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Wearing a bold Balenciaga look featuring a plunging periwinkle top, sparkling gold pants and long burgundy gloves, Shailene Woodley definitely chose a look that wasn’t going to go unnoticed. Some fans called the outfit fun, creative and fearless, while others simply couldn’t figure out what was happening with those gloves

Anyone who watched Dempsey and Makepeace in the 1980s will remember the chemistry between Michael Brandon and Glynis Barber.

But behind the scenes, they didn’t exactly hit it off straight away.

Brandon played tough New York cop Lieutenant James Dempsey, while Barber played his very British partner, Detective Sergeant Harriet Makepeace. Their characters were always clashing on screen, and initially the two actors weren’t that different away from the cameras.

Barber later described Brandon as a “brash New Yorker”, while he thought she was rather stuck-up — although he also admitted he found her gorgeous.

Things got off to such a rocky start that Brandon has since revealed he even asked the producers about replacing her.

Considering what happened next, that turned out to be quite ironic.

As filming continued, the pair slowly started to get to know each other properly. Barber later said part of the problem was that Brandon had been so wrapped up in finding the character of Dempsey that she didn’t really know the real Michael yet.

Eventually, the tension turned into something else.

“I made all the first moves,” Brandon later said. “It took longer than I expected! She was formidable.”

The pair fell in love, married in November 1989 and later had a son, Alexander.

And all these years later, they are still together.

Neither of them has ever tried to pretend their marriage has been perfect either.

Barber once said: “We’ve been married for 23 years, and get on each other’s nerves. But I think we’re actually a pretty typical couple. There is no such thing as a perfect relationship.”

One thing they have both credited with helping them over the years is laughter.

“The best thing about Michael and I is that we laugh a lot — it’s the mainstay in our relationship,” Barber said.

More recently she put it just as simply: they still argue, still disagree, but they also share the same sense of humour and can see the ridiculous side of things.

In 2025, Brandon summed up their story brilliantly:

“Our series continues with 35 years of marriage — a great bit of casting!”

Barber’s reply was even more down to earth:

“Miraculously and against all the odds, we’re still together. But it’s Michael and Glynis who are together, not Dempsey and Makepeace. There’s a big difference.”

The television series only lasted a few years.

Their relationship has lasted considerably longer.

And to think, at the beginning, he wanted a different Makepeace.