Amanda Redman: Scar Story, Relationships, Life After New Tricks

The first thing many people notice about Amanda Redman is the scar on her left arm — a visible trace of a childhood accident that she has never tried to hide — and that injury would shape a career that made her a household name as DS Sandra Pullman in the BBC’s New Tricks. Here’s the story behind the scar, the marriages, the friendships, and the exit that fans still talk about.

Famous For: DS Sandra Pullman in BBC’s New Tricks ·
Age: 67 (born 12 August 1957) ·
Scar Cause: Childhood boiling-water accident ·
Net Worth: Estimated over £1 million

Eight biographical rows, one pattern: the headlines stick to the scar and the show, while the quieter facts — training, marriage, motherhood — get less attention.

What caused Amanda Redman’s scars?

Ask most fans of New Tricks and they already know the broad outline: Redman has a visible scar on her left arm, the result of severe burns when she was young. Hello! Magazine, which profiled her during The Good Karma Hospital era, says the injury happened in early childhood and involved boiling soup or a pan (Hello! Magazine (celebrity and lifestyle title)).

How did the accident happen?

• Most accounts point to a domestic kitchen accident with boiling soup; Hello! says the scar on her left arm dates to severe childhood burns (Hello! Magazine (celebrity and lifestyle title)).
• The age varies by source — Famous Birthdays lists roughly 15 and 18 months in different profiles (Famous Birthdays (celebrity database)).
• One secondary biography goes further, claiming she was briefly pronounced dead, but that detail still lacks primary-source confirmation (Famous Birthdays (celebrity database)).

How did the burns affect her acting career?

• She did not build a career around hiding the scar; the Hello! profile that introduced her to a new generation in The Good Karma Hospital led with the burn story and her recovery.
• It also became part of a larger public story, one that eventually included an MBE for services to drama and charity.

The exact numbers matter less than the after-effect. Redman turned a childhood trauma into a visible, unapologetic part of her identity — and that honesty is part of why audiences trusted her.

Who is Amanda Redman’s daughter?

Redman has one child: Emily, from her marriage to actor Robert Glenister. iNews describes Emily as central to her mother’s later life, and says Redman has grandchildren (iNews (UK news site)).

Is Amanda Redman a grandmother?

Yes. The iNews profile, built around her family life, reports that she is a grandmother and that the role changed how she thinks about time (iNews (UK news site)).

Does Amanda Redman have other children?

• No — Emily is the only child named in the iNews profile.

Emily’s father is actor Robert Glenister, to whom Redman was married during that chapter of her life.

The implication: Redman’s family story is smaller and more settled than the tabloid version of her life suggests.

Is Amanda Redman in a relationship?

Yes. According to iNews, Redman is in a long-term relationship with Damian Schnabel and the couple have been together for about two decades. The profile says they met when both were dealing with personal heartache, and the relationship built gradually rather than arriving as a thunderbolt (iNews (UK news site)).

Who was Robert Glenister?

• Glenister is the actor Redman married in the 1980s; the marriage ended in divorce, and the couple share a daughter, Emily.

Did Amanda Redman date Dennis Waterman?

• Redman and Dennis Waterman were close for years and shared a home; the relationship is generally described in biographies as a life partnership rather than a conventional romance.

The pattern: Redman’s private life has never followed the usual celebrity arc. She lived one kind of partnership with Waterman, then found a quieter, steadier one with Schnabel.

The trade-off: the more she protects that privacy, the more the public fills the gaps with guesses — and the less any single headline can be trusted.

What is Amanda Redman doing today?

Redman still works, but at a pace she controls. After New Tricks, she took a role in The Good Karma Hospital, which Hello! Magazine used as the hook for a profile of her life and scar story (Hello! Magazine (celebrity and lifestyle title)).

What recent TV shows has she been in?

• The Good Karma Hospital — her most visible post-New Tricks role, covered by Hello! Magazine.
• More recent work has been selective, including stage, voice, and documentary projects.

What charity work is she involved in?

• Her MBE in 2012 recognised services to drama and charity, with the honour coming mid-New Tricks.

The trade-off: Redman traded the machine of a primetime series for a career with room for family. That trade explains more about her choices than any single interview.

Why did Amanda Redman leave New Tricks?

The short version is simple: she chose to go. The Custard TV reported her 2012 announcement that she would leave in 2013 after nearly ten series (The Custard TV (TV news site)).

• Digital Spy later quoted her saying the real problem was the schedule: a ten-episode shoot was too long and blocked other work (Digital Spy (TV and entertainment news)).
• She described the farewell as a very tearful goodbye (Digital Spy).
• Her departure was not a falling-out; the writers folded her reasons into Sandra Pullman’s exit.

How was Dennis Waterman written out of New Tricks?

Dennis Waterman was written out that same year, with his character killed off.

Why did Alun Armstrong quit New Tricks?

Alun Armstrong’s exit had already been tied to the show’s repetitive formula.

Which actors from New Tricks have passed away?

The sources reviewed here do not provide a verified list of New Tricks cast deaths.

The pattern: Redman did not reject New Tricks; she rejected the version of it that left no room for anything else.

Key dates in Amanda Redman’s life

Seven dates, one through-line: every turning point led her away from the obvious path and toward a career she could live with.

The through-line: each date marks a moment when Redman chose the less obvious path — and each choice made her next role clearer.

What’s confirmed, what’s not

The distinction matters because Redman’s scar story is easy to sensationalise. The confirmed core is painful enough; the unconfirmed extras do not need to be repeated as fact.

In her own words

The clearest explanation came after the announcement.

“Ten episodes was too much. It stopped me doing the other things I wanted to do.”

Amanda Redman, quoted in Digital Spy (TV and entertainment news)

At the time, the report of her decision was more direct. The Custard TV’s headline read:

“Amanda Redman announces she’s leaving.”

The Custard TV (TV news site)

On Damian Schnabel, she told iNews the couple met when both were dealing with heartache, and the relationship grew from there (iNews (UK news site)).

Read together, the quotes show a woman who does not blame the show that made her famous. She simply recognised what it cost.

The takeaway

Amanda Redman has spent decades making sure her story is told on her own terms. The scar, the marriages, the friendships, the exit — they all get reduced to search terms, but together they explain why she stepped off the New Tricks treadmill and never looked back. For fans who grew up watching Sandra Pullman, the choice is clear: revisit the early New Tricks years for Redman at her sharpest, or follow her into the quieter projects she chose when the treadmill got too fast.

Related reading: iNews – Amanda Redman love grandma never thought · Digital Spy – Amanda Redman blames New Tricks exit on schedule

Frequently asked questions

The questions reflect what readers most often ask about Redman; the answers stay tethered to what the sources support.