Martin Freeman banks £400,00 in a year through private firms

Martin Freeman boosted his UK business fortune by £400,000 last year taking the value of his companies to £6 million for the first time.

Assets for GeoffreyJoseph Limited, controlled by the actor, 50, who shot to fame playing Tim Canterbury alongside Ricky Gervais in The Office, went up to £4.5 million.

On top of this he has a second company Rita Maris Limited worth £1.5 million, according to accounts filed this week. 

Impressive: Martin Freeman boosted his UK business fortune by £400,000 last year taking the value of his companies to £6 million for the first time (pictured last month) 

Figures for Geoffrey Joseph Limited, which was set up by Freeman in 2008, show it had to pay a £68,000 corporation tax bill because profits were so high.

The documents published this week do not reveal any dividend or salary payment that the star has taken fro the company.

Freeman has become one of the the UK’s most successful actors equally at home in an ITV true crime drama like A Confession or playing Bilbo Baggins in a Hollywood blockbuster like Lord of the Rings.

Starring role: Assets for GeoffreyJoseph Limited, controlled by the actor, 50, who is starring in BBC drama The Responder (pictured), went up to £4.5 million

Starring role: Assets for GeoffreyJoseph Limited, controlled by the actor, 50, who is starring in BBC drama The Responder (pictured), went up to £4.5 million

His overall fortune from his Hollywood career is said to be £15 million.

The actor was recently spotted strolling in Hampstead with is girlfriend Rachel Mariam, 29.

The couple are believed to have struck up a relationship in 2020, four years after his split from his wife, fellow Sherlock star Amanda Abbington, with whom he shares children Joe, 16, and Grace, 13.  

The couple went public with their romance last year, when they graced the red carpet at the Raindance Film Festival Opening Night gala screening of Best Sellers at The Dorchester in October just months after Amanda discussed their split. 

Hello there! The actor was recently spotted strolling in Hampstead with is girlfriend Rachel Mariam, 29 (pictured in October)

Hello there! The actor was recently spotted strolling in Hampstead with is girlfriend Rachel Mariam, 29 (pictured in October) 

Way back when: Martin split from his wife, fellow Sherlock star Amanda Abbington in 2016, with whom he shares children Joe, 16, and Grace, 13 (Martin and Amanda in 2014)

Way back when: Martin split from his wife, fellow Sherlock star Amanda Abbington in 2016, with whom he shares children Joe, 16, and Grace, 13 (Martin and Amanda in 2014)

Speaking about the impact the split would have on their kids, she said in April: ‘I think it’s unsettling if I pretend I’m this Stepford Wife parent… 

‘Nobody is. I’m sure I’ve given them irreparable damage and they will be going to therapy because of me and Martin at some point. That’s what I am striving for and what Martin strives for as well — to create a place where they’re not hiding anything.’

Martin’s latest role as a Liverpudlian police responder with mental health issues recently sparked a backlash over regional accents on TV.

The Responder follows Martin’s character, Chris, a Liverpudlian urgent response officer on the edge as he deals with marital problems and mental health issues alongside his challenging job. 

Apprentice star, Lord Alan Sugar criticised his scouse accent, claiming that he struggled to understand a single word he said in the BBC thriller.

He wrote: ‘Hard to follow what he and other cast are saying. No disrespect to people of Liverpool they are nice down to earth people. My wife gave up watching she said she could not understand a word.’

One Twitter user branded him ‘the thickest billionaire in the world’ while others feared his comments could set back the struggle to get big TV dramas made outside of London.

Backlash: Martin's latest role as a Liverpudlian police responder with mental health issues recently sparked a backlash over regional accents on TV

Backlash: Martin’s latest role as a Liverpudlian police responder with mental health issues recently sparked a backlash over regional accents on TV

Martin said he put in the hours to master the accent and ‘spoke to himself in scouse’ for a year and a half beforehand. 

He told the BBC’s Front Row radio show: ‘The idea of going up there among a load of Scousers, cast and crew, and ballsing it up was quite sobering, so I wanted to absolutely get it right.

‘And I’d always said if I wasn’t 100 per cent convinced that I could do the accent, I was never going to do the accent if it was going to be like 80% or whatever.

‘And I desperately wanted to play this part. You were always very aware of the fact, in a nice way, that I wasn’t from around these parts. No-one made me feel like that.

‘But I always thought ‘don’t ever think you’ve got this, keep working, keep honing it, and just do it all the time’.’

Oh dear: Apprentice star, Lord Alan Sugar criticised his scouse accent, claiming that he struggled to understand a single word he said in the BBC thriller

Oh dear: Apprentice star, Lord Alan Sugar criticised his scouse accent, claiming that he struggled to understand a single word he said in the BBC thriller

Ouch: He wrote: 'Hard to follow what he and other cast are saying. No disrespect to people of Liverpool they are nice down to earth people. My wife gave up watching'

Ouch: He wrote: ‘Hard to follow what he and other cast are saying. No disrespect to people of Liverpool they are nice down to earth people. My wife gave up watching’