The couple, who have been together for 18 years, opened up on The One Show about working together on ITV’s new spy thriller Secret Service
The couple, who have been together for 18 years, opened up on The One Show about working together on ITV’s new spy thriller Secret Service
Monde Mwitumwa TV and Celebrity Reporter
22:15, 16 Apr 2026
Line of Duty actress Rochenda Sandall has opened up about working with her real-life partner, Trigger Point and Adolescence actor Mark Stanley.
The pair, who have been in a relationship for 18 years, are both appearing in ITV’s highly anticipated new spy thriller Secret Service.
Mark plays Ryan Walker, Labour Party foreign secretary and leading candidate for Prime Minister, while Rochenda portrays political adviser Melissa Morris alongside him.
During Thursday’s (April 16) episode of The One Show, where they appeared to discuss the new drama centred on power, politics and hidden agendas, presenters Alex Jones and Roman Kemp wasted no time asking the couple about their experience working together, reports the Express.
Alex was eager to discover whether their on-screen dynamic mirrored their home life, asking: “We’ve met you for five minutes and that’s not a dynamic at all at home, is it?”
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Discussing their time on set together, Rochenda responded: “No, no, of course not. We love each other. It’s wonderful. Truthfully, we love working together.”
The studio erupted in laughter as Mark interjected with a quip: “Yeah, we do. It’s nice that she is working for me in some sort of a way.”
He added: “It’s been great. We had some great days, didn’t we? You know, we’ve been together 18 years, so it’s like, you know, we split every penny down the middle from the moment that we met each other.
“You know, being picked up and ferried off to work and looking at each other doing very sort of intense and what we believe to be high calibre writing, directed by Oscar winning directors and that kind of thing. Sometimes you do nothing but burst with pride.”
In a heartfelt moment, Rochenda said “It’s a dream come true.” She went on: “And just for the team to facilitate it as well, we’re very grateful, very, very grateful every day.”
Alex said: “You’re our new favourite couple.” Mark quipped: “Well we’re breaking up after this show, this is just to plug (the show).” The studio erupted in laughter as Alex remarked: “You’re such good actors.”
Secret Service stars Gemma Arterton as Kate Henderson – a woman juggling life as an ordinary suburban mother of two teenagers while secretly operating as a senior MI6 agent heading the Russian desk at the Secret Intelligence Service.
The synopsis teases: “As trust fractures within the corridors of power, Kate is drawn into an increasingly dangerous web of deceit, where shifting loyalties and personal stakes collide and exposing the truth could cost her everything.”
Secret Service starts Monday 27 April on 9pm ITV1 and The One Show airs weekdays from 7pm on BBC One and iPlayer