Saffy's secret wedding

When the actor Alan Davies returns to the set of the new TV legal drama The Brief today to resume filming after the Christmas break, eagleeyed members of the production team may note that he is now sporting a wedding band on the third finger of his left hand.

His bride is 35-year-old Julia Sawalha, a star of the television sitcom Absolutely Fabulous and previously Mr Davies's co-star in the whimsical crime drama Jonathan Creek.

The pair married in a low-key, secret ceremony over the New Year after a two-year courtship and, possibly, an ultimatum from Julia - of which more later.

But the news of their marriage will come as something of a surprise to the crew on The Brief, given that no mention was made of any imminent wedding bells when pre-Christmas filming wrapped last month.

Nor, one imagines, will Mr Davies be any more forthcoming now the secret is out: obsessively private about his domestic affairs, he is, it is said, 'furious' that news of his nuptials has become public at all, especially as it was apparently inadvertently confirmed by a member of his own family. At the weekend, Davies's father, Roy, let slip that he was 'very very happy' for the couple.

Given the obsessive way this celebrity duo have guarded their privacy ever since their relationship began, it is entirely true to form that their wedding was such a secretive affair.

There is, however, perhaps another, more poignant explanation for the low-key nature of the celebrations. While details of the ceremony remain closely guarded, what is almost certain is that one particular person would not have been present: Julia's older sister, 38-yearold Nadia.

After a bitter 18-month feud, the once-close pair are no longer on speaking terms and Julia has yet to see her niece, a baby girl called Maddie, who celebrated her first birthday on Christmas Day.

Such is the pair's estrangement that, according to one insider, it is entirely possible Nadia was unaware her sister was getting married.

'If she did know, it would only have been through their father, Nadim,' the source said. 'The sisters are still not in contact at all. In fact, it is as if they have never known each other.'

The situation must undoubtedly have cast a shadow over what should have been an uncompromisingly happy day - especially as, in the past, Julia has made no secret of her desire to settle down, telling one interviewer two years ago: 'I don't want to be an old maid.'

Now, there is no danger of that, with Julia installed as Mr Davies's bride in his whitewashed terrace house in fashionable Highgate, North London - bought from the proceeds of the Abbey National adverts in which he starred for four years.

Over the past few months there have even been rumours in showbusiness circles about the imminent patter of tiny feet, although - of course - neither star commented on the subject.

Certainly, their new-found domestic contentment could hardly come at a better time professionally for the pair.

Alan, 37, who first rose to prominence as a stand-up comedian, is now one of the nation's best-known actors, with a string of dramatic successes to his name. Such is his current bankability that he is the hot favourite to be the new Dr Who in this year's BBC remake of the cult science fiction drama.

Julia, meanwhile, has barely been out of work since her teens, when she sprang to fame in the popular children's series Press Gang.

Now she is best known for her portrayal of Saffy, the dowdy and despairing teenage daughter of Jennifer Saunders's colourful Edina in Absolutely Fabulous.

Her character even starred as the bride at a wedding for which the fictional paparazzi turned out in droves - something that, one imagines, can have only made the young actress and her real-life partner shudder.

Fittingly, the pair met on set while filming Jonathan Creek, in which Julia was cast as Mr Davies's sidekick. From very early on, rumours abounded among the crew that the pair had become more than just friends.

Even by spring 2002, however, after the pair had been openly spotted kissing and cuddling in fashionable London night spots, they were still anxious to avoid confirming their affair.

Clearly well-briefed by her notoriously publicity-shy boyfriend, Julia told one interviewer who asked about a recent sighting of her canoodling with her co- star: 'You know what luvvies are like. They kiss and cuddle a lot, saying "I love you" all the time. It was totally innocent. Alan's just a friend.'

Quite what makes Mr Davies so zealous when it comes to guarding his private life is a matter for speculation. A complicated, thoughtful character, he weathered tragedy in his childhood when his mother died from leukaemia when he was six years old.

Though his father, an accountant, went on to remarry happily, Davies has since said the experience of losing his mother made him 'terrified of loving a woman'.

Davies has also spoken of being unhappy at school in Essex, and as a teenager, by his own admission, was cautioned for shoplifting.

Certainly, the sunny characters he portrays on television seem to mask a more troubled soul.

He has a reputation for being moody in press interviews - one journalist recalls Davies storming out of one after being asked about his Abbey National adverts - although in this he has undoubtedly found a match in his new wife, whose nickname as a child was 'sunshine and showers' due to her capacity for mood swings.

However, many in Davies's wider circle believe they can date his latter-day obsession with privacy to the acrimonious break-up with a previous girlfriend, after which she gave an interview describing him in less than flattering terms.

Accusing her former boyfriend of being a Jekyll and Hyde character with a capacity for verbal cruelty, American singer-songwriter Catherine Porter said 'there is a much darker side of his character' adding: 'When someone is as good with words as Alan is, they can cut you in half with an insult - and that can almost be worse than violence.'

To add her own insult to injury, she then went on to write a song, apparently inspired by Davies, entitled Crazy, and featuring the lyric: 'One minute you're my true love, my angel. The next you're like Son of Sam. A sweet face, a nut case.'

Perhaps understandably, Davies was furious, and developed something of a paranoia about his private life, a fact apparently confirmed by a subsequent girlfriend, children's television presenter Kirsten O'Brien.

She confided in a friend that Davies was 'militant' about their not being photographed together.

'She told me he had even suggested she had tipped off photographers about their movements if ever they spotted one,' the friend said. 'In the end they split up after 18 months, and undoubtedly his neuroses did contribute.'

No wonder, then, that Julia decided to play it safe when she got together with Mr Davies, adopting evasive measures on the subject of their relationship to rival anything her introverted partner could muster.

According to friends, it was even believed the couple had made something of a formal pact never to speak publicly about their relationship.

Nonetheless, the generally bubbly Julia is, unlike her boyfriend, rather more openly emotional, and production crew members on the set of Absolutely Fabulous were, according to one source, only too aware of the ups and downs in the relationship.

Julia's always been instinctively private, but she can't help wearing her emotions on her sleeve,' the source said. 'When the relationship was going well you knew it, and when it wasn't going well you knew it, too.

'I don't think it's all been hearts and flowers. There were some days where she would come in with a face like thunder and mope around, and everyone would know there'd obviously been words.'

It seemed the path of true love did not look set to run smoothly when, early last year, Alan snapped at a journalist 'I've never asked anyone to marry me and I don't intend to' when asked about his intentions towards Ms Sawalha.

According to the Absolutely Fabulous insider, latterly rumours abounded on set that the star had issued an ultimatum to her boyfriend.

'She spent a lot of time on her mobile phone during filming having these very earnest discussions. The rumour mill had it that she said either he had to propose or she would move out.

'At the end of the day she's a traditional girl who wants to start a family, and it's unlikely she would do that without being married first. At 35, she wants to put roots down.'

No doubt some of this is the feverish speculation of the TV studio, but what is indisputable is that by November last year, Mr Davies was spotted shopping for rings in the exclusive jewellers Tiffany's - rings that have now been exchanged in solemn vows.

But what of Nadia, the sister Julia no longer sees? It seems that the relationship between her younger sister and Mr Davies appears to have played a key part in their estrangement. Certainly, there was no love lost from the start between Nadia, who made her name playing the feisty nightclub boss Annie Palmer in EastEnders, and Mr Davies.

In particular, it seemed the extrovert Nadia found the more reserved, occasionally moody, Alan Davies difficult to deal with.

Moreover, it seems she also found it hard to cope with her sister moving away from the family to be with her new partner.

For years, Nadia, Julia, and their eldest sister Dina, an artist, had lived as neighbours alongside their father Nadim, an actor best known for his role as Dr Shaaban in the television medical drama Dangerfield, and their mother Bobbie, in the South London district of Norwood.

When Julia moved to North London to be with Mr Davies, it was a break that was as emotional as it was physical.

Still, even this was not enough to threaten the sibling bond - that is, until the events of June 2002, when Nadia married television executive Mark Adderley in the chapel of Dulwich College, South London.

Against her sister's wishes, Nadia arranged for a glossy magazine to cover the event, leading to publication of photos of the newly-courting Julia and her beau.

'Alan in particular was furious,' says a friend. 'Words were exchanged between the sisters and, as is always the case in these situations, a lot of things were said which can't be unsaid. They have not spoken since.'

For his own part, Davies made no attempt to hide his contempt for his sister-in-law at the time.

'I can't describe what I think of Nadia,' he said. 'We were invited to her wedding and she sold these pictures of Julia and me without consulting us. I was furious.' In response, Nadia was even more candid. 'I've never liked one of Julia's boyfriends yet. For a comedian, he's a miserable git,' she said.

This grave rift was, perhaps, not helped by some enduring tensions following the tragic death of Nadia's first husband, musician Justin Mildwater, who committed suicide at Christmas 1997.

Nadia and Justin had been introduced by Julia, a good friend of his, and married in 1992, but had separated three months before his death. The break-up precipitated a huge depression so bleak that he hanged himself, a tragedy difficult for both sisters to cope with.

Now, both sisters are settled at opposite ends of London, their continuing estrangement a source of distress to all involved. Of course, Nadim and Bobbie will be delighted that their youngest daughter - who before meeting Mr Davies had a history of troubled relationships, among them with her Press Gang co- star Dexter Fletcher and comedian Keith Allen - has finally found romantic happiness.

That their union is linked to such a painful episode in the family history must, nonetheless, be a continued source of regret.

For their own part, the new Mr and Mrs Davies do seem to have found domestic contentment of their own - so much so that at a charity dinner towards the end of last year, the actor even felt able to confide to the Daily Mail that he was 'very happy' with his partner.

Whether this happiness will in time mellow the newlyweds a little - and in turn perhaps allow them to rebuild their fractured family ties - remains to be seen.