Gillian Anderson in love split: The Crown star separates from Peter Morgan after four years

Actress Gillian Anderson and writer Peter Morgan, who worked together on the much discussed latest season of The Crown, have decided to split, amicably, after four years together.

Anderson and Morgan were one of the most glittering couples in the world of British entertainment, though they never shared a home.

She won countless awards for her long-running role as FBI agent Dana Scully, forever chasing creepy monsters and government conspiracies in The X-Files; and more recently, acclaim for her portrait of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, in Season 4 of Netflix blockbuster The Crown, in which a fictionalised version of the Iron Lady’s relationship with the Queen was explored.

Actress Gillian Anderson and writer Peter Morgan, who worked together on the much discussed latest season of The Crown, have decided to split, amicably, after four years together

He was Oscar-nominated for his script for the 2006 film The Queen, starring Helen Mirren; and garlanded with praise for his stage productions, including Frost/Nixon and The Audience (about the monarch and her prime ministers); as well as for creating The Crown.

They were supportive of each other’s careers. Morgan was often seen at Anderson’s first nights, and they would frequently be spotted together on the awards season circuit in Los Angeles and London.

Anderson (pictured as Margaret Thatcher in The Crown) and Morgan were one of the most glittering couples in the world of British entertainment, though they never shared a home

But I’ve heard that the relationship has run its course — not helped by various work commitments and family logistics (each has children from past relationships) — though they remain great friends.

I approached representatives for both Anderson and Morgan this week, but they declined to comment.

Anderson, 52, is an actor of quality who has sought out powerful, complex roles in hits such as The Fall, where she played driven murder detective Stella Gibson, hunting down a sadistic serial killer; and Sex Education, where she is the sex therapist mother of the main character.

I’ve heard that the relationship has run its course — not helped by various work commitments and family logistics (each has children from past relationships) — though they remain great friends. Pictured: The couple with Olivia Colman

On stage she excelled as Blanche, in a scorching production of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Young Vic; and was superb in the recent adaptation of All About Eve, opposite Lily James.

She also shone in BBC TV’s dramatisation of Charles Dickens’s Bleak House as the elegant and enigmatic Lady Dedlock. Morgan, 57, who won a BAFTA for mini-series The Lost Honour Of Christopher Jefferies, is completing scripts and preparing to film the fifth season of The Crown next year with Imelda Staunton portraying our sovereign.