Amanda Abbington launches into a sweary outburst during her first show since her controversial Strictly exit as she jokingly tells a fan to ‘f**k off’

Amanda Abbington, known for her role in “Sherlock,” made headlines as she reappeared on television for the first time since her departure from “Strictly Come Dancing.” The 52-year-old actress left the BBC show midway through last year, citing personal reasons amidst speculation of a feud with her dance partner, Giovanni Pernice.

Returning to TV in the Dave mockumentary series “Meet The Richardsons,” Abbington takes on an exaggerated version of herself in episode seven of the fifth series. In this installment, Lucy Beaumont, freshly nominated for a BAFTA, enlists Abbington for a role in her film project. However, the situation takes an unexpected turn during an outdoor scene when Beaumont lavishes praise on Abbington, triggering an intense reaction.

Amanda Abbington launched into an expletive-laden outburst at a fan as she made her first TV appearance since leaving Strictly Come Dancing

But the atmosphere takes a turn when a fan approaches Amanda for a selfie, asking: ‘I loved you in Sherlock! Can I get a photo?’

Amanda firmly responds with a sharp ‘no’ before telling Lucy: ‘F*****g Sherlock, f*****g fans are the f*****g worst.’

Mocking an excited fan, Amanda said: ”You want get a selfie” oh shut up, t**t!’ leaving Lucy visibly uncomfortable.

Later in the episode, Amanda encountered another enthusiastic fan, triggering yet another heated reaction. When they approached her, asking for a selfie and mentioning her role in “Sherlock,” Abbington angrily grabbed the phone from their hand and threw it, vehemently refusing their request with expletives.

Following her departure from “Strictly Come Dancing,” reports circulated alleging that Abbington had requested footage of their rehearsals due to experiencing PTSD from her time on the show.

Despite facing fresh allegations of causing distress to a fourth celebrity partner, Giovanni Pernice received staunch support from the BBC, who affirmed their commitment to him and offered him a new contract. Sources close to Amanda Abbington, his most recent dance partner, claimed that Giovanni’s behavior was “abrasive” towards his partners and had led some to tears.

The actress has returned to TV in the Dave mockumentary series Meet The Richardsons , and in episode seven of the fifth series, plays an exaggerated version of herself

The actress to furiously pulled the phone out of a fan’s hand and threw it, shouting: ‘No you can’t get a f*****g selfie you stupid Sherlock’

While Strictly insiders agree that Giovanni pushes his partners hard to give them the best possible chance of winning the glitterball, they insist he is no bully.

Despite allegations from Amanda Abbington and three of his previous partners, Giovanni Pernice was offered a contract at a meeting and eagerly accepted it.

“He is thrilled,” said one insider from the BBC One show. “While there are still some details to be finalized, everything looks to be falling into place for him. With it being the 20th anniversary of the show, it’s a significant year, and everyone involved wants Giovanni to be part of it.”

The past few months have been challenging for Giovanni, with the accusations against him taking a toll. Despite this, both the BBC and Team Giovanni maintain that there have been no official complaints filed against his behavior.

In fact, one source dismissed the allegations as a “nasty witch hunt,” expressing concern that they could not only jeopardize Giovanni’s career on Strictly but also his standing in the international ballroom dancing community as a whole.

Amanda quit Strictly mid-series last year due to ‘personal reasons’ amid claims of a feud between her and her professional dance partner Giovanni Pernice

It all began in January when the Sun reported that former Sherlock star Amanda had asked the BBC for CCTV footage of the pair rehearsing. She claimed to have suffered ‘post traumatic stress disorder’ as a result of appearing on the programme and was considering legal action.

Both Giovanni and Strictly bosses believe the story was leaked by friends of Amanda, who has never made any comments on the record about the matter. In fact, despite numerous stories that she and Giovanni did not get on during the series – at the time, she insisted they were the best of friends.

Three weeks ago, the row erupted once again after the Sun reported that Amanda had met Good Morning Britain’s Ranvir Singh and television presenter Laura Whitmore – who were both former Strictly partners of Giovanni – to discuss their own ‘difficult’ experiences working with him.

This led to ‘tears being shed’, according to sources close to Amanda, who shared details of the meeting.

Despite Giovanni’s friends rebuffing the story as ‘three women meeting up for a coffee and a moan’, once again, the dancer was left ‘upset’ at the reports.

And earlier this week, it was reported that Giovanni’s 2018 partner, former member of the 1990s band Steps, Faye Tozer, struggled to work with him and broke down in tears following an appearance together on spin-off show, It Takes Two.

Faye, who made it to the final with Giovanni, ignored any opportunity to speak on the matter when she was approached, while those working on the show at the time say that her tears were in fact over a ‘personal issue away from the show’.

The lack of evidence, and the fact that Amanda told bosses she was leaving Strictly before the end of the series last year for a different medical reason, left them with nothing to formally investigate.

‘The BBC are backing him all of the way,’ says an insider at the broadcaster. ‘There have been no complaints about Giovanni’s behaviour, nobody has actually come forward and said, ‘He did this to me’ or ‘He did that to me’.

‘Nothing has come to light from any of these people and it feels very unfair to judge someone and potentially dump someone from their job because of what is written in the red tops.’