Inside The Hardacres' Sam actor Liam McMahon's relationship with famous actress before split
Monday night sees new Channel 5 period drama The Hardacres hit our screens, where a loving clan of dock workers enter a world of wealth and privilege when they start a successful business.
Based on CL Skelton’s novels, the six part series is set in 1890s Yorkshire and sees Silverpoint’s Liam McMahon as a doting family man and diligent docker, Sam Hardacre. His wife, Mary, is a fish gutter played by Hollyoaks star Claire Cooper. As fans get ready to delve into the life of Sam, we take a look at Liam’s previous relationship off screen, with famous actress Alessandra Mastronardi, which began in 2011. The pair starred in Titanic: Blood and Steel together.
Alessandra is an Italian actress, best known for her roles in the films To Rome with Love and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. She also stars in the television series Master of None , in which she gained a nomination for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2017.
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In a 2017 interview with Vanity Fair, Alessandra confirmed she had been living in London for a year, after moving for Liam. “I came here for the love of my partner Liam but little by little it became a choice made for me, and not just a professional one. Liam does the same job as me, he travels often and I'm left alone,” she said.
“It happened to me in Rome too, but at home it's different: you always have a friend who can come by to keep you company. Not here, and at the beginning it wasn't easy at all: I let myself get down. But I held on and I made it."
The couple also had plans to start a family, as she told the publication: "We've been together for six years, but for the first five we each stayed at home, we saw each other around the world: practically a vacation. We've only been living together for a year, everything is new, but we have plans. The idea of reconciling career and family doesn't scare me.”
However, the actress revealed it wasn’t always her plan to get into a relationship with Liam saying she “absolutely didn’t want a relationship with him” at first. When I met Liam, I absolutely didn't want to have a relationship with him. But in the end I gave in, maybe because he's a foreigner and has a different, healthy way of looking at our work,” she expressed.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be as the couple went their separate ways. Alessandra later moved on with Scottish actor Ross McCall after meeting while shooting the film About Us which was released in 2020, making their red carpet debut at the Venice Film Festival in 2019.
"My fiancée is Italian and we met on that film. It took us a while to start making moves but we got engaged last December,” he told the Scottish Sun. Their wedding was postponed due to Covid, but unfortunately, Alessandra confirmed their split in 2022.
