Amanda Abbington has said her time on Strictly Come Dancing was “tough and horrible” as she recalled that she would vomit and cry at home after rehearsals. The actress, best known for playing Mary Watson in BBC drama Sherlock, withdrew from the celebrity dance competition last year before week six citing “personal reasons”. Her dance partner on the show, Giovanni Pernice, is currently being investigated by the BBC following allegations of abusive or threatening behaviour, which he has strongly rejected.
Last month show bosses confirmed the Italian dancer will not return for the show’s forthcoming 20th anniversary series amid the allegations. Speaking to The Sunday Times, Abbington said: “I’ve had the worst experience. The show was tough and horrible, but the aftermath of it I was not expecting.
“It’s been really brutal and it just hasn’t stopped.” Reflecting on her experience after the show, the actress added: “It’s been awful, just relentless. “Death threats and rape threats for just standing up for something that I thought was wrong.
” Abbington said her fiance escapologist Jonathan Goodwin has been a great support to her during this time and would reassure her of what she went through when she began to doubt herself. She recalled: “He’d go, ‘Yes, you would come home and you’d vomit, you’d cry, and you’d think you were not good enough. You were a shadow, a shell’.
” Pernice, 33, who has been on the BBC One celebrity dancing show s.