How Reel-Life Partners Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner Became Real Life Partners
Hugh Dennis revealed he was dating his partner, Claire Skinner, while speaking to the Daily Mail in 2018.
The Outnumbered actor said he was very happy being in a relationship with Skinner.
Interestingly, comedian Dennis is known for playing Skinner's spouse, Peter Brockman, in the popular sitcom series, which started airing in 2007.
"I am very, very happy, we are so very happy," Dennis told the publication from his London home.
He continued saying his relationship with his partner was nice and lovely.
Reportedly, the couple lived in the £1.2 million London penthouse that Dennis bought after his separation from his second spouse, Catherine Louise Abbot-Anderson, in 2015.
Hugh Dennis and Partner Claire Skinner's Relationship
During his conversation with BBC Radio 5 LIVE in 2019, the actor said he started dating Skinner after Outnumbered had finished filming.
According to Dennis, their first date took place a year and a half before the interview.
On the other hand, Skinner broke her silence during her conversation with Lorraine Kelly of ITV's chat show Lorraine.
Hugh Dennis' partner Claire Skinner talks with Lorraine Kelly during Lorraine's show. (Photo Credit: YouTube)
"We are [together]," the actress shared, further calling their relationship "a lovely little life surprise."
Their love affair took a hike when they made Outnumbered Christmas special in 2016, two years after the series finale of the show aired.
Dennis and Skinner started dating after the filming of the special episode came to an end, and within six months, their close friends and family knew them as a couple.
Both the actors were fresh from their split with former partners at the time.
While Dennis' marriage with his second wife Abbot-Anderson dissolved in 2015, Skinner separated from her former husband Charles Palmer in early 2016.
With Abbot-Anderson, actor Dennis shares two mature children. On the other hand, Skinner also shares two sons with Palmer.
The actor married his second spouse in 1996, three years after his divorce with his first wife Miranda Carroll, with whom he was married since 1987.
Hugh Dennis' First Spouse Called Him Boring
In 2011, when fans of Outnumbered were in awe of Dennis' on-screen humor, his first spouse spoiled the party calling him "boring."
Carroll said Dennis was anything but how people saw him on their television screens, while he was still married to her.
"People see him being funny on television and doing hilarious improvisations, [but] he had no spontaneity, no sense of fun," Dennis' former partner said, stressing how it ultimately killed their marriage.
At the same time, she claimed how it is not unusual for comedians to have a public persona that is the total opposite of who they were in their private life.
Dennis' first spouse claimed she spent fourteen years under the same roof with someone restrained, serious, and unexciting.
The former couple first met as college students while studying A-levels.
While Carroll attended South Hampstead High School for Girls in North London, Dennis was a regular at all-boys University College School.
Despite not attending the same institution during the later years, they would often meet and remain faithful to each other throughout the years leading to their marriage.