, Martin Freeman is not that different, it seems.
I can disclose that the star of The Office, Sherlock and The Hobbit is so fed up with the din from the pre-school opposite his £5million home in Hampstead, north London, that he wants to put in new leaded windows to help block it out.
But Freeman, 53, faces a battle with the local council as his house lies in a designated conservation area where stricter planning laws apply.
The actor, who has two children with Sherlock co-star Amanda Abbington, wants to replace his timber-framed, single-glazed windows with double-glazed metal ones.
It is not clear if Camden Council has formally rejected his application, but Freeman has now lodged an appeal to a government planning inspector.
In a statement, his planning agent said: ‘The noise is a major problem, particularly during term time on weekdays due to the school located directly opposite. New [window] units will reduce noise pollution from the street and school, improving the building’s internal environment.’
Freeman bought his four-storey London home in 2018, after splitting up with Abbington. It has a basement gym, wine cellar and summerhouse.
The proposed new windows were due to be fitted in April but for now Freeman will just have to put up a bit longer with the noise from children running around the playground.
In a policy document, Camden Council said: ‘The character and appearance of a conservation area can be eroded through the loss of traditional architectural details such as historic windows and doors.’
Marchioness of Bath looks fit to be new Emma-nuelle
She is chatelaine of Longleat in Wiltshire, with its estate and safari park, having created a food and lifestyle brand and modelled for Dolce & Gabbana before she found fame on Strictly Come Dancing.
But is the Marchioness of Bath, about to add yet another string to her bow? I ask because Emma Weymouth, 39, posed in a peacock rattan armchair at a showcase for fashion designer Joshua Kane, at the Mandrake Hotel in London’s West End.
Guests said she appeared to be auditioning for a remake of the 1970s film Emmanuelle. No doubt her late father-in-law Alexander, the 7th Marquess of Bath, known for his erotic murals and ‘wifelets’, would have approved.
He described himself as ‘a city rat-turned-country mouse’ – a mouse who, it transpired, left £500,000 of his £15.5million fortune to Battersea Dogs Home. Two years after Paul O’Grady’s death aged 67, it may take a vulture to swoop in and snap up his beloved house above Romney Marsh in Kent. The Radio 2 host recalled being so excited he ‘couldn’t sleep’ after buying Knoll Hill House from comedian Vic Reeves in 1999. But, put up for sale at £3.5million by his widower Andre Portasio last year, it was soon knocked down to £2.65million – and has now been reduced to £2.4million. The seven-bedroom property boasts two cottages, a swimming pool and 20 acres. It’s a pity more millionaires are set to flee Britain this year than any other country in the past decade…
Brosnan boy picks up dad’s brush
When the first major exhibition of James Bond star Pierce Brosnan’s work opened in 2023, he said he always wanted to be an artist.
Now, the 72-year-old actor’s son is showing off his own creations.
Paris Brosnan, 24, was joined by his girlfriend, the model Alex Lee-Aillon, 26, for his exhibition launch at Munich’s Drivers & Business Club.
They posed in front of one of his canvases, which had splattered on it the repeated words ‘you me you’.
Nadiya rakes in the dough
Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain sounded deflated this week after the BBC axed her cookery show.
In contrast, her company accounts have benefitted from inflation and hit almost £2million in reserves. She is worth 20 per cent more after the value of Nadiya J Hussain Ltd rose by £330,000, newly published figures reveal.
Powell’s e-bike prayer victory
Jesus Of Nazareth star Robert Powell could have been forgiven for taking the Lord’s name in vain.
The pavement outside his home in London was strewn with e-bikes, as I disclosed last week. And Powell, 81, feared a heart attack from heaving them aside.
But his prayers have been answered. ‘The cycle bay has gone,’ he tells me.
They’ve been recording their Movers And Shakers podcast in a pub for almost three years, but now Jeremy Paxman, Rory Cellan-Jones and fellow Parkinson’s sufferers are storming Parliament. Their ‘Parky Charter’, calling for a ‘Parkinson’s passport’, will be debated in the House of Commons after they secured 100,000 signatories for a parliamentary petition. Cellan-Jones thanks supporters who spent hours ‘explaining the charter to queues at Wimbledon’.
Sign for yourself at parkypetition.com.
