Marriage split over affair of the 'secret agents'

Actress Keeley Hawes has left her husband of a few months for her Spooks co-star Matthew Macfadyen.

The 26-year- old former model - who has a 20-month-old son - walked out on cartoon designer Spencer McCallum after meeting Macfadyen on the set of the BBC1 espionage drama.

The pair are said to have became very close while playing undercover MI5 agents in the hit programme.

Insiders on the set of the spy drama said it was only 'a matter of time' before a relationship began.

Said one: 'There was an obvious attraction between them. It's been a difficult situation for them.'

Miss Hawes married 30-year-old Mr McCallum last December at Marylebone Register Office. Just 25 family and close friends attended the wedding.

At the time she said: 'We all went to a dinner and dance at the Ritz afterwards, which was wonderful. Spencer and I had two days in Amsterdam then it was straight back to work for me. It was lovely.'

But three months later Miss Hawes moved out of the family home in Surrey and into her own flat in London.

The couple were together for four years before their marriage and had been friends for a while before that.

They had been planning to get married two years ago but postponed the wedding when the actress became pregnant with baby Myles.

A Spooks insider said: ' Keeley moved into her own place in London in February but remains on speaking terms with her husband because of Myles.

'They share the child care duties between them. There were a number of reasons for what happened.'

A BBC spokesman confirmed the split last night and said: 'Matthew Macfadyen and Keeley Hawes became friends during filming of Spooks and began a relationship a short time ago.'

In an ill-fated interview earlier this year, Miss Hawes spoke happily about her marriage.

She said at the time: 'I feel more secure somehow. Now if we have a row and I say something silly like: "Right, that's it. I'm off!" I know that I'm not going anywhere and that we're staying together.

'It does sound funny when I say "my husband" though. I still can't seem to get used to it.'

Both Miss Hawes and Macfadyenare seen as two of the BBC's rising stars.

The young actress already has an impressive track record. She dazzled audiences three y e a r s ago when she played a young Diana Dors in ITV's The Blonde Bombshell.

She has also appeared in a number of BBC high-profile dramas including Our Mutual Friend, Wives and Daughters and The Beggar Bride.

Macfadyen is best known to viewers as the playboy aristocrat Sir Felix Carbury in Andrew Davies's adaptation of Anthony Trollope's The Way

We Live Now. He also appeared in BBC2's Perfect Strangers and is due to star in a controversial forthcoming BBC drama about New Labour called The Project.

It is not known when he split with his actress girlfriend Surita Chowdry.

The new couple are set to work together again on a second series of Spooks.

The drama - with its attractive young cast and fast pace - averaged 8.5million viewers on its first two outings.

It also proved controversial, with 300 complaints about the violent death of one of the main characters.