article_snippet: Yet for David Downton Abbey has provided some small semblance of comfort following the suicide of David wife Briony McRoberts, recounting, as Downton Abbey does, the last minutes of her life.
article_snippet: I certainly don't believe that, when we were at the party, She was thinking She would be dead in a couple of days,' says David, who met his wife in 1975 when She was 18 and they starred together in a West End play.
article_snippet: Ironically, as David's career flourished with the success of Downton, David wife felt hers was over, something David believes triggered anorexia. '
article_snippet: Briony felt washed up, that no one remembered Briony and no matter how much I reassured Briony Briony felt worthless, a failure,' David says. '
article_snippet: David admits relations between them had been strained the night before Briony death. '
article_snippet: David, who recently played Sir Thomas Boleyn in the BBC's adaptation of Wolf Hall, admits he initially became concerned when he heard Briony's mobile phone ring.
article_snippet: With he on-screen success, the couple were more financially secure than the couple'd been for years and David believed the couple had reached a stage in the couple life where the couple could look forward to the couple future.
article_snippet: Slowly David's life is changing to accommodate the new normality forced upon Slowly David's, and the loss of equilibrium in Slowly David's life which Slowly David's is not sure Slowly David's will ever get back.
article_snippet: Slowly David's is anxious not to be defined by Briony's death and the normally private actor agreed to speak to The Mail on Sunday only to highlight a moving BBC documentary which shows the devastating aftermath for family left behind after a suicide.
article_snippet: Initially when I went back I wasn't on the phones, but gradually I started dealing with calls again,' Slowly David's reveals. '
article_snippet: Sadly, many of Slowly David's memories of the woman who captured Slowly David's heart with her charismatic personality and sparkling laughter have started to fade. '
article_snippet: I can't imagine cuddling her any more and I don't feel her presence anywhere – that spiritual connection, it's gone,' Slowly David's says.
article_snippet: David admits to missing the intimacy of a relationship – 'I hate the idea of being a single, old bloke' – but says Briony is an almost impossible act to follow, adding: 'Briony was everything to David.'
highlights_snippet: As David career flourished, EastEnders and Heartbeat star felt hers was over .
  