Where are Robson and Jerome now? From a medication battle to a spiritual sect – a glance again on the various fates of the TV stars nearly 30 years after they catapulted to worldwide fame

Almost 30 years ago, Robson and Jerome found themselves to be unlikely superstars thanks to their huge number one hit Unchained Melody.

Up until that point, the duo – Robson Green and Jerome Flynn- had garnered relative popularity as they starred as Dave Tucker and Paddy Garvey in hit ITV show Soldier Soldier about the daily lives of a group of soldiers in a fictional British Army infantry regiment after the Cold War.

However, it wasn’t until one 1993 episode when their pair’s characters sang a karaoke version of The Righteous Brothers’ ballad that things really changed for them – thanks to a hasty call from a then little-known music executive Simon Cowell begging them to record a version.

Two years later – after months of persuasion from Cowell – the pair found themselves at the height of their fame, with an impressive singing career including number one singles and albums under their belts.

However, it hasn’t all been glitz and glam for the actors, with one finding himself facing a battle with drink and drugs while the other became embroiled in acontroversial religious sect in the years following their music success.

These days, while not the megastars they once were, Robson and Jerome are still going strong with their acting careers- albeit separately – with the duo even bagging a brief mention during the Gavin and Stacey Christmas finale on Wednesday. 

With the recent onscreen nod to their heyday, MailOnline takes a look back at the varying fates of Robson and Jerome…

Robson Green

These days, Robson, 60, currently stars in ITV drama Grantchester playing Detective Inspector Geordie Keating, a role he’s played since the show’s inauguration back in 2014.

The TV star has appeared alongside the likes of James Norton and later Tom Brittney as they investigate crimes in the Cambridgeshire village of Grantchester. 

Despite making his TV debut in Casualty back in 1989, it was his role as Fusilier Dave Tucker in Soldier Soldier that propelled Robson to fame. 

However, it was this role that sent him on a downward spiral, with Robson previously opening up about his battle with drink and drugs after becoming a household name at age 26.

In an interview with The Mirror back in 2021, the actor detailed how at the time he was ‘losing touch with what mattered in life’. 

He said: ‘I was just 26 years old when real fame came knocking at my door with a drama called Soldier Soldier watched by 21 million people… I started having real problems with fame and alcohol and drugs.’ 

And although enjoying the ‘recognition and parties’ that came with his stardom, Robson admitted he wasn’t happy and was ‘losing touch with what mattered in life’.

Explaining how he turned things around, Robson said after his miner father asked if he was happy he knew he wasn’t satisfied with life and went to therapy.    

He said: ‘Dad goes ‘Are you happy?’, and I went ‘Yeah,’ but deep down I knew I wasn’t and I realised I didn’t have anything. Because all I was doing in my life was acting.’

After speaking with a therapist Robson rediscovered his love for fishing, something which he says was a ‘turning point’ for him. 

In addition to Soldier Soldier, Robson has had a varied TV career, featuring in several projects including Touching Evil, Wire in the Blood, Little Devil, Reckless, City Lights, and Northern Lights.

Meanwhile, back in 2017, Robson reunited with his old pal Jerome for an episode of his documentary series Tales From The Coast, in which he explores Britain’s coasts, fishing villages and seaside towns. 

Jerome lives on the Pembrokeshire coast and happily joined forces with his former co-star as they went sea kayaking around Ramsey Island and Robson attempted to navigate some of the most dangerous tidal rapids off British shores 

However, away from screens, the actor has another huge passion – fishing – with the star managing to turn his passion into a presenting job. 

Robson has gone on to front shows including Extreme Fishing with Robson Green, Robson Green’s Weekend Escapes and Robson Green’s Ultimate Catch, in which he heads around the world to catch an array of the most exciting species of fish. 

Meanwhile, Robson’s love life is just as colourful as his TV career, having suffered two divorces while he recently declared he’s never marry again.

Robson is currently in a relationship with Zoila Short and the pair live together in Hexham, Northumberland 

His first marriage was to Alison Ogilvie, an occupational therapist, in 1991. 

It ended eight years later after he was reportedly found to have been having a four-year affair with Pamela McDonald, who was married to Emmerdale actor Ian Sharrock.

In 2001 Green married former Page 3 model Vanya Seager, who he met while she was Simon Cowell‘s secretary amid his success with Jerome.

The pair went on to welcome a son Taylor Robson Green in April 2000. That marriage ended in divorce in 2013 after the pair had not lived together for two years.

It is thought he then dated air hostess Stephanie Short after meeting her on a plane where she was part of the cabin crew.

In 2016, he met his current partner Zoila – a Sunday school teacher – at a gym in Newcastle while she was married to the Reverend Geoffrey Short.

After their relationship was made public, Reverend Short was said to have told his congregation at St Columba’s Church in the village of Wideopen of his heartache and to have said it led him to question his faith.  

But while Robson is happy with Zoila, he recently told how he has no plans too get down on one knee, stating in a 2023 interview with The Times: ‘No, I’ve done enough of that. We’re very happy together.’ 

Jerome Flynn

While Soldier Soldier wasn’t Jerome’s first acting job, it certainly made him a household name – with his fame further catapulting thanks to his subsequent singing success alongside Robson. 

Jerome, 61, currently lives on his remote farm in Pembrokeshire but still continues his work as an actor and producer.

One of his most recent roles has been latest role is as Banner Creighton in the Paramount+ western series 1923, which he’s appeared in since 2022.

While he also makes an appearance in TV series The Change as Pig Man.  

At the height of his fame, Jerome abandoned his career and disappeared from the spotlight to join a religious sect – which he was part of for eight years. 

He was introduced to the works of the American spiritual guru Andrew  Cohen and Enlightenment movement by actor pal Linus Roache – the son of Coronation Street actor William Roache – with Jerome’s life changing almost overnight. 

Jerome was fascinated by Cohen’s spiritual teachings, essentially a reworking of Hindu mysticism and Tibetan Buddhism dressed up for Western consumption, and at the height of his fame fled to Rishikesh in India on a two-week retreat.

On his return to Britain in 1996 he threw everything in with Cohen’s sect, abandoning his career and moving into a commune in North London with a group of fellow believers, including his then girlfriend, Anna Jacobs.

It was, in Jerome’s own words, ‘a very intense spiritual life … equivalent to being a monk for eight years’.

In the end, however, Jerome, like Anna four year before him, reached the end of the road with Cohen. He has admitted he became convinced Cohen was ‘a Christ-like figure’ and has criticised his former guru because ‘he didn’t discourage that in a way that I think he should have’.

After his relationship with Anna ended and he left the organisation, Jerome spent 18 months taking stock of his life as he renovated the Georgian farm he had bought in Pembrokeshire.

Following the death of his father, Eric, from cancer in 2002, Jerome has set about rebuilding his career.

He won rave reviews the following year for his stage performances in a one-man show about Tommy Cooper directed by Simon Callow.

In 2011, Jerome made his big TV comeback as he starred as Bronn in the hit HBO series Game Of Thrones.

The show led to him being cast in Ripper Street, having starred as Detective Sergeant Bennet Drake for four seasons between 2012–2016 – with the role even earning him a BAFTA nomination.

In terms of his love life, Jerome famously dated his Game Of Thrones co-star Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister) between 2002 – 2003 with the romance said to havebeen a tumultuous one.

Things were thought to have ended so badly between the pair that they were reported to have refused to work with each other – something which the actor has denied.