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.
Now details have emerged about how two-time BAFTA winner and Notting Hill director Michell, 65, died – and the aftermath for the family.
His death from a heart attack came on the same day in September 2020 that he completed the final sound mix of what would become 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 revealed that Michell died of a) acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) and b) left coronary atheroma (a fatty deposit on the coronary artery).
The Senior Coroner for Hertfordshire, Geoffrey Sullivan, declared 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 of a heart attack and a fatty deposit in his coronary artery
Maxwell Martin, 47, spoke movingly this week about how Michell’s death left her feeling ‘financial terror’
The couple (seen in 2008) first met when Michell directed Martin in the 2004 adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel Enduring Love. She was 26 at the time, while he was 48
Maxwell Martin said she experienced a sense of “financial terror” following Michell’s sudden death, more than a year after the couple announced their divorce.
The actress said her immediate priority was protecting their daughters, Maggie, 15, and Nancy, 13, as they faced an uncertain financial future.
Anna was speaking as her new four-part true crime drama, Until I Kill You, launches on ITVX on Sunday, in which she plays nurse Delia Balmer, who dated convicted double murderer John Sweeney.
Anna told BBC Women’s Hour: ‘My husband died three years ago and things have been very difficult in every aspect of our lives.
“One was that there are many things that come with grief, and one of them is financial terror. And then there are the real practical issues around your children and their mental health, and supporting them, which is your priority.”
The couple first met when Michell directed Martin in the 2004 adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel Enduring Love. She was 26 at the time, while he was 48.
Father-of-four Michell lived in Hitchin, Hertfordshire and the registry office was informed by his adult son Harry, according to the document. Writer, director and actor Harry and his theatrical agent sister Rosanna came from Michell’s first marriage to actress Kate Buffery.
In an interview published just days before Roger’s death, Anna said the couple were still on good terms and planned to spend Christmas together.
Michell died at the age of 65 on the same day in September 2020 that he completed the final sound mix of what would become 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 a heightened state for a long time, until recently…
‘I don’t know anyone who has gone through what my children have gone through. So my focus was just on them, and I didn’t really start grieving for Roger until six months ago.”
She compared the experience to losing her father Ivan when she was just 24 years old.
“I’ve been down this road before, of grief and sudden traumatic death. I’ve done it before, and so I was able to pick myself up in a way and do it again.
“It was horrible to see my kids go down that road, but I’m quite gritty, I’m quite strong and I think I’m quite agile, I hope, in navigating life. And I thought, ‘I just have to keep the engine going.’
Describing her first experience of loss, she explained, “When it happened to me and I was 24, I was very lonely. I was very isolated because no one had experienced what I had experienced. I didn’t know those people.
“And when it happened with Rog, I saw it more as, ‘We’ve got to keep it all together for the kids.’
She pointed out that as a woman in her 40s, she was grateful to have “the best friends and best people around her.”
She added, “You won’t make any more mistakes in that area of your life. And I really did, I had exceptional friends, an exceptional support network.”
When Anna announced her divorce from Michell in an interview with Mail on Sunday’s You magazine in 2020, she said: ‘Our marriage has ended and we have been separated for some time.
“I haven’t really talked about it because it’s not fair to anyone involved.
‘There are four children you have to think about. It took a lot of time, but we will all get through it in a healthy way.’
The actress said her immediate priority was protecting their 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 divorce, although they remained on good terms. They can be seen in 2012
Michell’s best-known film was Notting Hill, the romcom written by Richard Curtis and starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant in 1999. The film was a major commercial success and was nominated for three Golden Globes.
His other films include 2002’s Changing Lanes with Ben Affleck and Samuel L Jackson, Venus, Peter O’Toole’s last film, and two films with Daniel Craig: The Mother, in 2002, and an adaptation of Ian McEwan’s Enduring Love the following year. .
Michell had been in talks to direct Craig in the 2006 James Bond film Quantum of Solace, but left shortly before production due to 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.