Protection star Siobhan Finneran’s life off-screen: from famous ex-husband to TV star partner

Siobhan was married to actor Mark Jordon for 17 years. Mark, 60, is best known for playing Phil Bellamy in the police drama Heartbeat – a role he held from 1992 to 2007. Following his exit from the show, a documentary called Heartbeat – Farewell Phil was released to celebrate his best moments on the show. 

Viewers will also recognise Mark for playing Daz Spencer in the ITV soap, Emmerdale. His other TV credits include Coronation Street, Casualty, Doctors and Hollyoaks. More recently, he portrayed Ray Wood in the ITV drama, The Long Shadow. 

Siobhan and Mark, who wed in 1997 and divorced in 2014, share two children: a son named Joseph, 27, and a daughter, Poppy, 25.

When she’s not busy filming her next big TV hit, Siobhan lives in Saddleworth, Greater Manchester. She was raised in Oldham to Irish parents. Her mum was a primary school teacher while her father worked a number of different jobs, including driving a cab.

“I was born in Manchester and I was brought up in Manchester for the first few years of my life,” she told the RadioTimes. “My mum’s of Irish and Scottish descent, but she was born in Salford and her family are Mancunians.”

After having children, Siobhan took a break from work to raise Joseph and Poppy. “You sometimes look back and think, yeah, I made a decision not to work when the children were small,” she told The Guardian. 

“But I don’t think I’d made a decision. I think there probably wasn’t a lot of work coming in, and that just fitted in quite brilliantly with the fact that I had two kids under the age of two,” explained the star.

Sharing an insight into her children’s upbringing, Siobhan revealed that her kids loved spending time at the seaside.

“My kids loved being on the beach when they were little,” she told RadioTimes.com. “I once went to a festival in a camper van with them and that was great fun, too.”

Siobhan is thought to be dating actor Don Gilet, known for his roles in EastEnders and Sherwood. He’s currently starring in the BBC’s hit crime drama Death in Paradise as lead detective DI Mervin Wilson.

Siobhan confirmed her relationship in a recent interview with The Guardian, in which she referred to Don as “my fella”. It comes over two years after the pair were pictured together at the TV Choice Awards. It’s been reported that the couple met on the set of the ITV miniseries, The Loch. 

Siobhan plays detective Liz Nyles, whose life is turned upside down when she finds herself at the heart of a security breach within her witness protection unit. 

The synopsis continues: “Professionally compromised by a secret affair with a colleague, she is determined to uncover the true source of corruption within the police. Liz will stop at nothing to redeem herself, the reputation of her lover, and to keep her witnesses and her own family safe. Even if it means breaking all the rules.   

“This is the story of a tough but increasingly isolated and under suspicion police officer as she is pulled into a dangerous conspiracy where nothing is as it seems.”

The six-parter is inspired by a real-life witness protection officer who also acted as a series consultant.