BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Amanda Abbington says 'you never know' as she speaks out after statement on exit

Amanda Abbington has spoken in a new interview after her Strictly Come Dancing exit. The actress was making strides in the competition alongside dancer Giovanni Pernice before she suddenly pulled out of the BBC One dance show.

Amanda missed one of the live shows due to "medical reasons". but days later, ahead of a planned return to the show for its Halloween special which took place on Saturday night (October 28), it was revealed that Amanda had dramatically pulled out of Strictly due to "personal reasons".

The news was confirmed during Strictly spin-off show, It Takes Two, before the Sherlock star addressed her exit the following day Sharing a picture of her dancing shoes on Instagram, Amanda wrote: "It is with deepest regret that I had to leave Strictly. I did not come to this decision easily or lightly but for personal reasons I am unable to continue."

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Amanda has now hinted at feeling "pushed over the edge" as she urged people to "be kind" in her first interview since her dramatic exit. The 51-year-old spoke on Boogaloo Radio and said: "My thing at the moment is 'be kind', it's always been 'be kind'.

"It's, 'you don't know what someone else is going through, you have no idea what's going on in their life so before you say anything hateful and cruel just check yourself.'" She continued: "It takes so much more energy to be hateful, to be horrible, where you could just not say anything or say something positive.

"We're living in a world where the laptop and the phone and social media allows you to say whatever you want