Amanda Abbington: Sherlock star shares details about dangerous stunt that left daredevil fiancé paralysed

Sherlock star Amanda Abbington has opened up about a stunt that left her daredevil fiancé paralysed.

In 2021, Jonathan Goodwin, who appeared as a contestant on Britain’s Got Talent in 2019, performed a stunt in which he planned to escape from a straight jacket while hung upside down between two suspended cars 30 feet in the air.

However, the cars were released prematurely and Goodwin was crushed between them

“He fell 30 feet and lost a kidney, broke both shoulder blades, shattered both legs,” Abbington explained on podcast on Out to Lunch with Jay Rayner.

“Third degree burns, broke his spine and severed his spinal cord and, nearly died. And then on the operating table, he nearly died again.”

She continued: “He’s paralysed now, he’s in a wheelchair. Unless there’s a kind of stem cell surgery or that thing that Elon Musk is designing with the little chip, he’ll be like that forever.”

Abbington said that Goodwin has remained “positive and upbeat and so strong”, adding: “His courage and his strength is something that I just aspire to be like.”

“He’s just incredible, honestly, like so happy, just like a very happy, positive human being, just liquid sunshine. He’s amazing.”

Abbington had been friends with Goodwin on social media for 10 years vefore they started a relationship. She says that he proposed within half an hour of meeting her, and the couple plan to marry this summer.