ALISON BOSHOFF: Happy ending for Strictly’s Amanda Abbington – and a payout for her stuntman fiancé

Joyous news for Amanda Abbington and her fiancé, former stuntman and escapologist Jonathan Goodwin, as he has finally settled his legal action against the makers of America’s Got Talent.

Goodwin was left paralysed and nearly died after a horrifying accident in 2021, when he was crushed between two burning cars during rehearsals for America’s Got Talent: Extreme.

He launched a legal action against makers Fremantle and the broadcaster NBCU in 2023.

The action has now been dismissed ‘with prejudice’ – meaning it cannot come to court again – but lawyers for all sides signed off on an agreement last month.

Details are confidential; however sources tell me Goodwin will have been offered ‘many millions’ in compensation for the accident which ended his career and almost killed him. The money will also pay for his ongoing medical and social needs.

Abbington, 52, said at the time: ‘He fell 30ft and lost a kidney, broke both shoulder blades, shattered both legs. [He got] third-degree burns, broke his spine and severed his spinal cord and nearly died. And then on the operating table, he nearly died again.’

He and actress Amanda got engaged on their first date in 2021 – just three months before the accident. His legal action in 2023 coincided with her unhappy time on Strictly Come Dancing, when she claimed she was bullied by pro dancer Giovanni Pernice. The Italian has always denied wrongdoing and some of her complaints were not upheld by the BBC, although some were.

In an interview last year she said that she and Goodwin had hoped to marry in 2025 but were putting that off until the litigation was over.

Nicole Anderson, a lawyer for Goodwin, said: ‘The terms of any resolution are confidential, and neither we nor our client are able to provide any further comment.’

Lawyers for NBCU and Fremantle did not respond to requests for comment. Goodwin, 46, was a Britain’s Got Talent finalist in 2019. For the stunt on the ‘Extreme’ version of the American show two years later he was strapped into a straitjacket and suspended 70ft above the ground – upside down – while two cars swung back and forth on either side of him.

Footage shows him trying to propel himself back up the rope just before the cars collide but it snapped, leaving him trapped between the vehicles. He then fell, missing a safety mattress and suffering broken bones and burns.

The Welshman filed his lawsuit at the Los Angeles Superior Court in October 2023. His lawyer Stuart Fraenkel said at the time: ‘This is yet another example of the entertainment industry putting profits and ratings before safety. 

‘Jonathan will be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life because there were inadequate safety practices in place to protect him. He hopes that by bringing this claim, lessons will be learned, changes will be made and others will not be exposed to unnecessary risks and danger.’

Goodwin has since started a new career as a hypnotherapist.

He and Abbington began dating five years after she separated from her actor husband Martin Freeman, with whom she has two children.

Last year she reflected: ‘It’s been a weird ten years. ‘We’re definitely on the rollercoaster. I was very close to having a breakdown because of the constant barrage of abuse [over Strictly]. Jonathan was amazing. My friends were amazing. My kids were wonderful, though I was trying to shield them from it.’

Zendaya’s a goddess – but rather low-key 

Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, is generally shown with a helmet, spear and armour. But here is Zendaya’s low-key take, in Christopher Nolan’s much anticipated film The Odyssey, which opens in the UK on July 17.

Matt Damon is Odysseus, and Zendaya’s husband Tom Holland plays his son Telemachus. In a trailer out this week Holland has drawn much mockery for uttering the (not so) immortal line: ‘My dad is coming home!’… in an American accent.

‘God help me, this looks bad!’ one viewer (not me) exclaimed. Another said the stacked cast had an air of a bunch of has-beens doing community theatre. Ouch.

Hello! Adele makes acting debut with help from pal J-Law  

Adele’s acting debut will be seen later this year – most likely at the Venice Film Festival at the end of the summer.

The singer, 38, appears in Tom Ford’s new movie Cry To Heaven, which is widely expected to premiere at the event.

She is part of an all-star cast including Colin Firth, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nicholas Hoult and Thandiwe Newton; and filmed her scenes between January and March in London and Italy.

I’m told that she was mentored through the process by her old pal, Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence, who schooled her in the basics of working on set and ‘running scenes’ (or as we would call it, rehearsing). Apparently Lawrence spent time with Adele at her £50million LA mansion last year and provided encouragement on the acting front.

The source said: ‘Adele and Jennifer have been close for many years. Adele was a great support for Jennifer as she dealt with pregnancy and motherhood while balancing her career, so it was natural that Jennifer was happy to offer some love back.

‘Adele has spent most of the last decade turning down the chance of film and TV gigs. She was always worried about acting not being her craft and that she would freeze on set.

‘Effectively, she has one of the best actresses in the business as her guru.’

The film, based on a 1982 novel by Anne Rice, is set in 18th-century Italy, and is about two castrati – male singers castrated to preserve their perfect soprano voices.

And the loser is… After awards fiasco, Bafta’s in trouble again 

This year is shaping up to be a torrid one for Bafta – and February a month to forget.

The venerable charity suffered huge reputational damage after obscenities were shouted by a Tourette syndrome sufferer during their awards ceremony on February 22 – and then broadcast.

John Davidson was in the audience to support I Swear, a film based on his life with Tourette’s. But a microphone placed near him picked up the involuntary outburst.

At least two Bafta members quit, in protest at the indignity suffered by presenters Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan, who were on stage at the time.

The charity undertook an independent review and issued an ‘unreserved apology to those impacted’ (including Tourette sufferers) last month.

And now it can be revealed that Bafta was reported to the Charity Commission by another angry member after hiring out their swanky headquarters in Piccadilly earlier that same month to the controversial tech giant Palantir.

While guests inside celebrated a £240million deal between the Ministry of Defence and Palantir, outside around a dozen protestors expressed their objections to the deal, the party – and Palantir itself. The software firm, founded by Peter Thiel, has worked with ICE – America’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency – and the Israeli military (the protest in Piccadilly included a large pro-Palestine banner).

It also provides operating systems for Amazon – drawing unfriendly fire on the other side of the Pond towards Monday night’s Met Gala, which was sponsored by… Mr and Mrs Jeff Bezos.

The Charity Commission here confirmed that a complaint had been received, but said that after assessment it was deemed that there was no regulatory breach which needed to be investigated.

A source said: ‘There was no evidence that the charity’s actions fall outside its usual room hire arrangements.’

A spokesman for Bafta said they were not aware that the Charity Commission had received any complaints. She said: ‘The event involving Palantir at 195 Piccadilly in February was an external hire of the space and not a Bafta-hosted event.’

Emma Barnett says the proudest moment of her radio career was helping to rescue a listener who was trapped in her kitchen.

Barnett, who now presents the BBC’s Today programme, was broadcasting her own show on Radio 5 Live at the time. She recalled: ‘Instead of ringing her family and friends, she rang me! She was locked in and we got her out, with the help of a welder or a decorator who was also listening.’

She added: ‘It was something to do with an ice cream tub and a knife… I still don’t really understand it.’

Ant McPartlin joked that he and Declan Donnelly needed to bring some yellow – and red – cards to the finale of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! last month, given the amount of friction between Adam Thomas, Jimmy Bullard and David Haye.

But behind the scenes it’s all been sunshine and light… at least for Dec, who is enjoying the kind of financial growth which would please a plutocrat. His company Deecourt saw net assets rise to £35.8million, from £34.4million the previous year. Ant closed his corresponding company (Teecourt Ltd) down in 2020, when he went through a divorce.

There won’t have been a contestant on The Traitors to match James Blunt, according to songwriter Linda Perry, pictured with him, who fronted alt-rock band 4 Non Blondes. Perry, who signed him to her record label and helped produce his first album, said: ‘I’ve never met anybody so ready to put himself down. That’s part of his charm. He is so anti-James-Blunt.’

Filming for the second Celebrity version is underway in the Highlands, with the show out in October.